12.05.2021 / Saranskoye – Laukischken

Laukischken Church

Anatoly Bakhtin Local history researcher, medieval historian

As early as the 17th century a small church stood in Laukischken. In its place a new one was built in 1809–12 (pictured at the top). In the First World War (1914) it was badly damaged. It was restored in 1920. After the Second World War Laukischken was renamed Saranskoye. Coordinates of the church: 54.828876, 21.237373.

The wooden tower was built in 1924. A plastered brick building, with a porch on the north side and a small annex on the east. The pulpit and altar are combined.

The pastor's house is mentioned in 1660. (Ännchen von Tharau, celebrated by Simon Dach, lived in it!) It is a simple single-storey plastered building. In the cemetery there is a simple gravestone of her husband, Pastor Johann Portatius. He died in 1646.

**German soldiers** against the backdrop of the ruined church, 1914.

**The restored church** with its wooden tower, 1924.

As of 1989 the church was practically intact, apart from the missing tower. The roof was covered with asbestos-cement sheets. It was used as a house of culture.

Interior of Laukischken Church

The pastor's house was in a dangerous condition because the roof had sagged in the middle. In 1992 it collapsed and was soon dismantled. The cemetery has not survived.

Photos on this page: Bildarchiv Ostpreußen, bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de.

Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.