Ausfahl Gate

Ausfahl Gate - (also: exit gate, from German Ausfahlstor, sally port) — one of the seven survived city gates of Kaliningrad. Located on the South-Western corner of the crossing of Guards Avenue and Gornaia Street (Rumyantseva str), in close proximity to the Monument to 1,200 Soldiers.

The first gates, which were located approximately at the place of the present ones, were built in the twenties of the 17th century during the construction of the defensive wall around the city. Later, in 1866, the gate was rebuilt, in the style of brick Gothic. Built in the 19th century, the Ausfahl Gate passed only pedestrians and was less significant than the rest of the city gates (which is indicated, for example, by poorer architectural design). The architect Ludwig von Aster was the designer of the new Ausfahl Gate. The gate from the very beginning crashed into the wall and was actually below ground level. In the 20th century the only passage of the gate was blocked. Like all the other city gates in 1910, the Ausfahl Gate was sold by the military department to the city. During the war, the Ausfahl Gate was converted into a military command post.

The extensive interior of the gates was divided into separate compartments by concrete walls. Passages between compartments were closed with hermetic protective doors. After the war, the gates were used as a warehouse, later, as a bomb shelter near a police school, and later, as a sewage collector. In 1993, an Orthodox chapel of St. George was built on the top cover of the gate, which was located on the same level as the roadway of the Guards Avenue, dedicated to Soviet soldiers who perished during the assault on Königsberg.