Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is one of seven surviving city gates in Kaliningrad, the former German city of Königsberg. The gate is located on Bagration Street and is the only gate of Kaliningrad still in use for the intended purpose.

The Brandenburg Gate was built in the south-western part of Königsberg in 1657, with the strengthening of the city walls at the intersection with the road leading to the castle of Brandenburg . Due to lack of funds a mere wooden gate was erected. Some hundred years later the gate was torn down and replaced by a brick structure by order of King Frederick II of Prussia. During restoration work in 1843 the gate was significantly altered and decorated with sharp decorative pediments, cruciform sandstone color, stylized leaves on the tops, coats of arms and medallions. Sculptures of Field Marshal Hermann von Boyen , a war minister and reformer of the Prussian army, and Lieutenant-General Ernst von Aster , chief of the engineering corps, and one of the initiators of the second strengthening of the city walls, were added as well.

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