The Church of Saint Adalbert in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) — the former Catholic chapel of Saint Adalbert (St. Adalbertkirche). Built in 1904 under the direction of architect Friedrich Heitmann. Architects of the lost annex: Johannes Laufer and Georg Schönweiler.

Construction began on July 16, 1902, in a new district of the city — Amalienau. The location of the church was at the spot where Lavsker Allee bends, thus completing the avenue that starts from the Luisenkirche. Hufen and Amalienau were perceived by developers as independent parts of the city; and while the Protestant community acquired in 1901 a worthy temple in the form of the Queen Louise Memorial Church, the Catholic community received in 1904 at least a chapel or church of Saint Adalbert. Its history is as rich and majestic as it is tragic. It is worth acquainting you with the figure to whom this building was dedicated. We are talking about the patron saint of Prussia — Saint Adalbert.

Adalbert Vojtěch of Prague (Adalbertus Pragensis), the first saint of the Prussians, engaged in missionary work on the Sambia and Pillau peninsulas, was captured by the Prussians and executed by them on April 23, 997, presumably in Tenkitten (now a district of the modern city of Primorsk). Saint Vojtěch was born in the family of Prince Slavník in Libice in 955.

The name "Vojtěch" means "Consoler of the People." (According to another version, the name means "Support of Warriors"). As a child, Vojtěch fell seriously ill. For healing, he was laid on the altar of Saint Mary. His parents made a vow before the altar that if the boy recovered, he would be destined for a spiritual vocation. The recovery was seen by all as a miraculous sign. Vojtěch studied at the Libice city church school. It was in Libice that Vojtěch first met Adalbert of Magdeburg. In the year Vojtěch turned 15, his parents sent him to study at the Magdeburg monastery. In Magdeburg, Vojtěch studied at the monastery of Saint Maurice. His teacher was the incomparable Otterich, and his spiritual mentor was the first archbishop of Magdeburg, Adalbert. In Magdeburg, Vojtěch underwent a second confirmation and took the name Adalbert, adopting the name of his spiritual mentor. This name means "Noble Bright." (The name Adalbert corresponds to the German name Albrecht, and the shortened form is the female name Berta).

In 981, after the death of his mentors, Adalbert returned to Prague. In 982, after the death of Titmar, against his will, he was elected bishop of Prague and consecrated in 983. He lived voluntarily in poverty, was distinguished by charity, zealous service to the church, and extraordinary strictness. However, already in 989 he resigned from the episcopate himself, after which he settled as a hermit in the Benedictine monastery of St. Alexius in Rome. Four years later, in 993, against the wishes of the Prague prince Boleslav II, Adalbert returned to Prague with the blessing of Rome as bishop. A year later, he founded the first male monastery in Bohemia in the Prague suburb of Břevnov. His merit was the creation of monastic orders in Bohemia, which laid the first monasteries throughout the kingdom. Adalbert also actively fought against pagan beliefs, which were still strong in Bohemia. This activity drained much of his strength, and the awareness of his high responsibility for the conduct of the Czech people made the bishopric a heavy burden.

Adalbert had not yet reached Prague when news came that members of the ruling Czech dynasty — the Přemyslids — had destroyed the rival Slavník family, to which Vojtěch belonged. Four of the bishop’s five brothers were killed — by deceit. Of course, all this happened with the knowledge of the ruler of Bohemia. Adalbert went to the Polish prince Bolesław I and sent envoys from there to Prague asking what he should do. The answer from Prague was that the flock did not want to see a bishop who despised them. Adalbert could go on a mission. With two close friends (one of them, Radim, Christian name Gaudentius, was his half-brother), he headed to the lands of the Prussians. The pagan Prussians, who saw all Slavs as enemies, advised him to leave their land as soon as possible, and Adalbert considered whether he should indeed go to convert the Slavic Lutici — but on April 23, 997, on Good Friday, he was killed; the brother of his murderer, according to legend, died at the hands of the Poles.

