Wawel Castle has stood majestically above the Vistula for almost a millennium. Over its long history, the castle has witnessed many events and survived dozens of wars, destruction, fires and reconstructions. Wawel is a symbol of Poland and a place of special significance for the Polish people.
In the 11th century, on the site of Wawel there was a fortified settlement of the Vistula tribe. In the 14th century, Krakow became the capital of the Polish state, and Wawel the royal residence. Officially, Krakow was considered the capital until 1795, but after the monarch moved to Warsaw in 1609, in fact, it was not one; Polish kings continued to be crowned in Krakow. 
The impetus for the move was a severe fire at Wawel Castle, which King Sigismund III simply decided not to restore. They say that he was a noble alchemist, he was looking for the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, and the fire happened because of his alchemical experiments in a laboratory set up in one of the halls of the castle.
The Royal Castle. On the left is the Jordan Tower, on the right is a complex of three towers - the Danish Tower, the Chicken Leg and the Tower of Sigismund III Vasa, and right behind the wall is the royal garden. 
Memorial "Katyn Cross" at the Church of St. Egidio. According to legend, the temple was built by Prince Vladislav in gratitude to God for the birth of his son. However, research has shown that the building was built in the first half of the 14th century. In the 19th century, redevelopment began in Krakow: the defensive fortifications of the Old Town and many dilapidated buildings were demolished. The Church of St. Egidio was also planned to be destroyed, but the city residents opposed it and managed to defend the temple. 
During the Swedish Flood, the castle was partially destroyed and looted; after Poland lost its independence, it generally fell into the hands of practical Austrians, who stationed a cavalry garrison in it. The Polish public could not tolerate such an attitude towards the national shrine. A ransom was collected - 3,504,609 Austrian crowns, which was paid to the Austrian government for Wawel. In 1905, Austrian soldiers abandoned the castle, and in 1911, the whole of Wawel. Restoration work began after World War I and continued for several decades.
Senator's Tower. 
During World War II, the castle was the residence of the German Governor-General Hans Frank. In the ancient rooms and halls of the royal palace, the Nazis set up offices and apartments for their officials. When Frank had to flee Krakow under the pressure of the Soviet Army in 1945, he still managed to order that all buildings on Wawel and the best monuments in Krakow be mined. And only the lightning march of the Soviet troops saved both Krakow and Wawel. Marshal Konev, who carried out this brilliant maneuver, was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Krakow as a sign of gratitude and recognition of his services.
Sandomierz Tower. 
Exhibition and Conference Center. Former Austrian military hospital. The building was built according to the design of the architect Felix Ksenzharsky in 1853-1856. 
On the left in the panorama are the buildings of the seminary and the cathedral museum (covered with a tiled roof), the vicarage (green roof), then the Cathedral of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslas and the building of the royal kitchens, behind which is the royal castle itself. 
Wawel Cathedral once hosted coronations, and today the remains of Polish monarchs rest. From the original building of the temple, only part of the tower of the Silver Bells and the crypt of St. Leonard have been preserved; the current building was erected in the 14th century. In the center of the cathedral stands the Altar of the Fatherland, on which the monarchs of Poland placed war trophies. Not far from the altar are the royal stone sarcophagi and the tomb of Casimir Jagielon. 
One of the towers houses the largest Sigismund bell in Poland. Residents of the city believe that at the time when this ringing is heard, you need to make a wish, and it will certainly come true. Another romantic belief promises young girls who touch the huge tongue of “Sigismund”, weighing 365 kg and held by giant leather straps, to get married soon.
In the 20th century, the Wawel See became famous because its bishop was Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.
Photography is prohibited inside the cathedral. A very strange ban that always surprises me. 
In front of the entrance to the cathedral hang...bones. These are mammoth bones. According to popular belief, the bones of such a strange animal bring prosperity and peace to the land on which they are located. 
On the gates of Wawel Cathedral there is a stylized letter K. Among the residents of the city, this symbol is much more popular than the official symbols. 
Copper model of Wawel Castle and Krakow. 
Almost in the center of the panorama is the Thieves (Zlodeyskaya) Tower - one of the three fully preserved Wawel towers, which was used as a prison. It was built under Casimir the Great. In the sixteenth century, the tower was destroyed by fire and then renovated several times. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was rebuilt by the Austrians, like other Wawel towers. In 1950-1951 it was restored to its eighteenth-century condition according to a project prepared under the leadership of Witold Minkevich.
In the foreground are the foundations of buildings destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century: the Church of St. Michael, the House of the Housekeeper Kowalski, the House of Canon Stanislav Bork, the Church of St. George. 
The arcaded courtyard of the castle. Each tier is of a different height, but the proportions are found so successfully that the entire courtyard is permeated by a feeling of perfect harmony and lightness. Next to where I'm standing is the entrance to the room where Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Lady with an Ermine" is being shown.
Filming inside the castle is also prohibited.
