The massive building of boulders and brick with a pointed tower, modelled on St George's Chapel in the park of Monbijou Palace in Berlin (destroyed during the Second World War), took five years to build. The church was consecrated on 3 January 1892. Because of the frequent strong winds, the roof was covered with galvanised sheet iron. The interior was in the Romanesque style. The stained-glass windows were based on local subjects. The organ was installed in 1892. During the restoration of 1936 two tapestries were hung near the altar. The church had two bells (W. Hubatsch). One of them, after restoration, returned to its place in 2008.
To replace the amber fittings stolen in 1919, the church was given modern copper altar fittings with amber inlays in 1920.
An independent church congregation of Palmnicken came into being in 1906. The First World War claimed the lives of a hundred of its members. In their memory, funded by voluntary donations and the proceeds of various festive events, a monument was erected by the road leading to the railway station: a hewn boulder with bronze plaques bearing the names of the fallen and a medallion of Hindenburg.
The last pastor of the church left the town in 1947 and later, if Wikipedia is to be believed, became Bishop of Magdeburg.
Fragment of a modern fresco on the wall of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
The church and the settlement survived the Second World War well. Until 1989 the church was used as a temporary warehouse. After the decision to hand it over to the Orthodox Church (in 1990), parishioners actively set about repairing it. On 13 January 1991 Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (later Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus') consecrated the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the former church building.
Photos: Bildarchiv Ostpreußen, bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de, Mikhail Ogorodnikov (2020)
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
