Description of the attraction
In one of the oldest suburbs of Kaliningrad (Königsberg), there is the building of the former Evangelical church, in which the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos has been located since 1992. The neo-Gothic building was built in 1897 with donations from the industrialist Schifferdecker and the owner of the estate, R. Hoffmann. The consecration of the temple took place on July 23, 1897.
The original red-brick building had a four-story tower and gables on the west and east sides. High lancet windows in niches open to the east. In the south side there was an altar with a sacristy, to which an extension of the Schifferdecker family crypt was adjoined. On the gable roof there was a lantern with a high spire (not preserved). The first organ was donated by the Jewish community, later replaced (in 1929) with a new musical instrument, the work of the well-known firm Furtwängler & Hammer.
The temple functioned after minor damage during the storming of Konigsberg until the deportation of the German population. Later, the building was used as a warehouse and a gym. In 1991, the transfer of the historic building to the Russian Orthodox Church took place. In September 1992, the temple was consecrated in the name of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. After a major overhaul (in 1997), the temple was re-consecrated by Metropolitan Kirill.
Nowadays, the premises of the temple have been changed in accordance with Orthodox canons, a belfry (12 bells) has been equipped and the adjacent territory has been ennobled. The historical appearance of the building has been completely preserved (not counting the damage in 1945 - the absence of the spire on the roof of the tower and the northern pediment). In the mid-1990s, a rich iconostasis was donated to the temple. In 2009, a library of spiritual literature and a children's Sunday school were opened in the former refectory church.