The interior halls are hung with ancient tapestries made in Brussels by order of King Sigismund the Old - 365 pieces, exactly the number of days in the year. During the wars, the Krakow authorities hid them either in the mountains or in monasteries; some of the tapestries were burned in fires. One day the king wanted to replenish the treasury and pawned the tapestries in Gdansk, but the Sejm bought the shrine and from then on only rented them out to the kings!
After the war between the Bolsheviks and the White Poles, the tapestries ended up in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg, but later the Soviets had to return them to their rightful owners. At the beginning of World War II, the tapestries were hidden from the Nazis, taken first to Romania, then to Canada, and returned to Wawel in 1961. 
Fragments of paintings depicting portraits of Roman emperors in medallions, floral ornaments and decorative compositions on ancient themes have been preserved to this day on the walls of the southern and eastern wings of the castle. 
Forged copper drain in the shape of a dragon's head. 
One of the most interesting halls in the castle is the Ambassadorial Hall, which is famous for its unique ceiling, in the niches of which there are carved wooden heads of courtiers, which is why the hall was also called “Under the Heads”. Once there were one hundred and ninety-four of them, only thirty have survived to this day - the rest burned down during a strong fire in Wawel in the 17th century.
Once, when the king was holding court in the Ambassadorial Hall, for some reason he sentenced an innocent man to death. Then the mouth of one of the wooden heads opened and said: “Rex Auguste, judica juste!” (“King Augustus, judge fairly!”). 
Above the entrance to the store there is such a funny figurine of an angel. He holds scales in his hands, on the bowls of which he rests his feet. 
The walls of the castle are covered with ivy. 
At the other entrance to the castle there is an equestrian monument to the leader of the 1794 uprising, Tadeusz Kościuszko. During World War II, when the temporary headquarters of the Nazis was located in the castle, a German general ordered the demolition of the monument, which was immediately carried out, and at the end of the war, a copy of the destroyed monument was cast in Germany and brought to Wawel, only the German horse turned out to be fatter than the Polish one and Kosciuszko changed the horse to a more well-fed one :)
Under the wall, Russell Crowe works part-time as a medieval knight. 
This lion guards the entrance to the tomb under the Tower of Silver Bells, where Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria are buried. 
They died in a plane crash near Smolensk airport. A delegation consisting of political, military, public and religious figures of Poland flew with the president. There were 89 passengers and 7 crew members on board the plane. The purpose of the visit was to visit the Katyn Memorial near Smolensk on the day of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. 
Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, a Polish statesman and political figure, the first head of the revived Polish state, the founder of the Polish army, is buried in the second room of the tomb. 
View of the Vistula from Wawel Hill. 
In the distance you can see the Church of St. Svyatoslav Kostka. 
And we go underground, into the cave of the dragon Smoke. There are several versions of the legend about the dragon, but my friend told the real, terrible story about human cruelty ren_ar
. I highly recommend reading it. 
The total length of the dungeons is 270 meters, of which 81 are tourist routes. The most interesting, as always, was hidden (
The first information about the cave appeared in the Polish Chronicle in the 12th/13th century thanks to Master Vincent. After the death of the dragon, this was one of the most famous passages into the castle. 
In the 17th-18th centuries, a famous tavern was located in the cave - it was often described in travel notes by famous travelers and foreign diplomats. 
With the partition of Poland, when Wawel Hill was occupied by Austrian troops, the cave was closed, and the lower entrances to it were walled up. 
At the exit from the cave we are greeted by the dragon himself, who spews fire every 5 minutes or by SMS by phone 7168 with the text “smok”. He has to earn his living somehow, right? 
There is a legend that a mysterious stone is hidden in Wawel - a source of unusually powerful energy. Hindus believe that there are seven main energy centers on our planet that give a person unprecedented strength. As if the god Shiva once scattered seven stones to the seven cardinal directions. And it seems that one of these stones is now hidden somewhere in the thickness of the Wawel Hill. They say that it is located in the dungeon of the western wing of the royal castle, in the chapel of St. Gereon, which does not exist today. 
Once a month, gala concerts of ancient music from the series “Wawel Evenings” are given in the Senator’s Hall; on “Days of Krakow” performances are staged in the castle courtyard. And on the night of Ivan Kupala, at the foot of the castle along the Vistula, according to ancient Slavic custom, maiden wreaths and boats decorated with colorful lights float, by the way, today is June 21, the day of the summer solstice.
Everyone who has visited Wawel, having learned its history, everyday life and holidays, takes with them an unfading memory of it.
To be continued...
The Royal Castle in Warsaw is now a monument of national culture and is included in the State Register of Museums. It was built by order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund III in 1598-1618 on the site of the castle of the Mazovian princes. The palace was built on an artificial hill in the shape of a pentagon. The building stands out with a 60-meter tower.
Royal Castle - a historical architectural monument
Until 1526, the Royal Castle in Warsaw served as the medieval residence of the royal princes, then until 1569, the seat of meetings of the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Subsequently, until 1795, the castle was the estate of the Polish kings, the royal residence and the seat of the Sejm during the period of the Congress Kingdom and the Duchy of Warsaw, and since 1926 it served as the estate of the Directorate of the State Collections of Art and the residence of the President of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The royal castle was destroyed by German troops, first in 1939 and then in 1944. Later, the palace was equipped and rebuilt from the surviving fragments. And since 1979, the castle has rightfully been recognized as a monument of history and national culture, a real landmark of Poland.
