Philosopher Immanuel Kant was born, lived, and died in Königsberg. Various places in the city are connected with his life. Kant studied at the school attached to the St. George Hospital, then attended the Friedrich Collegium, the building of which has not survived. In 1766, as a master scholar, Kant worked as the curator of the natural history cabinet-museum in the palace park of Saturgus. After obtaining the position of assistant librarian in the Royal Castle, he worked in the main tower of the castle. He studied at the local university. During his studies, he lived in a house on Zattlergasse (now Portovaya Street). From 1754 to 1766, he lived in Magister Alley on the island of Kneiphof. Then, until 1775, he lived in the building of the former Löbenicht Town Hall, where he also taught. He lived in a building on Oxenmarkt, or Bull Market, until 1783, after which he bought his own house at 2 Prinzessinstraße.

World War II turned many buildings associated with Kant’s stay in the city into ruins. Immanuel Kant died on February 12, 1804, and was buried in the professors’ crypt by the northeastern wall of the Cathedral. In 1809, a gallery with a bust of the scholar was erected above the crypt. In addition, a statue of Kant was installed in Königsberg. After the Great Patriotic War, this monument was lost. In the early 1990s, thanks to the efforts of Countess Marion von Dönhoff, the philosopher’s monument was recreated, transported to Kaliningrad, and installed near the former Albertina building (Kaliningrad University) on University Street.

The Cathedral of the Virgin Mary and St. Adalbert in Kaliningrad deserves the admiring attention of tourists for many reasons, the first of which is that it is truly a majestic and very beautiful architectural marvel. Visitors from all over the world rush to admire the ancient walls of the Kaliningrad Cathedral that survived the bombings of the Great Patriotic War and have been restored. The silhouette of the old Catholic church consistently accompanies the image of both the modern and old city on stamps and commemorative coins.

But there is another very important reason for pilgrimage here — the grave of Kant is located here. Why the Cathedral was chosen for the burial of the founder of the German philosophical tradition becomes clear if one recalls that since 1558, professors of Königsberg’s oldest educational institution — the university of the same name, also known as the Albertina (named after its founder, Duke Albert of Hohenzollern) — were buried in a special “professors’” crypt on the cathedral grounds. Immanuel Kant was a professor at this venerable university from 1755 and for all the following 40 years.

After his death, the remains of the great philosopher were honored by being buried in the professors’ crypt adjoining the Cathedral on the northern side. In 1809, the crypt was demolished due to dilapidation, and a promenade gallery called the “Stoa Kantiana” was built in its place, which existed until 1880. In 1880, the philosopher’s remains were exhumed, identified, and reburied, and a neo-Gothic chapel was erected over the grave, which stood until 1924. In that year, on the 200th anniversary of Kant’s birth, the half-ruined structure was dismantled and replaced by a new one. Now the burial looks like an open colonnade, with a stone sarcophagus in the center, but the philosopher’s remains are not in it; they lie deep beneath the structure.

After the bombings of Königsberg by the British in August 1944 and the April battles of 1945, only Kant’s grave from the entire Cathedral complex remained in satisfactory condition; everything else around was reduced to ruins.

Sources:

https://www.klgd.ru/city/tourism/routes/historical_center/detail.php?ID=1050786

https://www.prussia39.ru/sight/index.php?sid=559