kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is my native city. Here I was born and I am proud of it.

Kaliningrad is the westernmost city of Russia Kaliningrad is the westernmost city of Russia. Our region is situated on the Zemland peninsula. It borders with Poland and Lithuania and is washed be the Baltic sea. There are no mountains in our region, but there are a lot of hills. Forests cover over 50% of the territory. The biggest rivers are the Pregol and the Neman there are a lot of beautiful lakes in our region the Kurshskaya spit connects our region with lithuania and the baltic spit-with Poland. The Kurshskaya spit connects our region with Lithuania and the Baltic spit-with Poland.

Kaliningrad is a unique city. It has two birthdays and two names Kaliningrad is a unique city. It has two birthdays and two names. The town was founded in i255 and its name was "Konigsberg". The German and the Prussian people lived here. In German the name "Konigsberg" means "the king's mountain“. The birth of the Kaliningrad region is connected with the victory of the soviet people in the great patriotic war. On the 9th of April, 1946 according to the decisions of the Potsdam conference, the northern part of east Prussia with the town of Konigsberg became the part of the Russian federation on the July, 1946 Konigsberg was renamed Kaliningrad after Mikhail Kalinin, the outstanding soviet revolutionary and statesman. Now wе celebrate the city's day on the 4th of July with great fireworks and concerts.

Our town was greatly ruined during the war Our town was greatly ruined during the war. Today kaliningrad is a modem russian city with long streets and broad avenues. The center and the mam square of kaliningrad is victory square. There are many new buildings in kaliningrad and there are old houses, churches, cathedrals, forts and fortresses that remember the old history of konigsberg

Today Kaliningrad is divided into 5 districts It has the population of about 480,000 (four hundred and eighty thousand) people. Kaliningrad is an important industrial center There are three unfrozen ports here; a trade sea port, a fishing sea poll and a river port. The leading industries of the city ate fishing industry, transport and power engineering, oil extraction, pulp and paper industry The Amber plant, which is unique in the world, is situated in the region.

Kaliningrad stands on the Pregola River Kaliningrad stands on the Pregola River. There were 7 bridges over the river Pregola in Konigsberg. They are known as the classical seven. In 1936 Konigsberg University set the following task: is it possible to cross all the seven bridges without crossing one of them twice? The famous Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler proved that it could not be done.

Kaliningrad is a large educational center Kaliningrad has more than 20 scientific research institutions and 5 higher educational establishments. Young people can get education in state university, technical university, several technical colleges and professional schools, marine college and Baltic marine academy, military and naval institutes, medical and music colleges. Kaliningrad is rich in libraries. The biggest library is the regional library. It has about one million volumes and people can attend its 33 reading halls. Kaliningradians have all possibilities to go in for sports. There are big stadiums in our town. We have a number of sport facilities: the palace of sports, swimming pools, tennis courts, yacht clubs and many sport grounds.

Today Kaliningrad is the cultural center of the region Today Kaliningrad is the cultural center of the region. We can attend Drama and Puppet Theatres the Philharmonic Organ Concert Hall, the Picture Gallery, the History Museum and unique Amber Museum. We also have two theatrical studios and several cinemas.

The zoo is real pride of our city The zoo is real pride of our city . it is a great attraction for citizens and guests of the town. It used to be of place of fierce battle in 1945. It suffered greatly during the war. Most of the animals were exterminated, only 4 animals survived – a hippopotamus, a badger, a donkey and a deer. Now Kaliningrad zoo has about 380 species of animals. 34 of them are included in the red data book.

There are some historical places of interest in Kaliningrad. The Cathedral became a symbol of our city. It was founded in 1533. it took about 50 years to build it. During the World War II the Cathedral was badly damaged and after the fall of Konigsberg it was left in ruins. There was an intention to pull it down, but the presence of Kant's tomb saved it. At present the Cathedral is being reconstructed. Its museum and organ are open to the public.

The grave of Immanuel Kant, the last shelter of the great philosopher is at the Cathedral. The tomb was built by Friedrich Lars in 1924. Kant was the most famous thinker in Europe in his own lifetime. He was an extraordinary man. His working day lasted up to 15 hours (from 5 in the morning till 10 in the evening). He was very puneteal. When Konigsberg residents saw him walking they could check their lime. He lived to the age of 80 and died on February 12, 1804.

There are a lot of monuments in the city There are a lot of monuments in the city . there is a monument of the German writer Fredrich Schaller opposite the drama theatre. Here are monuments to A. Pushkin and to M. Kutuzov, their authors the famous Russian architect M. Anikushin. The statue to I. Kant was lost during the war and now the monument to Immanuel Kant stands on its .Forma place opposite the building of the University.

In Kaliningrad you can see the monuments of German culture and the memorials connected with the history of the great patriotic war. A memorial to 1,200 solders and the victory park have been built to commemorate the victory' of soviet people in the war. There is the eternal fire there. It is burning the memory of the heroes died in the second world war.

Red and green colors prevail in the city Red and green colors prevail in the city. Red is the color if tiled roofs and bricks. Green is the color of trees and plants. Many unique plants grow in our streets and parks. For example, Kutuzov Street is only 1 km long but 114 kinds of trees and shrubs are growing in this street. Red-leaved beech, some rare kinds of jasmine - red and double, silver poplar, white and yellow acacia, black pine, larch, Lombardy or pyramidal oak, weeping birch, gigantic yew tree and rhododendron are among those which grow in this street. They were brought to old Konigsberg from Japan, Scandinavia, North and South America. Now they are well preserved and protected in our city.

People say that there are three botanical gardens in Kaliningrad People say that there are three botanical gardens in Kaliningrad. There are: the town itself, the University Botanical garden and Kutuzov street.

Myths surrounding the city Cities love myths and they create myths Myths surrounding the city Cities love myths and they create myths. At least two myths surround the city of Kaliningrad - old Konigsberg: Amber Room (the traces of this great cultural masterpiece were lost during world war two on this territory); the existence of underground Konigsberg with its tunnels, secret path sand forts. It’s believed that even the sewer hatches (from the German times) are not just for a sewer system and for access to communications, they are portals, entries, passages, links and junctions that together form a single co-existence, co-involvement; geometric symbols and figures provide an idea about the possibilities of a code.

Most of the Kaliningradians and the visitors like the city and admire it greatly. Kaliningradians say about themselves: “We are Russians because we speak Russian and our culture is Russian, but in view of our ties to Europe, we kind of feel European”.