Storage of priceless exhibits
Nowadays the Royal Castle serves as a museum. It has several viewing rooms:
- Council Chamber;
- Big hall;
- oval gallery;
- marble room;
- hallway in front of the Great Hall;
- conference room;
- knight's hall;
- throne room.
The museum contains exhibitions from different periods. The painting is represented by landscapes of Warsaw, portraits of famous personalities of Poland, works by Strobl, Smuglevich, Kaufman, a special place is occupied by Rembrandt’s paintings “The Scientist at the Music Stand” and “The Girl in the Hat”.
A valuable object is a unique drawing - the Stockholm Roll, which represents the Entry of the wedding procession of Sigismund III and Archduchess Constance in 1605. The length of this scroll is more than 15 meters.
The museum also displays tapestries, carpets, furniture from Stanislav times, watch collections, crystal and bronze candlesticks, Far Eastern ceramics and Saxon porcelain.
The palace contains archives in which you can consult royal documents, acts of the Royal Castle, the personal archive of the royal family, as well as audiovisual information: slides, films, photographs and sound recordings.
Currently, this landmark of Warsaw opens the way to the Old Town. From the castle tower at 11:15 a.m. the time signal is heard daily by a trumpeter.
How to visit the Royal Castle in Warsaw
Address: plac Zamkowy 4, Warsaw 00-277.
Opening hours:
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday - 10:00 - 18:00;
- Friday - 10:00 - 20:00;
- Sunday - 11:00 - 18:00;
- Monday is a day off.
Ticket price: for adults - 30 PLN ($5.30); for children under 16 years old - 1 PLN ($0.30).
*On Wednesdays - visiting the permanent exhibitions of the castle is FREE (shortened route).
Audio guide cost: 17 PLN ($4.50); group ticket (at least 4 people) - 11 PLN ($3)
Available languages: Polish, English, German, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish.
Another royal castle, but this one of John III Sobieski, is represented by the Wilanów Palace, which is now open as a museum and a place for concerts and symposiums.
Treasures of the Third Reich in the dungeons of Kaliningrad. What does the former City of Kings of Königsberg hide?
Königsberg Castle- castle of the Teutonic Order in Königsberg (Kaliningrad), also called the Royal Castle. Founded in 1255 by the Czech king Ottokar II Přemysl and existed until 1968. Until 1945, various administrative and public institutions of the city and East Prussia were located within its walls, as well as museum collections and halls for ceremonial receptions. The name of the castle gave the general name for the city that arose near the castle walls. Along with the Cathedral, it was the most important and oldest landmark of the city
The building had a maximum length of 104 meters and a width of 66.8 meters. The tallest building in the city - the Castle Tower, 84.5 meters high, was rebuilt in 1864-1866 in the Gothic style. Twice a day a chorale sounded from the Castle tower. At 11 o'clock in the morning - "Oh, preserve your mercy", at 9 o'clock in the evening - "Peace to all forests and fields."
The castle was rebuilt many times and combined various architectural styles (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo). Its purpose also changed according to periods. The original fortress acquired the characteristics of a castle. The castle was transformed from a seat of power into a museum complex and became the center of spiritual life.
Components of a castle
German historian Dr. Gunnar Strunz recently visited Kaliningrad, the former capital of East Prussia, Königsberg. He visited this city with a series of lectures about the ancient order castle of Koenigsberg, destroyed by British bombing during the Second World War. This castle has a rich and interesting history that dates back to 1257.
During his visit, he made a proposal to restore the most beautiful rooms of this building, which locals call the Castle of the Three Kings - the church, the “Hall of the Muscovites” and others. In his opinion, this will help attract tourists to Kaliningrad and increase their interest in the historical heritage of this city.
Coronation of Frederick I in the Castle Church, 1701
In 1944, the building was heavily damaged during bombing by British aircraft, and in the early 60s of the twentieth century, by order of the Kaliningrad regional committee of the CPSU, the ruins of this castle were finally demolished.
In 2010, Kaliningrad authorities announced preparations for a referendum on the restoration of Konigsberg Castle. It was planned to hold it in March 2011 in order to combine it with elections to the local regional Duma. However, the referendum was never held. This is not the first unsuccessful venture to study and restore this architectural monument, as will be seen below.
However, the idea of restoring and reconstructing the castle was not rejected or forgotten. It did begin to receive practical implementation, although in a different way than originally planned. The government of Kaliningrad agreed to the proposal that came from the German side to perpetuate the architectural appearance of old Koenigsberg in bronze.
Funds for this project - the creation of a model of the historical center of Königsberg as it was before the massive British air raids in 1944 completely changed its face - were collected by former residents of the capital of East Prussia. The project is a bronze copy of the architectural ensemble of the old city with a diameter of 3 meters, where the Castle of the Three Kings will be built. The model is planned to be installed on Kant Island near the restored Cathedral.
