The fall of the Soviet Union has left Kaliningrad Oblast entirely separated from the rest of Russia. In fact, it's now surrounded by members of the EU! But I'm not a political blogger, I'm a cool-stuff-in-random-places blogger. So here's what I find interesting about Kaliningrad:
- Amber
- "The Monster"
- City gates
- Seven bridges
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin, and is popular in jewelery (among other uses). Though I never really questioned where amber comes from, I stumbled across the answer while reading up on Kaliningrad: about 90% of the world's supply comes from Kaliningrad and the Baltic Sea. Cool! Unless you happen to be one of the many insects that gets trapped inside the amber...
"The Monster"
Where would the world be without Soviet architecture? A happier place? Maybe. A more boring place? Probably!
So waaay back in the day, Königsberg Castle was at the center of Kaliningrad (then Königsberg, Prussia/Germany). It was lovely:
Königsberg Castle
TA-DA! The Monster.
It's actually called House of Soviets, and was intended to be the main administrative building for the oblast. However, as with other would-be architectural feats commissioned by communist regimes, it didn't work out as planned. After spending 20 years on its construction, funding was cut, and it was never finished. So there it stood, in the middle of Kaliningrad, unfinished. And locals started referring to it as 'The Monster'. After 25 years of decaying, the exterior was finished for the 2005 visit of Vladimir Putin. The interior is still unfinished. 
Do not enter! But please admire from a distance.
As for the actual site of the former castle, it's an archaeological dig site. They're hoping to find the rest of the Amber Room.
City Gates
I've been fascinated by Kaliningrad's gates since first reading about the city. At first I just wanted to see where they were, but couldn't easily locate them on a map. So I looked for a more detailed map. Well, detailed maps seemed to be hard to find, at least with my very limited Russian capabilities. Many hours and many maps later, I found them, and have put together a Google Map for your enjoyment! Complete with photos, descriptions, and more!!
View Kaliningrad Gates in a larger map
If you'd like more information on the gates, Tourism Kaliningrad has some good information. While I'm at it, here are the other maps I found during my quest. They're all pretty interesting, and from different time periods!
A very awesome, very detailed map. Worth checking out in full-res!
Overview of Kaliningrad (top) and Riga (bottom) circa 1500s
For sale here (link includes a nice history)
Overview of the fortress
(link includes photos, etc)
Detailed Tram Map!!
Seven Bridges
Also of note are Kaliningrad's 7 bridges (only 5 still exist today). You see, the locals had a bit of a dilemma. They wanted to cross each of the 7 bridges exactly once time during a walk around the city. But they couldn't figure out how to do it. So the called upon Euler. Euler proceeded to do some crazy math things and decided that it couldn't be done. :( However, his work on this problem led to the basis for graph theory, and now there is a Wikipedia article about it. And that's all I'll say about this, because I'm no mathematician.
Links
Kaliningrad seems pretty awesome, and I definitely need to visit someday! Until then, here are some links:
- "Kaliningrad caught in no-man's land" (2003)
- "Kaliningrad: from Russian relic to Baltic boom town" (2006)
- Planned Restoration Information (in English)
- And here are some historic maps you can buy me for my birthday!
