Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is one of the eight surviving city gates of Kaliningrad. It is located at the end of Bagration Street, which continues as Suvorov Street (formerly Berlin Street), on the border of the historic Haberberg district. The gate was built in Königsberg in 1657 on the southwestern section of the First Rampart Fortification at the intersection with the road leading to Brandenburg Castle (now the village of Ushakovo). Due to a lack of funds and an appropriate design, the builders limited themselves to erecting wooden gates, placed under a roof and resting against an earthen rampart. For reliable protection, a moat was dug in front and filled with water. The gate has two passages. Although all gates built in Königsberg in the mid-19th century belonged to the Neo-Gothic style, the Gothic motifs are especially pronounced in the Brandenburg Gate. The pointed gables stand out, giving the essentially low building a sense of height. The gate is richly decorated with ornamental elements — for example, bas-reliefs and stylized stone flowers.

A hundred years later, by order of the Prussian King Frederick II, the dilapidated structure was demolished, and a massive brick building with two spacious passages featuring pointed arches was erected in its place. The new sturdy gate completely blocked the road to the south (now Suvorov Street) and served as a reliable defense for the city. Thick walls well sheltered a small garrison of guards who were housed in the internal casemates. There were also service rooms, utility spaces, storage areas, and hoists. During restoration work in 1843, the gate was significantly rebuilt (almost completely rebuilt on the same site) and decorated with pointed decorative gables, cross-shaped sandstone flowers, stylized leaves on the finials, coats of arms, and medallions. Sculptural portraits of Field Marshal Boyen, the military minister and participant in the Prussian army reforms, were installed on the gate; on the right — Lieutenant General Ernst von Aster, chief of the engineering corps and one of the authors of the Second Rampart Fortification.

On the opposite side of the facades are bas-reliefs of two symbolically single-headed eagles. Currently, restoration of the original appearance of the structure is underway: stucco decorations, golden coats of arms, towers, oak doors, and window frames. As for the casemates located in the building — during Soviet times, they were converted into shops or partially bricked up.

The Brandenburg Gate is the only one of all the surviving Königsberg gates that still performs its original transportation function. The structure has been restored and is protected by the state as an architectural monument, adorning Bagration Street in Kaliningrad.

Sources:

https://amberkenig.ru/dostoprimechatelnosti/brandenburgskie-vorota/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate_(Kaliningrad)