But this is data only about the external part of the castle. There are also numerous dungeons and passages located under the Castle of the Three Kings. They are completely walled up and well preserved. And, according to Moscow archaeologist Ivan Koltsov, restoration will not require much effort or money. In addition, they are capable of bringing huge profits to the Kaliningrad treasury. What is this statement based on?
Castle courtyard - western and northern wings
Report to the CPSU Central Committee
Russian journalist Sergei Turchenko, studying archival documents in the Central State Archive of the Russian Federation that contained information about cultural values stolen by the Germans in the former USSR, discovered a memo from dowsing engineer Ivan Koltsov, sent to the CPSU Central Committee and dated May 8, 1982.
This note stated that his research allowed him to draw up a diagram of the main underground passages and structures of Koenigsberg. There is reason to believe that they contain enormous valuables stolen by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War. According to assumptions, this is a large amount, estimated in tens of tons of gold, silver, amber, and precious jewelry. Perhaps this is where fragments of the Amber Room, paintings, books and much more are located.
The network of underground passages and structures in which valuables are hidden was built at different times, starting from the 13th century, and is located at various depths from 16 to 68 meters. It has several main directions radiating from the city center, that is, the former Royal Castle. The memo also mentions a certain special room where plans and diagrams of all the dungeons of Koenigsberg are stored.
The same note contains information that the central entrance to the dungeons of Koenigsberg, which was located on the territory of the Castle of the Three Kings, was blown up and littered with debris to a depth of at least 16 meters. But the author of the note believes that at greater depths the corridors are in a condition suitable for research and are not flooded. He also believes that there were other entrances to the dungeons.
Sergei Turchenko managed to find the author of this note, Ivan Evseevich Koltsov, who in the 80s of the last century was an employee of the “closed” dowsing bureau under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1982, Ivan Evseevich Koltsov, as part of an expedition, examined the ruins of the former Koenigsberg, at the same time he drew up detailed diagrams of the dungeons under this city and sent his report with the above-mentioned memo to the CPSU Central Committee.
But the reaction that followed to his report was, according to Ivan Evseevich, strange, to say the least. He was removed from participation in the State Historical and Archaeological Expedition, which after some time ceased to exist altogether. As far as he knows, the diagrams he compiled were not used in any search work in the area.
Eyewitness testimony
The conversation with Koltsov left more questions than answers. Can we trust his data about the dungeon system near Kaliningrad? If possible, then to what extent? Are these data confirmed by other sources? Sergei Turchenko decided to look for answers in Kaliningrad itself.
At the beginning of his journey, while still in a train compartment, he heard a story in which the dungeons of this city appeared. A fellow traveler told him that her friend’s son once brought home a large piece of synthetic fabric. He said that he found it in the basements of one of the flooded forts, where he climbed with friends. A friend of hers sewed a shirt for her son from that fabric, being surprised that the fabric, despite lying in water for a long time, looked like new.
When the mother began to iron this shirt, the fabric flared up under the iron like gunpowder. The frightened woman contacted the police. Divers were sent to the said fort, who discovered a cache of such rolls in it. This is how the Nazis produced gunpowder. The history of further searches in this direction remains unknown. As will be seen from further eyewitness accounts, the authorities continue to show surprising indifference to such facts. What caused this lack of interest? Perhaps the internal affairs bodies simply did not believe the frightened townswoman?
The researcher decided to turn to other sources.
Post-war literature also contains some mentions of the Königsberg dungeons. In particular, Stanislav Garanin, in his book “The Three Faces of Janus,” wrote about eight hundred and sixty-two blocks in the city, each of which was connected to the others by a single defensive system. Passages connected the basements of the houses. Underground there were power plants, ammunition depots, and hospitals.
Also in the same literary work, a situation is described in which some heroes, who went down into the dungeons through a sewer hatch, saw an underground hall, along the wall of which there was a pier. At this pier there was a small, four meters long, submarine.
But this is a literary work that cannot claim documentary accuracy. The data presented in it amazes the reader, but raises questions about their reliability. It was necessary to find evidence from real eyewitnesses.
The former head of the underwater technical works department, Mikhail Matveevich Lif, said that although he does not know the underground communications of Kaliningrad completely, but only in the part that concerned his work, he can say that in the area of the former palaces and under fortifications there are two and three-story dungeons. Most of them are flooded or covered with stones. Some of them are still used as warehouses today.
So these dungeons still exist? But are they accessible to tourists? Perhaps these are just warehouses, partially destroyed during the bombing and nothing more. But Mikhail Matveevich also mentioned a certain underground aircraft factory. But this plant is also flooded and littered with stones. He also told a story about some home-grown “treasure hunters,” which once circulated among his friends. It was as if these people had found an artificial grotto in one of the lakes, the entrance to which was blocked by a German anchor mine.
One of the treasure hunters soon died under unclear circumstances - he fell from the fifth floor. Another turned for help to a familiar midshipman-sapper, who did not pay much attention to this request. But after the “treasure hunter” went missing while on one of his trips, the sapper became worried and filed a report with the police. Unfortunately, the police search yielded no results. Lief also spoke about one of his colleagues and comrades, Grigory Ivanovich Matsuev, who had been in Koenigsberg since 1945.
