Rossgarten Gate

The present building of the gate is located on the place where the gate of the same name was located, referring to the first barrage fortification of the city (early 17th century).The preserved gate building was built in 1852–1855 according to the design of the Hauptmann engineer and the director of the fortress building Irfügelbrecht and lieutenant engineer von Heil in Konigsberg. The project of the facade of the gate was developed by the secret supreme construction adviser Augustus Stüler, the head of the Technical Construction Deputation in Berlin. 

The author of the sculptural ornaments is Wilhelm Ludwig Sturmer. The first project of the gate was developed in 1852 by the Office of the Fortresses in Konigsberg. This project was significantly reworked by the secret adviser Stüler. Stüler himself worked out the project of the facade, giving it a pronounced Gothic form. The gates have only one passage four meters wide. There are three casemates on both sides on each side from the passage. Thus, the facade of the gate consists of seven openings. On the side of the city, casemates have windows, on the outside – embrasures. Above the facade of the gates, there is a row of peaks, divided into two by the raised central part. On its sides the central part is framed by two high octahedral towers, which end with decorative machicolations. Between the turrets there is a high arch, which stands before the entrance to the gates. There is an observation platform, fenced with peaks, over the arch. To the right and to the left of the arch there are arcades, consisting of arches resting on columns. There are two medallion portraits depicting the Prussian generals Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on either side of the main arch. While the city side of the gates is beautifully decorated, the outside one does not have decorative ornaments. From the outside, the passage is covered with a blockhouse, from which circular guns and artillery fire and a guardhouse can be fired, from which embrasures could be fired from frontal and flank fire. The guardhouse had a swing gates. In front of the guardhouse there was a foss with a lift bridge. Construction description by Baldur Koester (translated by Alexey Shabunin): Rossgarten Gate, like the King’s Gate, has only one passage 4 meters wide. Here, the casemates located on both sides were used as premises for security. No pedestrian passages, as in the King’s Gate, in the Rossgarten Gate, perhaps, were done, as there are still initial parapets on the facade. The passage is followed here by the so-called Zwinger (encircling fortress). The design of the walls and vaults is clearly oversized, which in fact can be seen and realized only with the help of drawings. Due to its balanced design Rossgarten gates are the most beautiful of all city gates. A long front of seven openings, the top of which is seized together by a crown of battlements, is interrupted in a powerful manner in the center by a protruding part over an almost twice taller opening in the middle, this part with its two angular turrets gives the impression of a tower (only from the side, one can see that ‘the tower’ is, in fact, props). Stüler tried to smooth the weight of the facade. In front of a massive building, he has a second wall, which dissolves in the middle of large openings. With the help of this tool, known to us thanks to the Gothic church buildings only, he managed to play out the lightness that you usually do not expect from the accessory to the fortification. But, probably, this was his (or king) idea. He would not want to allow the citizens to feel the threatening component of the defensive ring; on the contrary, there was a desire to please them with the help of a pleasant relaxed structure. 

Nevertheless, the military purpose was quite evident, but not so clearly underlined. To the right and to the left of the large arch there are two portraits-medallions showing the great generals of the liberation war, which by that time ended only 30 years ago: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. 

After the war, the gate was restored and began to be used as a cafe-restaurant ‘Sun Stone’. For this, a large middle passage at both ends was glazed. The old, cleanly worked wall and vault are preserved and give the room a decent character. The Northern casemates serve only as an entrance and a wardrobe, the Southern casemates serve for the kitchen and auxiliary rooms. The open and closed hours of the restaurant ‘Sun Stone’ are 12.00 – 02.00 daily.