Königsberg

Königsberg, a town and fortress in East Prussia, situated on the river Pregel, 4½ miles from the Frisches Haff and 366 by rail NE. from Berlin. The original nucleus of the place was the block-house built in 1255 by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, but, although founded so long ago, Königsberg is a modern town; scarce any of its old buildings now exist. The castle, which grew out of the blockhouse, belongs chiefly to the 16th and 18th centuries. It was the headquarters of the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, and from 1525 to 1618 was the residence of the Dukes of Prussia. In the castle chapel (built in 1592) Frederick I. crowned himself first king of Prussia in 1701, and William I. was crowned in 1861. The cathedral, now the Kneiphof parish church, is a Gothic structure, erected in 1333 and thoroughly restored in 1856; in an adjoining building Kant (q.v.) lies buried. The university was founded as a Lutheran institution in 1544, and rebuilt in 1844-65. Connected with it are an observatory (1811), a zoological museum (1819), a botanical garden (1809), a library of 200,000 volumes, together with the usual laboratories and collections. The number of official teachers was 96 and the number of students 760 in 1889. One of the most imposing edifices in the town is the new exchange (1875). The academy of painting, a music school, and a commercial school may be mentioned. Of the industries the foremost place belongs to the iron-works, casting and machinery-making; next come the manufacture of pianos, thread, tobacco, beer, the confection marchpane, &c. Printing and the preparation of meerschaum (175 tons annually) are also prosecuted. Königsberg is one of the chief continental centres for the tea trade, and ships immense quantities of corn. The exports average in value £8,118,670 annually, and consist mostly of grain, flax, and hemp, with smaller quantities of timber, wool, spirits, sugar, and rags; the imports average £10,117,800, and embrace, besides grain, flax, and hemp for transport, tea, woven goods, metal wares, herrings, timber, chemicals, and coals. Large merchant-vessels which cannot approach the town unload and load at Pillau, 28½ miles by rail to the west, at the entrance from the Baltic to the Frisches Haff. It is proposed to construct a channel through the lagoon (haff), with a depth of 20 feet, from Pillau to Königsberg. Pop. (1875) 122,636; (1890) 161,666. The town was first fortified in 1626; but was converted into a modern fortress of the first class in 1843 and since. Königsberg was occupied by the Russians in 1758 and by the French in 1807. See works by Faber (1840) and Schubert (1855).