Königsberg Castle

Kaliningrad, Russia, Russia

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Königsberg Castle in Kaliningrad, Russia, was a Gothic brick fortress originally built by the Teutonic Knights starting in 1255 as a wooden fort that evolved into a grand stone Ordensburg over centuries, serving as the seat of Prussian dukes and hosting key events like Frederick I's 1701 coronation in its Schloßkirche.

Expanded in the 16th-18th centuries into a massive quadrangle with the 97-meter tower, Muscovite Hall, palace church, and museums, it symbolized East Prussian power until British WWII bombings in 1944 and the 1945 Soviet siege left it a burned shell, with outer walls initially surviving.

Renamed Kaliningrad post-war, Soviet authorities demolished the ruins progressively, culminating in a 1968 explosion to clear space for the House of Soviets, leaving only archaeological remnants and a modern museum nearby.