Bolesław the Brave ransomed the martyr’s body, paying the Prussians as much gold as it weighed. In 999, Adalbert was canonized by Pope Sylvester II — at the request of his friend, Otto III, who made a pilgrimage to Poland to his remains, granting Bolesław many privileges. The city of Gniezno became the center of the Polish archbishopric, and Gaudentius was appointed head of this archbishopric. This, however, is another story, as is the fact that today Saint Adalbert of Prague is the patron saint of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Prussia.

The church was built by the "Königsberg Real Estate and Construction Society." The construction cost about 60,000 marks, with interior decoration, altar, and bell costing another 40,000.

On November 14, 1904, the church was consecrated. Initially, it was a small chapel in the Gothic style with a narrow tower on the north side and small buttresses on three sides. Later, it was planned to expand the church to 250 seats. On the eastern side, in the window niche, there was an image of Saint Adalbert on a golden background.

From Baldur Köster’s book "Buildings of Königsberg": “Construction description: The entrance is on the side, which is typical for most of Heitmann’s churches; the foundation of the tower becomes a porch; and the tower itself is located asymmetrically relative to the nave. From an urban planning perspective, it occupies an excellent position: the tower roof was visible from afar. The articulation on the outside is achieved by buttresses; they give the chapel a Gothic character. On closer inspection, one notices that Heitmann deliberately played with Gothic elements: each narrow Gothic window is surrounded by a window field ending with a very flat pointed arch (almost resembling a semicircular arch), topped by a steep pointed roof. On it — as a Gothic addition — a pinnacle is installed. With its high nave and slender tower, the chapel gives the impression of being larger than it actually is. It has four normal bays, and the length, including the apse, is only 13.80 m, with a width of 6.60 m. However, the full vault height of 10.40 m is astonishing. This ‘Gothic’ spatial proportion can best be felt in section.”

The interior gave an impression of greater size through a clever trick: initially, the windows did not reach their current size at the bottom, the lower parts of the walls were closed, making it seem as if the light fell from a great height.

In 1921, the architect Friedrich Heitmann was buried on its grounds; a monument to him stood here until the early 1960s, after which it disappeared without a trace.

In 1932, an additional building with pointed windows on the north and south sides and a modern portal was added to the chapel. Large round windows were located on its sides. That same year, the chapel received the status of the Church of Saint Adalbert — the patron saint of Prussia. The altar was rebuilt in 1939.

During the bombing of Königsberg by British aviation in August 1944 and the city’s storming in April 1945, the building of Saint Adalbert’s church suffered serious damage. The 1932 annex and the spire of the tower with its roof were completely destroyed. However, the tower itself and the side nave survived (this is the form in which we can see it today). Immediately after the war, the annex and the pastor’s house were completely dismantled brick by brick, and the side nave and tower of the church were used as storage for household needs. After the war, the annex was dismantled to bricks. The old premises were given over as storage for household needs, and from the mid-1960s — to the city enterprise producing dental prostheses. Because of this, it was decided to convert the old premises of the former church into a three-story administrative building, for which two additional floors were added, and the tower was covered with a flat roof. Since 1975 and to the present day, the building of the former Church of Saint Adalbert houses the western branch of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Today, the Church of Saint Adalbert shyly and guiltily hides behind the tall trees of Victory Avenue. Its damaged roof, instead of a pointed spire with a majestic cross, is now crowned by antennas and devices. One part now houses a beauty salon, and on the roof, next to various devices, there is an antenna of a cellular operator. It is precisely from the funds received from this rent that the scientists working within its walls have maintained the building in a more or less proper condition.

In 2010, despite appeals from the Catholic community of Saint Adalbert, the building was transferred to the Orthodox Church, the scientific institution moved out of the former temple, and the dismantling of internal structures erected during the Soviet era began. New stained glass appeared in the window openings, and at the beginning of 2020, the tiled roof on the tower was restored, topped with a cross. At the end of 2022, the final phase of restoration work began, after which inside the former Catholic church (chapel) of Saint Adalbert the Church of Dmitry Donskoy will open.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Adalbert

https://klops.ru/oskolki/places/159413-svyatoy-muchenik-prussii-i-deva-mariya-istoriya-kirhi-na-prospekte-pobedy-spetsproekt-klops-ru-oskolki-kyonigsberga