BALTIC MEETINGS - Baltic Writers Council

Svetlana Koval
e Castle of Königsberg. Archaeological excavations
In the autumn of 2001, the Baltic archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archaeology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences continued exploration of the ruins of the Royal Castle
of Königsberg that had been hidden under the Central Square of Kaliningrad since 1974.
e work had started in 1993 and was continued in 1994. e excavations were initiated
and financially supported by the Kaliningrad City Administration in order to specify the
topographical position of the Castle’s remains in connection with the modern planigraphic
position of the Central Square in view of the construction of the temporary shopping pavilions
“Staraya Baslinja”.
Since 2001, exploration of the ruins of the Royal Castle has been conducted on the initiative
of the magazine Der Spiegel, which concluded an agreement with the Kaliningrad Regional
Museum of History and Art. As initiator of the works, the magazine had supported these
activities in the context of the searching for the Amber Chamber, but the Museum was
interested in the emerging prospect of uncovering the remains of the Museum of Prussia that
had been located in different wings of the Castle. Due to this initiative by German journalists,
considerable parts of the ruins in the western part of the Royal Castle was explored and
prepared for numbering among the museum exhibits.
At the moment, almost all the basement area of the western wing of the Castle is uncovered.
ere was the Castle church on the first three floors of the Castle in the late Middle Ages and
the New Times. e fourth floor of the same wing was known as the Moscovites’ Hall by
1519. e military-historical exhibition of the Museum of Prussia opened here on September
30, 1881 (after transference of the exhibition from the Castle tower to five new halls in the
northern and western wings).
All the soil (up to a depth of 6 metres) from the area of excavation was redeposited soil (taken
from other premises of the Castle and even other remote areas on the territory of the old town)
as the result of ‘works’ conducted by ‘the Krolevsky group’ and ‘the geology and archaeology
expedition’ which searched for the Amber Chamber in 1958/1959 and 1970/1972. e
cultural layer, as it is scientifically understood, relating to life and activities in the basement of
the western wing, has not been preserved.
Nevertheless, while conducting the excavations, very many items of importance for the
museum were discovered. First of all, there are different architectural fragments of the Castle,
figure bricks, etc. Numerous granite and limestone blocks and pillar bearings found both in
the contents of the excavation site and in the base body composition are of special interest. A
considerable amount of arms and military outfits were found along the western and southern
edges of the basement. e partitions formed by one row of bricks, which separated the stacks
with wine bottles (the wine cellar of the restaurant “Blutgericht” (e Bloody Court) was
located here at the beginning of the 20th century), were found in the northern part of the
excavation site. A number of wine bottles, a measuring mug for wine, corks and silver foil were
found as well.
Some exhibits from the ethnographical exhibition on the first floor (for example, fragments of
the protective armour of a Samurai) and the Moscovites’ Hall (stone cannonballs, arms, etc.)
were found during the excavation as well. A considerable proportion of these finds consists of
regalia of the highest award of Prussia, the Order of Black Eagle (more than 30 items), and
were specially made for the exhibition in the Moscovites’ Hall.
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