Kirche, Kalinigrad. Kirche in memory of Queen Louise. Former Konigsberg

Queen Louise, wife of King of Prussia Wilhelm III, the Germans enjoy the same love and respect as Jeanne d'Arc in France, Princess Olga in Russia or Empress Sisi in Austria. A beautiful, charming, intelligent and courageous woman inspired her husband to fight Bonaparte, after the defeat with him was sent to Konigsberg, where she left only good fame about herself. "Prussian Madonna" died in 1810, and at the end of the century the city authorities decided to build a church in memory of Queen Louise and consecrated it in 1901.

The church was placed in the park "Luisenval" (now - Central Park of Culture and Recreation), where the disgraced queen loved to walk, talking with oncoming people. The architect Friedrich Heitman organically mixed the Romanesque, neo-Renaissance, modernist styles in his creation and combined them with a veil of romanticism. A three-nautical asymmetrical building with two peaked towers of different heights is directed upwards, from a distance it seems large, but near it turns out to be miniature and somehow feminine.

Louise gave birth to 10 children, 7 of whom survived and contributed to the story. Her daughter Charlotte (in Orthodoxy Alexandra Fedorovna) married the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (future Russian Emperor Nicholas I). The son of Queen William became the first, and the grandson of William II - the last emperor of the German Empire.

Kirch has two identical towers, one of which is a large clock. After the construction and consecration of the church successfully stood for several centuries. During World War I, as a result of the bombing of British and US aviation and during the storming of Koenigsberg by the Soviet Army, the temple was partially destroyed. After the war, they were going to demolish it, but architect Yuri Vaganov proposed an unexpected project for its restoration and reconstruction.

Queen Louise is deservedly considered one of the most famous women of East Prussia. She was considered a spiritual mentor, admired by her, all the inhabitants of Konigsberg adored her. She was the face of her time. The beauty of Queen Louise became the basis for legends. Louise was in correspondence with many famous writers and politicians. Her mind, strength of character and insight delighted and discouraged contemporaries. For example, Napoleon considered her a personal enemy, and Emperor Alexander I, on the contrary, was completely fascinated by her.

The architecture of the church cannot be unambiguously attributed to a certain style. Initially, the building was conceived as neo-Renaissance, but then the design was changed. The constructed building has the features of the Romanesque style, but the style of the building is rather not an imitation of historical architecture, but a romantic interpretation of the past. There are also elements of Art Nouveau.

The dimensions of the building are as follows: 47 m long (by external measurements), 22 meters wide, the middle nave has a clearance of 16.5 m. The church is three-naved, asymmetric. The width of the middle nave is 12 m, the north is 6, the south is only 2. The last span of the middle nave and the entire northern lateral nave were blocked by an empora. The southern nave was lower, reaching only the height of empor. Thanks to this, there was the possibility of access from the south.

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