Juditten Church / Eparchial Nunnery of St. Nicolas the Miracle-Worker

Judditen Church is the oldest preserved building of Kaliningrad. The time of building is considered to be the end of XIII century. According to some sources, the church was consecrated in 1288.

There are still a lot of legends about the name of the church. One version says that the church was named after Prussian head Judetus (or Judo), which was converted to Christianity. Another popular version says that the church was named after St. Jutta (Juditta).

Initially the building of the order of the Catholic Church served not only for religious purposes, but also for defense, a massive bottom level and thick walls with battle windows point to it. During its history the church was repeatedly reconstructed and one of the most significant changes was the building of the west tower at the beginning of the XVI century.

By the end of the XIV century the church was already a famous pilgrimage site for Teutonic and Livonian knights. When the church was renamed later to the evangelic parish church of the Holy Virgin, many pilgrims came there to see the unique sculpture “Madonna on the crescent”.

During World War II the church avoided heavy damages. According to eyewitnesses, the Germans who stayed in the city until 1948, continued to hold services there, but then the building came to desolation and went to ruin.

At the beginning of the 1980s a fateful decision for the landmark was made to transfer it to the Orthodox Church. The restoration work began in 1985 and the church was eventually restored as St. Nicholas Church. The first orthodox service was held there in 1988 yet. The church was converted to the eparchial Nunnery of St. Nicolas the Miracle-Worker. 8 years later, the nunnery became the first one in the Kaliningrad region.

Here you can visit a spring with holy water and a remained cemetery of Judditen Church, where many outstanding figures of East Prussia were buried.

In the convent a Sunday school and a charitable refectory are opened.