Kaliningrad · Svetlogorsk · Curonian Spit · Zelenogradsk
A walk around Kaliningrad
Kant and his island, the cathedral, its organ hall, and the musical sounds of the Philosophers' Bridge.
Today I went on a walking tour of Kaliningrad. Saw Kant. His grave, his island, his street…
The pedestal is the original one from 1857. The statue itself was lost during the war and recreated from the original model in 1992.
After the war, Thälmann took Kant’s place on the pedestal. Two patches where the old plaques used to be are still there as a reminder.
Not much of the cathedral survived the war. A few of the epitaphs were somewhat luckier.
The clock synchronizes its time by satellite.
Inside the cathedral there is a museum (I never got around to visiting it), Lutheran and Orthodox chapels, and a concert hall with Russia’s largest organ complex. It consists of two organs connected by optical fiber (modern technology!).
Immanuel Kant is buried beside the cathedral walls.
The Philosophers’ Bridge leading to Kant Island opened this year. It turns out to have an undocumented feature: if you tap it, it makes funny sounds :)