Brandenburg Church (Saint Nicholas)

The Brandenburg Church (Brandenburger Kirche) is located 20 kilometers from Kaliningrad, in the village of Ushakovo, Guryevsky urban district.

At the end of the 13th century, a stone castle of Brandenburg was built on the site of a wooden-earth fortification, around which a craft settlement of German colonists soon formed. During the Crusader years, Brandenburg was the center of a commandery and the seventeenth castle in the lands of the "Königsberg region." Originally, the castle was considered a fortress founded in 1266 by the will of Margrave Otto III of Brandenburg.

Together with the settlement on the right bank of the Frisching River (now Prokhladnaya), the church was built. The first mentions of it date back to 1428, but the time of construction is most likely the very beginning of the 14th century.

The church is built of brick using Gothic masonry on a foundation of natural stone. In 1648, a tower was added to these buildings, above the entrance of which a plaque with a commemorative inscription was placed. The ruins of this very tower have survived to this day. It is a single-nave brick building in Gothic masonry on natural stone, with narrow choirs and an ancient apse (the only example in medieval East Prussia). Above the baptismal font hung a canopy in the shape of a temple with thick Tuscan columns: "This canopy was donated to the glory of the Lord in 1633 by Barbara Jordan." In the same year, Juliana Stolin gifted a beautiful hexagonal baptismal table with a pewter top and an engraved image of the four evangelists. Above the Gothic pointed entrance to the tower, there is a plaque with a bas-relief of the Brandenburg coat of arms.

In 1680, an altar was installed in the church, and at the beginning of the 18th century, an organ and two bells appeared in the church.

It suffered severe damage during World War II and is currently in a semi-ruined state. Above the main entrance, a bas-relief with remnants of the coat of arms has been preserved.

In the 2000s, it was partially dismantled for bricks by local residents. In 2003, excavations were carried out near the church, but no valuable finds were discovered.

The church continues to deteriorate and fall into ruin. No one looks after it, restores, or maintains it, and year by year the church falls into greater decay. Access to the church and entrance inside are free, which has led to unmistakable graffiti replacing frescoes on the walls, garbage accumulating inside, and an unpleasant smell. It should be noted that many sites in the region are in a similar state of destruction and vandalism.

Currently, only the semi-ruined tower without a roof and the remains of the walls remain of the church. The upper part of the tower is crowned with a clock. Around the perimeter of the building, bushes, grass, and nettles grow wildly.

Sources:

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