After leaving military service, Matsuev remained in the underwater technical work detachment. He has dozens of dives into the Pregol River and lakes. He just said that at that time the upper floors of the basements of the Royal Castle were not yet flooded. This is very interesting and echoes what Koltsov said. Could these floors have been flooded later, after research carried out by a historical and archaeological expedition, of which Koltsov was a member?
But let us return to the story of Mikhail Matveevich Lif about his comrade. One story in particular is of particular interest. Grigory Ivanovich once talked about how one day, not far from the ancient city gates, a large hatch was discovered in the floor of a fortification. When it was opened, they saw that the tunnel, the entrance to which it covered, was completely flooded with water. Matsuev dived there and saw a large room with a large number of shelves on which lay many rolls of unknown material.
Several of them were brought to the surface. Further analysis showed that it was gunpowder. Perhaps Germany, bound by the Treaty of Versailles, did not have the right to produce weapons and explosives in more than the permissible quantity. Therefore, the gunpowder that was made in Koenigsberg was camouflaged under fabric. But again, not a single mention of treasure. And that these passages may be available for visits. The researcher found it necessary to continue his search. On what were Koltsov’s statements based?
Archived data
Sergei Turchenko thought this information was not enough, and he decided to return to the archives and continue his search there. Many months of painstaking work in the Central Archives of the Russian Federation were not slow to bear fruit. He found several documents there that attracted his attention and confirmed the presence of extensive dungeons near Kaliningrad.
He discovered a historical certificate by the German researcher F. Lars about the Royal Castle. It said that construction of the castle began in 1257 and continued until 1810. During this long six-century construction, the castle was rebuilt several times. Extensive underground work was also carried out. Professor Heydeck, who carried out geological excavations under the Royal Castle in 1889, mentioned 7-8-meter thicknesses of “cultural” deposits. He also mentioned the ancient dungeons that stretch under the Castle Church, the former home of the Convention and the restaurant "Blütgericht" ("Last Judgment"). But all these researchers mentioned only the dungeons of the first tier. For some unknown reason, deeper excavations were not carried out. Perhaps the limited technical capabilities of that period interfered.
But such work was not carried out in 1945. Although, to search for cultural values that may have been hidden in Koenigsberg, a special commission was created under the leadership of General Bryusov. His diary has been preserved, in which he kept a detailed account of the activities of this expedition. From this diary we managed to find out the following interesting detail. A certain doctor Alfred Rohde, who was the curator of the Koenigsberg museums and did not have time to leave the city when it was liberated by Soviet troops, actively dissuaded the expedition from excavations in the southern wing of the castle.
Rohde argued that during the war there was a hospital there, which was damaged by bombing and littered with stones. And nothing can be found in these rubble except corpses.
After Rohde's mysterious disappearance, his deception was exposed. Military experts who examined the characteristics of the rubble of the southern wing of the castle proved that the explosion did not occur from above, as it should have happened if an air bomb had hit this wing of the castle, but from below, which makes one think about its artificial origin. Dr. Strauss, who arrived in Konigsberg at the call of the commission and was Rohde’s former assistant, categorically denied the presence of any hospital in the southern wing of the castle. He confidently stated that museum treasures have always been concentrated there. Why did Roda organize such a deception? To hide valuables? So that they do not fall into the hands of the Soviet expedition? For whom did he save them and where did he disappear?
Such a contradiction alone should have attracted increased attention to excavations in the castle area. But, surprisingly, they were carried out superficially. Having examined only part of the dungeons of the first tier, Bryusov’s commission found more than 1000 museum exhibits stolen by the Nazis from museums in Leningrad and Moscow. These were priceless works of silver, bronze, porcelain, paintings and furniture. Perhaps if the excavations had been continued and carried out more thoroughly, more valuables would have been recovered?
Also in the archive, the researcher was able to find records of testimonies of former Soviet and foreign military personnel who were related to Koenigsberg, the competent authorities regarding the burial of cultural property by the Nazis.
Warsaw prison inmate A. Vitek said the following: during the war he was sent to forced labor in Konigsberg. From the work camp where Vitek was located, the Germans took people to work every day. The interrogated person was part of a group that removed equipment from houses and institutions and took it to Wilhelm Castle (Royal Castle - author's note) on Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse. There things were sorted for subsequent shipment to Germany.
The prisoner helped pack the requisitioned equipment into boxes. He testified that he saw a large number of boxes marked with the same number. These boxes were located in the right wing of the castle. The boxes were strictly guarded. Their safety was checked by Gauleiter Erich Koch himself. After this, the prisoner saw how bricks were brought into the castle palace and masons were called. The prisoner testified that the boxes had disappeared, but Vitek did not remember that the boxes were removed from the castle grounds. He suspects that the boxes were hidden in the castle's cellars.
