Калининград / Kaliningrad in 1974

Калининград в 1974 году
Фотографии Е. Кассин и М. Редькин

Kaliningrad in 1974
Photographs by E. Cassin & M. Red’kin

Kaliningrad, formallly known as Königsberg was founded in 1255. In 1340, the city joined the Hanseatic League and from 1457 to 1618 was the residence of the grand masters of the Teutonic order and their successors., the Dukes of Prussia. Prussia's first king, Frederick I, was crowned here in 1701 Königsberg flourished for the next couple of centuries and became a great centre of trade, being strategically located on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

During air raids in August 1944, the city was flattened, and in April 1945 was taken over by the Red Army.
Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946 in memory of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Kalinin.

Music by Tatiana Burtsev