Transcript Document

KALININGRAD
Kaliningrad is my native city. Here I was born and
I am proud of it.
Kaliningrad is the westernmost city of Russia.
Our region is situated on the Zemland peninsula. It
borders with Poland and Lithuania and is washed be
the Baltic sea.
There are no mountains in our region, but there are
a
lot
of
hills.
Forests
cover
over
50%
of
the
territory. The biggest rivers are the Pregol and the
Neman
there
are
a
lot
of
beautiful
lakes
in
our
region the Kurshskaya spit connects our region with
lithuania and the baltic spit-with Poland.
The
Kurshskaya
spit
connects
our
region
Lithuania and the Baltic spit-with Poland.
with
Kaliningrad
is
a
unique
city.
It
has
two
birthdays and two names.
The town was founded in i255 and its name was
"Konigsberg".
The German
and
the
Prussian
people
lived
here.
In
German
the
name
"Konigsberg"
means
"the king's mountain“.
The birth of the Kaliningrad region is connected
with the victory of the soviet people in the
great patriotic war. On the 9th of April, 1946
according
to
the
decisions
of
the
Potsdam
conference, the northern part of east Prussia
with the town of Konigsberg became the part of
the
Russian
federation
on
the
July,
1946
Konigsberg
was
renamed
Kaliningrad
after
Mikhail
Kalinin,
the
outstanding
soviet
revolutionary and statesman. Now wе celebrate
the city's day on the 4th of July with great
fireworks and concerts.
Our town was greatly ruined during the
war.
Today
kaliningrad
is
a
modem
russian city with long streets and broad
avenues. The center and the mam square
of
are
and
kaliningrad
many
there
cathedrals,
new
is
victory
buildings
are
forts
old
and
square.
in
houses,
There
kaliningrad
churches,
fortresses
that
remember the old history of konigsberg
Today Kaliningrad is divided into 5 districts It has the
population of about 480,000 (four hundred and eighty
thousand) people.
Kaliningrad is an important industrial center There are
three unfrozen ports here; a trade sea port, a fishing sea
poll and a river port. The
leading industries of the city
ate fishing industry, transport and power engineering, oil
extraction, pulp and paper industry The Amber plant,
which is unique in the world, is situated in the region.
Kaliningrad stands on the Pregola River. There were
7 bridges over the river Pregola in Konigsberg. They
are known as the classical seven. In 1936 Konigsberg
University set the following task: is it possible to
cross all the seven bridges without crossing one of
them twice? The famous Swiss mathematician
Leonhard Euler proved that it could not be done.
Kaliningrad
is
a
large
educational
center
Kaliningrad has more than 20 scientific research
institutions
and
5
higher
educational
establishments. Young people can get education in
state
university,
technical
university,
several
technical colleges and professional schools, marine
college and Baltic marine academy, military and
naval institutes, medical and music colleges.
Kaliningrad is rich in libraries. The biggest library
is the regional library. It has about one million
volumes and people can attend its 33 reading
halls.
Kaliningradians have all possibilities to go in for
sports. There are
big stadiums in our town. We
have a number of sport facilities: the palace of
sports, swimming pools, tennis courts, yacht clubs
and many sport grounds.
Today Kaliningrad is the cultural center of the
region. We can attend Drama and Puppet Theatres
the Philharmonic Organ Concert Hall, the Picture
Gallery, the History Museum and unique Amber
Museum. We also have two theatrical studios and
several cinemas.
The zoo is real pride of our city . it is
a great attraction for citizens
and
guests of the town.
It used to be of place of fierce battle in
1945. It suffered greatly during the
war.
Most
of
the
animals
were
exterminated, only 4 animals survived
– a hippopotamus, a badger, a donkey
and a deer. Now Kaliningrad zoo has
about 380 species of animals. 34 of
them are included in the red data book.
There are some historical places of
interest in Kaliningrad.
The Cathedral became a symbol of our city. It
was founded in 1533. it took about 50 years to
build it. During the World War II the Cathedral
was badly damaged and after the fall of
Konigsberg it was left in ruins. There was an
intention to pull it down, but the presence of
Kant's tomb saved it. At present the Cathedral
is being reconstructed. Its museum and organ
are open to the public.
The grave of Immanuel Kant, the last shelter
of the great philosopher is at the Cathedral.
The
tomb
was
built
by
Friedrich
Lars
in
1924. Kant was the most famous thinker in
Europe
in
his
extraordinary
own
lifetime.
He
was
an
man. His working day lasted
up to 15 hours (from 5 in the morning till
10
in
the
evening).
He
was
very
puneteal.
When Konigsberg residents saw him walking
they could check their lime. He lived to the
age of 80 and died on February 12, 1804.
There are a lot of m o n u m e n t s i n t h e c i t y . t h e r e i s a
monument
of
the
German
writer
Fredrich
Schaller opposite the drama theatre. Here are
monuments to A. Pushkin and to M. Kutuzov,
their authors the famous Russian architect M.
Anikushin. The statue to I. Kant was lost during
the war and now the monument to Immanuel
Kant stands on its .Forma place opposite the
building of the University.
In Kaliningrad you can see the monuments of
German culture and the memorials connected with
the history of the great patriotic war. A memorial
to 1,200 solders and the victory park have been
built to commemorate the victory' of soviet people
in the war. There is the eternal fire there. It is
burning the memory of the heroes died in the
second world war.
Red and green colors prevail in the city. Red
is the color if tiled roofs and bricks. Green is
the color of trees and plants. Many unique
plants grow in our streets and parks.
For example, Kutuzov Street is only 1 km long
but 114 kinds of trees and shrubs are growing
in this street. Red-leaved beech, some rare
kinds of jasmine - red and double, silver poplar,
white and yellow acacia, black pine, larch,
Lombardy or pyramidal oak, weeping birch,
gigantic yew tree and rhododendron are among
those which grow in this street. They were
brought to old Konigsberg from Japan,
Scandinavia, North and South America. Now
they are well preserved and protected in our
city.
People say that there are three botanical
gardens in Kaliningrad. There are: the town
itself, the University Botanical garden and
Kutuzov street.
Myths surrounding the city
Cities love myths and they create myths. At least
two myths surround the city of Kaliningrad - old
Konigsberg: Amber Room (the traces of this great
cultural masterpiece were lost during world war two
on this territory); the existence of underground
Konigsberg with its tunnels, secret path sand forts.
It’s believed that even the sewer hatches (from the
German times) are not just for a sewer system and
for access to communications, they are portals,
entries, passages, links and junctions that together
form a single co-existence, co-involvement;
geometric symbols and figures provide an idea about
the possibilities of a code.
Most
of
the
Kaliningradians
and
the
visitors like the city and admire it greatly.
Kaliningradians say about themselves: “We are
Russians because we speak Russian and our culture is
Russian, but in view of our ties to Europe, we kind of
feel European”.