Professor G. Klumbis, a colleague and former ally of Dr. Rohde, recalled that not far from the wine cellar of the palace there was an old mine. It is closed and has not been used for several centuries. There were no signs of its existence, but Dr. Rohde knew about its presence in the indicated place. In his opinion, the mine is the best place to hide various valuables in wartime. If necessary, their transportation could be quickly carried out with small forces and unnoticed. It was on this that his assumption was based that the basements of the castle contained cultural values exported from the USSR.
This point of view is also shared by the former chief architect of the city of Kaliningrad D. Navalikhin. He believes deeper mines are possible. He himself went down into the dungeons of the castle and saw a shaft inclined at approximately 45 degrees. This event took place in 1948.
In 1973, researchers came across yet another confirmation of the existence of dungeons under the Royal Castle. It consists in the fact that during the construction work, which consisted of constructing the pile foundations of the House of Soviets, four piles up to 11 meters long were sunk underground to the full depth. No more than 4 centimeters of the pile was visible above the surface. Based on this, construction workers believed that there might be a bunker or underground passage under this building. They accepted the possibility that the Amber Room or other valuables stolen by the Nazis could be stored in this bunker.
But a strange reaction followed to the memo by S. Kuleshov, who noted this fact. The piles were ordered to be removed, their holes filled with concrete, and construction work to be carried out in another place.
It seemed to the researcher that these facts were enough to trust the words of Ivan Koltsov. The existence of dungeons can be considered proven. But do they contain the same valuables that the Nazis took from the occupied territories? The results of Bryusov's expedition provide sufficient grounds to consider this true. But the presence of the main Nazi warehouse of stolen valuables in these basements and the location of the Amber Room there still remains a mystery.
Ivan Koltsov gives a fairly clear answer to this question. According to him, special equipment can determine what is underground - water, oil, ore or metals. And in this case, he believes, the equipment was not mistaken. Even now he is ready to show several entrances to the dungeons of the Royal Castle and places in which, according to him, there are warehouses with mothballed equipment, cars, quartermaster property. Then it is surprising that the authorities are persistently inactive towards this information and the cessation of any work related with exploration of the dungeons of the Royal Castle in Konigsberg. Perhaps the legendary treasures of the Third Reich are still hiding there, waiting in the wings.
According to historical references that have reached us, Königsberg Castle was founded in 1255. He settled down on the shore Pregel River. The castle owes its appearance to to the king of Bohemia Ottokar II Przemysl. At that time, he led the Crusader troops to fight the Prussians, who were pagans.
There is an assumption that the name of the castle, which later became a city, was given in honor of the king. Translated from German it means - Royal Mountain. But these are just assumptions. Many centuries have passed since then, and the castle has gone through the most terrible stages over the years, to the point where it was almost completely destroyed. But even in the state that it has survived to this day, it still looks interesting. By the way, this is where they continue look for the Amber Room, conducting archaeological excavations. It should be noted that this castle is also one of the oldest such historical buildings in the region.
Now it is also called Royal, although objectively speaking, all that remains of it are just ruins and the former greatness has to be imagined. By the way, getting to this site is not difficult, because it is open to the public. It is part of the Kaliningrad Regional History and Art Museum. It is curious that the city residents gave it another name "Observation deck". But don't let it mislead you. There are no climbs to high points here.
History and architecture of the castle
As we mentioned above, the castle was founded in the mid-13th century and wood was initially chosen as the main material for its construction. Seven years after its foundation, a stone defensive wall was added to the structure on the outside. The strengthening of the defense did not stop there and an additional wide two-meter wall appeared. It reached a height of eight meters. For strength, the castle was installed on huge boulders, on top of which bricks and stones were laid in Viennese masonry. To ensure that they lay tightly and the wall was solid, everything was fastened with a special solution. The walls were crenellated on top. Four massive towers were erected at once in the northern part of the castle, a corner tower appeared in the northwestern sector, and in the eastern part it was used for defense large Lidelau tower. Along with it, on the same side, there was another tower with four corners, which was called "At the grain house".
The shape of this castle was no different from other similar buildings Teutonic Order. It was a rectangle that stretched from west to east. Double walls and four corner towers were used to protect it. Alas, only one of them has “survived” to this day. It was located in the northeastern part and was octagonal. Even its name is known - Habertum(which meant Oat Tower). The main architectural element of the castle could be called Schlossturm tower, built in the 14th century. There in the fortress there was also the building of the Convention with Chapel of the Virgin Mary and a refectory inside. The castle included medical buildings, a shelter for elderly warriors - a firmarium and other buildings.
There was a well in the center of the fortress yard. During its existence, the structure of the castle constantly underwent changes. It became bigger, more beautiful and more powerful. By the Middle Ages it had become great fortress. Subsequently, when he no longer had the need to perform defensive functions, various cultural values and books were placed within the walls of the castle. It is worth highlighting the year 1525. Then the castle became the residence of the first secular ruler of Prussia. In connection with these changes, new buildings appeared in the complex, mainly administrative ones, as well as chambers for the duchess and courtiers. At that time, it was necessary to redesign the castle, as the style became relevant Renaissance.
