Sankt Lorenz has been known since 1450, when a church was built here by the architect Klaus Gall. Originally there was a church estate here, whose area had reached 272 Morgen by 1858. There was also an estate in Sankt Lorenz that was leased out. The village of Sankt Lorenz apparently arose only after the church was built.
In the 19th century Sankt Lorenz was a village which from 1898 formed a rural community in the Landkreis Fischhausen (from 1939 the Landkreis Samland). The church of Sankt Lorenz was the parish church for 36 surrounding villages and estates. In 1874 Amtsbezirk No. 38 Sankt Lorenz was established in the Landkreis Fischhausen, comprising eight rural communities: Kraam (Grachevka), Kirtigehnen (Prigorodny), Nortycken (Gorbatovka), Plautwehnen (Rakitnoye), Pokalkstein (Bogatoye), Posselau (Aleksandrovka), Syndau (Vodnoye) and Tykrehnen (Zori); six Gutsbezirke: Klycken (Klyukvennoye), Mossycken (Rogachyovo), Obrotten (Olshanka), Pokirben (54°54'56'' N 20°09'05'' E), Tolklauken (Kalinovo) and the church village of Sankt Lorenz (Salskoye); as well as four estates which formed Gutsbezirke somewhat later: Alexwangen (Aralskoye), Lopsienen (Rogachyovo), Plinken (Lesenkovo) and Stapornen (Vetkino).
The first head of the Amtsbezirk, in 1874–1888, was the landowner Fröhlich from Sankt Lorenz.
On 19 September 1893 the Gutsbezirk Stapornen (Vetkino) was formed within the Amtsbezirk Sankt Lorenz. On 29 January 1895 the Syndau community (Vodnoye) was converted into a Gutsbezirk of the same name. On 6 May 1895 the Gutsbezirk Plinken (Lesenkovo) was formed, and on 9 July 1895 the Gutsbezirke Alexwangen (Aralskoye) and Lopsienen (Rogachyovo). On 17 June 1898 Mossycken (Rogachyovo) lost the status of a Gutsbezirk, and on 27 March 1900 the same happened to Tolklauken (Kalinovo). On 18 February 1898 the rural community of Sankt Lorenz was formed.
By 1908 the Amtsbezirk Sankt Lorenz consisted of six rural communities: Kirtigehnen (Prigorodny), Kraam (Grachevka), Nortycken (Gorbatovka), Posselau (Aleksandrovka), Sankt Lorenz (Salskoye) and Tykrehnen (Zori); eight Gutsbezirke: Alexwangen (Aralskoye), Klycken (Klyukvennoye), Lopsienen (Rogachyovo), Obrotten (Olshanka), Plinken (Lesenkovo), Pokirben, Stapornen (Vetkino) and Syndau (Vodnoye); as well as two estates without Gutsbezirke: Mossycken (Rogachyovo) and Tolklauken (Kalinovo). On 27 November 1908 the Gutsbezirk Pokirben and the Tolklauken estate (Kalinovo) became part of the Sankt Lorenz community. On 15 February 1911 the rural community of Nortycken (Gorbatovka) also joined the Sankt Lorenz community.
On 30 September 1928 the Gutsbezirke Klycken (Klyukvennoye) and Plinken (Lesenkovo) were abolished and incorporated into the rural community of Kraam (Grachevka).
The Gutsbezirke Lopsienen (Rogachyovo), Mossycken (Rogachyovo) and Syndau (Vodnoye), together with the Gutsbezirk Corwingen (Olkhovoye) from the Amtsbezirk Kirschappen (Druzhba), were merged into a new Syndau community (Vodnoye). The Gutsbezirk Stapornen (Vetkino) was abolished and incorporated into the rural community of Groß Ladtkeim (Yasnovka). The Tykrehnen community (Zori) and the Gutsbezirk Obrotten (Olshanka) became part of the rural community of Sankt Lorenz. A further merger took place on 1 December 1928, when the Kirtigehnen community became part of the Rauschen community (Svetlogorsk) of the Amtsbezirk of the same name, and the Gutsbezirk Alexwangen (Aralskoye) was abolished and incorporated into the Sankt Lorenz community (Salskoye). As a result, by 1931 the Amtsbezirk Sankt Lorenz consisted of four rural communities: Sankt Lorenz (Salskoye), Kraam (Grachevka), Posselau (Aleksandrovka) and Syndau (Vodnoye). Thereafter its composition did not change until 1945.
As of 1 October 1928 the Sankt Lorenz community comprised the following localities: the village of Sankt Lorenz (Salskoye), the village of Nortycken (Gorbatovka), the village of Tykrehnen (Zori), the Alexwangen estate (Aralskoye), the Pokirben estate and the Obrotten estate (Olshanka).
Before the war Sankt Lorenz had a church, a sawmill and an inn.
On 17 November 1947 Sankt Lorenz was renamed the settlement of Salskoye. Initially Salskoye was part of the Shatrovo Village Council. In 1955 Salskoye had 10 houses. No later than 1975 the settlement of Salskoye came under the Romanovo Village Council. By the end of the 1990s Salskoye already had about 20 houses. As of 2018 the settlement had about 35 houses.
Coordinates of the settlement: 54°55'02'' N 20°10'27'' E
Sights: the ruins of the church (1450), the pastor's house, an unfinished Prussian stone idol reworked into a boundary stone.
Population change: 1984 – 150, 2002 – 186, 2010 – 157 inhabitants.
Population change of the Sankt Lorenz community: 1905 – 198, 1910 – 239, 1933 – 617, 1939 – 705 inhabitants.
Population of Pokirben: 1905 – 27 inhabitants.
For reference
Composition of the Sankt Lorenz parish: Alexwangen (Aralskoye), Deutsch Battau (Bobrovka), Georgenswalde (Otradnoye), Herrenwalde (Stepnoy horticultural partnership, 54°56'28'' N 20°12'56'' E), the Hirschau forestry (Forsthaus Hirschau; Kolomenskoye), Kirtigehnen (Prigorodny), Kobjeiten (Selsky), Kraam (Grachevka), Lixeiden (Obukhovo), Loppöhnen (Rybnoye), Lopsienen (Rogachyovo), Mossycken (Rogachyovo), the Stapornen mill (Mühle Stapornen; 54°52'04'' N 20°11'45'' E), Neukuhren (Pionersky), Nortycken (Gorbatovka), Obrotten (Olshanka), Plautwehnen (Rakitnoye), Plinken (Lesenkovo), Pokalkstein (Bogatoye), Pokirben, Posselau (Aleksandrovka), Posselauer Palwe (54°54'43'' N 20°12'44'' E), Preußisch Battau (Dobroye), Rauschen (Svetlogorsk), the Waldhaus restaurant (Restaurant Waldhaus; part of Otradnoye), Sankt Lorenz (Salskoye), Sassau (Zarechny), Schlakalken (Yaroslavskoye), Syndau (Vodnoye), Stapornen (Vetkino), Tenkieten (Lyotnoye), Tolklauken (Kalinovo), Tykrehnen (Zori), Wangenkrug (part of Pionersky), Warnicken (Lesnoye).
Modern photo by Mikhail Ogorodnikov.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
