Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad's history dates back to the 13th century, when it was under the rule of the Teutonic knights, an order of German knights, priests and laymen who sought to expand Christianity through missions and conquests. Known by its German name of Königsberg then, the city was the capital of Prussia. Kaliningrad was a hub for science and culture whizzes from Germany, Poland and Lithuania. The famous mathematical Königsberg bridge problem is based in the city. Kaliningrad was also home to renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant and prominent German writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. Kant is said to have had such pride in his hometown that he barely left the place in his lifetime, declaring that he did not need to venture abroad because ships came and brought people to tell him stories. Destroyed in World War II and annexed by the USSR in 1946, the region was stripped of its German identity after the German population had been expelled, and was named after Mikhail Kalinin, a Russian communist leader. The overwhelming majority of its residents are Russians and those from other Soviet republics who came to the area in the immediate aftermath of World War II. A highly militarised zone during the Soviet era, the area only opened to visitors about 20 years ago. Unsurprisingly, there is very little visible trace of its Prussian past, save for a small number of refurbished buildings such as the Cathedral....