Postcard with views of the castle
In 1701 it took place coronation of Frederick III. From that moment on, the castle became the residence of the king. This status remained for more than 200 years. Everything changed in 1918. Then the revolutionaries overthrew the emperor William the Second. The fortress was reformatted into a museum in 1924. There you could see paintings and exhibits from other Prussian museums. Now we can judge many of the castle’s buildings only from photographs, including shots taken in its halls.
Courtyard
Alas, we can also learn about most of the cultural values that the ancient city kept only from archival records. But in Koenigsberg a huge number of very valuable and even rare objects of art were accumulated. Most of them died during the war, the other part simply disappeared in an unknown direction, and some stocks of artifacts were redirected for storage to other cities. The Nazis, who transported large amounts of valuables in recent times, used Königsberg as a transshipment point. This is also why there were such reserves of cultural objects here. But above all, the values were accumulated due to the fact that the city housed numerous museums, research centers, libraries, and much more. They all kept a large volume of various objects of art and science: folios, paintings, scientific instruments, you can’t count everything.
During the war years they were brought here rare exhibits, taken by the Nazis from Poland and the Soviet Union, as well as valuable items taken from Jews sent to camps. For a long time there was a calm situation in Königsberg, even during the war years. Up to 1944 the city did not fall under Allied bombings. That is why there was a large flow of valuables collected by the Nazis in various parts of Europe. The famous one arrived here the Amber Room, exported from Catherine Palace. Part of it was placed in the local Royal Palace. It is still unknown where she is gone missing subsequently. Search engines processed huge volumes of local soil, but found nothing. There is an assumption that it will not be found this way because it had already been taken out of East Prussia before the search began. Another popular version is that the room is simply burned to the ground.
This has its own logic, because in August 1944 the city came under massive bombing allied forces. Many buildings were destroyed. The castle was also seriously damaged: as a result of strong fire, only the walls partially remain. At the same time, the facade was preserved, which also had to withstand blows during the storming of the city in 1945.
But even after these tests the castle was still standing. Who would have thought that at the end of the war he would have to withstand even more serious tests of strength. First of all, he was injured by a stone crusher operating nearby. She was preparing bricks and constantly vibrating. Largely because of this in 1952 the top of the main tower is just fell on the road. The tower itself held out, but only until the moment when it was decided decision to blow it up. It's hard to believe, but the architectural creation was destroyed by 810 kilograms of TNT. This process lasted almost a month and ended on March 10, 1953.
Even after this, the castle still continued to stand, albeit partially. At the same time, the city leadership was confident that the city buildings remaining from Königsberg will not be restored. The chief architect of Kaliningrad sent letters to higher management with a request to create a center for dismantling buildings in the city. In his opinion, this center was able to obtain, as a result of disassembly, building materials that could be sent for work to any other point in the country. Also at this time, work was underway in the central part of Kaliningrad to develop Leninsky Prospekt and clearing debris on the streets.
The royal castle did not give up. However, his fate was sealed after the visit of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Kosygina. He arrived in the city and expressed dissatisfaction with the ruins in the most visible place. In response, he was told about plans to recreate the castle and open a museum in it. The important guest did not appreciate the idea and was against the installation of objects in the city" Prussian militarism"As a result, the city authorities accelerated the process of restoring order and decided to demolish the castle completely, and in its place to build the House of Soviets. It was supposed to become a symbol of the new Soviet era and forever erase from memory the Prussian elements so unloved by the authorities. What a symbol it eventually became House of Soviets you can still see it when you come to Kaliningrad. Not only is its architectural value negligible, but in the end it was not even completed... Such is the monument on the site of a 13th century castle.
Fortunately, some elements of this very castle still survived. Minor ones, those that were discovered during excavations. Now the space appears to tourists like this - in the form of an observation deck in excavation area. But even this is of particular historical value, because there are practically no such ancient castles that have survived intact, especially in Russia. Therefore it is possible to ruins see.
Königsberg Castle now
We recommend that you go to the site on the days of the event historical holidays. They are not uncommon. They are carried out by the museum administration and various clubs involved in historical reconstruction. At such events you will see real fights of knights, you will be able to wander around the crafts fair, watch shooting competitions from ancient types of weapons, or even take part in them.
So even ruins of the legendary castle, are worth visiting during a trip to Kaliningrad.
Koenigsberg as a fortress
The struggle for Konigsberg is an episode of the great battle with our Slavic neighbor, which had such a terrible impact on our fate and the fate of our children and whose influence will be felt in the future. This struggle for territory between the Germanic and Slavic peoples has been going on since the time of our ancestors, times barely known to history. By the beginning of the era, the power of the Germans extended all the way to the lower Volga. But the Slavs were just as powerful - around 700 they crossed the Elbe. Over the centuries, the border changed first in one direction and then in the other, for borders are like peoples. This is something living, they change depending on the energy of peoples. After our last push to the East, the return flow of the Slavs was more powerful than ever, it demolished all dams and obstacles. This war captured Koenigsberg, which then served the Germans as a bastion against the East.
