Description of the attraction
University Square in the center of Kaliningrad is decorated with a monument to the most famous resident of the city - Immanuel Kant. The monument is a bronze figure of a German philosopher pointing forward with a sword on his side and holding a cocked hat in his left hand. The sculpture stands on a pedestal with a memorial plaque. The monument vividly conveys the spirit of the times and the character of an outstanding thinker of the eighteenth century.
Ancient Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad) is the birthplace of Immanuel Kant, and in 1864 a monument was erected near the house, on the Priscessinenstrasse street, where the German philosopher lived. The opening of the monument took place on the day of the 60th anniversary of Kant's death. The author of the sculpture is the outstanding German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch, and the granite foundation is the work of the court stone master R. Müller. In 1884, the monument was moved to the square of the Königsberg University (now the Baltic Federal University), to the Paradeplatz square. During World War II, the sculpture of Immanuel Kant was hidden in the Friedrichstein family estate, and since 1945 has been reported missing.
In 1992, on the initiative and at the expense of Countess Marion Denhoff (a native of East Prussia), an enlarged copy of the Rauch figurine preserved in the collection was made and installed on the monument's native pedestal. For a gift to the city, the Countess was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Kaliningrad". The recreated sculpture is the work of the sculptor Harald Haacke.
Nowadays, the monument to the famous German philosopher stands in the park, in front of the university building, in the same place where the original was located in 1884, and is considered one of the main attractions of Kaliningrad.
