Immanual Kant was a reall Piss-Ant!

Kaliningrad, Russia

Kaliningrad used to be Königsberg and was the capital of Prussia (before German Unification in 1871). Post-WW2, the name was changed by the Soviets after it was annexed. Because of its location, bounded by Lithuania, Poland & the Baltic Sea, it was a closed state and was only opened up to visitors about 20 years ago. Not surprisingly, there is still a very strong German influence here. One of my constant complaints as we crossed Russia was the total lack of any information in anything but Russian, but in Kaliningrad, it is almost bi-lingual – Russian & German!

We were here for only two nights, with the day in between to explore, and believe me, that was plenty of time. We did some research before coming here and decided that we wanted to visit the Bunker Museum, the Cathedral, and Immanuel Kant’s grave. Yes, Immanual Kant, German Philosopher and subject of the Monty Python song “Bruce’s Philosopher Song” was born, lived and died in Königsberg. Apparently, he was so proud of his hometown that he felt no need to travel as the world came to him! In those days, Königsberg was a busy port.

Immanuel Kant with compulsory pigeons – In the past, I’ve felt like sh*tting all over Herr Kant – mainly in 2009 when I had to read his treatise on logic (auf Deutsch) for a unit at University. Sadly, I dropped out of this subject, no thanks to Herr Kant!

What can I saw about Kaliningrad? Well, the RAF’s programme of Urban-Renewal that ran from 1941-1945, was extremely efficient. They managed to destroy anything of any interest and the Soviets either didn’t rebuilt it or if they did, it was done poorly!

So, back to our itinerary – we visited the Catherdral, which was rebuilt (except for the windows, which were replaced with painted boards) and is no longer a church, but is used for concerts and has a Museum to Immanuel Kant in the tower. We visited the Museum which was quite interesting but Nick struggled because all the information was either in Russian or German! We found Immanuel Kant’s Memorial, which is attached to the north-east corner of the Cathedral. After much walking around, we found the Bunker Museum which was CLOSED!!!

We walked around, enjoyed the sunshine and feel no sadness with leaving tomorrow morning! Would I recommend it to fellow-travellers? I’m not sure – if you want to visit just to “tick that box”, then go for it! But, it is part of Russia, so it requires the complicated Russian Visa, though for holders of an EU Passport, you can get a 3-day Transit Visa, which is more than enough time!