Koenigsberg was founded in 1258 by the German Order of Knights in honor of King Ottokar of Bohemia, who participated in the Order's summer campaign to the East. The castle, the construction of which began during the founding of the city, was its first defensive structure. In the 17th century, the city was fortified with a rampart, ditches and bastions, thus becoming a fortress. These structures gradually deteriorated and did not serve much service either in the Seven Years' War or in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1814, Koenigsberg was declared an open city, but in 1843 its fortification began again, and what was then called a fortress fence was erected, that is, a ring of fortifications around the city with a length of 11 kilometers. Their construction was completed in 1873. In 1874, construction began on a defensive belt of 15 forward forts, the construction of which was completed in 1882. To protect the mouth of the Pregel, a strong fortification was built on the right bank near the Holstein estate. Even stronger was the fortification of Friedrichsburg on the left bank of the mouth of the Pregel.
The circumference of the defensive belt of the forts reached 53 kilometers by the time of the final battles. Even during the First World War, the defense was strengthened by the construction of intermediate fortifications between the forts. The forts had, in general, the following design: a main barracks surrounded by a moat and a drawbridge with an entrance device. The main barracks was covered by an earthen embankment, 3-4 meters thick, which protected it from fire even from modern medium-caliber artillery pieces. At the top there was an open position from which the main fire of the fort had previously been conducted. Later, special artillery positions were built nearby for batteries adjacent to the fort. The brick used for construction was fired several times, thereby achieving increased strength. Thus, these old fortifications were quite reliable protection, including from modern artillery. However, their disadvantage was that the ability to observe and fire from there was very limited. Having an entrance from the back, they were a real mousetrap. During World War I, Russian cavalry reconnaissance reached the very gates of Koenigsberg in August 1914; the fortress was not particularly important even then. However, given the very fact of its existence, the Russians at that time were advancing in East Prussia at a relatively slow pace, which created the conditions for the Battle of Tannenberg.
And in World War II, the Russians showed too much honor to the Konigsberg fortress. Only after three months of fighting before the fall of Koenigsberg, having gathered 5 armies, did they decide on the final battle. In general, only in combination with the defensive position on the Daimyo Line and in the Heilsberg Triangle, Königsberg was a fortress in the modern sense of the word. It ceased to be such when the defense could rely only on the belt of forts of 1882 (and this is exactly what happened in the spring of 1945). The defensive system of Königsberg itself included the following fortifications:
1. Defensive line of the forefield: in the south: Gutenfeld - Ludwigswalde - Bergau - Heide - Waldburg. in the north: Palmburg - Kleinheide - Trutenau - Moditten.
2. Front line of defense: along the line of old forts in front of the ring highway.
3. Defensive fortifications on the city outskirts.
4. In the city: fortifications for individual and group defense of houses, basements, etc.
The construction of direct defensive structures began, strictly speaking, only at the end of December 1944, when an order was received to focus attention on the fortress itself. Therefore, much of what could have been built during a long war turned out to be impossible. In addition, in terms of providing resources, the front, of course, always stood in the foreground, and for it something had to be given from the reserves of the fortress.
The defensive line of the forefield, which consisted of trenches and some wire fences, was basically prepared for combat operations. However, due to the strong onslaught of the enemy and the impossibility of occupying it entirely, this position was of little justification. From the beginning of January 1945, the main attention was paid to the belt of forts, which was equipped as the front line of defense.
As for construction, due to a lack of forces and resources, unfavorable weather and limited time, it was no longer possible to do anything particularly significant in the old forts. However, we were able to supplement them with field fortifications - machine gun and rifle nests were equipped on the crests of the ramparts, firing sectors were cleared, firing points and wire barriers were arranged on the glacis, pressure mines were placed. The ring of forts was closed with anti-tank ditches. Anti-tank guns, intended to flank the anti-tank ditches and, above all, the glacis of the forts, arrived from Berlin too late.
The barracks of the forts, which even before December were partially occupied by administrative bodies and the like, were in a suitable condition. The roads leading from the line of forts to the city were mined and equipped with electric anti-tank barriers. The following 19th-century fortifications also played a role in the battles on the outskirts of the city on April 8-9: the Haberberg and Friedland ravelins, the Friedland Gate, the Pregel bastion, part of the field fortifications, the Lithuania bastion, the ramparts between Pregel and Oberteich, Sackheim and the Royal Gate, the Grolman bastion with the defensive barracks "Kronprinz", the Rossgarten Gate, the Don Tower, the Wrangel Tower, the forward fortification "Bettgershefchen", the Sternwarte bastion, the sally gate.
In the next chapter, General Lyash recalls the military operations of his troops on the territory of the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. In 1944 he was sent to the Western Front, to France. In October 1944, Lyash received a five-week sick leave and came to East Prussia, in Osterode.
TRIP TO KONIGSBERG LETTER 57 Dear friend! Since you, I hope, are very curious to know what kind of news it was that made us so happy, I will begin my current letter with the satisfaction of this curiosity of yours and say that it was as follows. How we
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2. Koenigsberg - Korolevets
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