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Ausfahl Gates

Monument to 1200 Guardsmen, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 236006

Ausfal Gates (also: exit gates, from German Ausfalstor, gates for sorties) are one of the eight surviving city gates of Kaliningrad. They are located in the southwest corner of the intersection of Guards Avenue and General Field Marshal Rumyantsev Street, in close proximity to the monument to the 1200 Guardsmen.
Kaliningrad: the ring of Königsberg fortifications in the mid-19th century
photo
Jermaine

Ausfall Gates (also: exit gates, from German Ausfalstor, gates for sorties) are one of the eight surviving city gates of Kaliningrad. They are located in the southwest corner of the intersection of Guards Avenue and General Field Marshal Rumyantsev Street, in close proximity to the monument to the 1200 Guardsmen.

Of all the surviving gates, the Ausfall Gates have been rebuilt to the greatest extent.

The first gates approximately at the site of the current ones were built in the 1620s, during the construction of the defensive rampart around the city. Later, in 1866, the gates were rebuilt in the style of brick Gothic. The Ausfall Gates built in the 19th century allowed only pedestrians to pass through and were less significant compared to the other city gates (as evidenced, for example, by their more modest architectural design). The new Ausfall Gates were designed by architect Ludwig von Aster.

The Ausfall Gates have only one passage, to which from the outside led a staircase and a rather narrow bridge (traces of which have been preserved to this day), confirming that the gates allowed only pedestrian traffic. On the sides of the passage are casemates with embrasures for frontal and flanking fire. The passage is covered by a curved arch, decorated with a frame with battlements. The side outer walls of the gates facing the moat are clad with granite slabs decorated with rustication in the form of squares. Above the passage is a fighting platform with a battlemented parapet. Nothing is known about the appearance of the facade of the gates facing the city, as it was buried with earth, and no photographs or drawings have survived.

The gates were originally cut into the rampart and were actually below ground level. In the 20th century, the only passage of the gates was bricked up. Like all other city gates, in 1910 the Ausfall Gates were sold by the military department to the city.

During the war, the Ausfall Gates were converted into a command post for military units. The extensive interior spaces of the gates were divided into separate compartments by concrete walls. Passages between compartments were closed with airtight protective doors.

After the war, the gates were used as a warehouse, later as an air-raid shelter for the nearby police school, and later housed a sewage collector.

In 1993, on the upper covering of the gates, which is level with the roadway of Guards Avenue, an Orthodox chapel of St. George was built, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who died during the storming of Königsberg.

In spring 2007, the Ausfall and Railway Gates were transferred to the Kaliningrad Historical and Art Museum. Restoration of the gates is planned, with museum exhibitions to be placed in their premises. Together with the monument to the 1200 Guardsmen and Victory Park, the gates are intended to become part of a military-historical complex.

Sources:

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

photo
Jermaine

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