Sackheim Gate

The current building of the Sackheim Gate was built in the middle of the 19th century. However, the first gate on this place was built during the construction of the first fortification of Königsberg at the beginning of the 17th century. Until the end of the 19th century, while gross fortifications existed, the gate served as a checkpoint at the entrance to the city. After the barrages were destroyed, the defense function was lost and the barrages became a kind of the triumphal arch analogue. At the beginning of the 20th century, the gates were sold by the military department to the city. After that, a part of the casemates was demolished and residential houses were added to the gate. After World War II, the gate began to be used as a warehouse. This function was performed until 2006. At the same time, the gate has the status of a historical monument of Federal importance. In 2006, the restoration of the gate began. 

After restoration will be completed, it was planned to transfer the gate to the Federal state institution ‘Center for Standardization and Metrology’. The Sackheim Gate has one passage in the form of an arch. In the past, there were also smaller arches on the sides, which may have been pedestrian walkways, but they have not survived to the present day. At the corners of the gate there are four towers: two round from the city and octahedral from the outside. On the city side, the gates were decorated with high reliefs by Johann David Ludwig York and Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow, from the outside – with the image of a black eagle (the Order of the Black Eagle was the highest award of Prussia). Construction description from Baldur Köster (translated by Alexei Shabunin): Surprisingly, in the exterior design of the Konigsberg gate, which was almost identical in terms of its purpose, when moving from one building to another, new forms were invented. And if the entire gate shown had only massive corner turrets, which were pure decoration, then in the case of the Sackheim Gate (as well as on the gate described below to the Friedrichsburg fort) powerful empty round towers were built on which it was possible to climb. This form gives the impression of simplicity, almost no frills. The scenery approaching the gothic is minimized. Today's impression, when the gates stand aside from the wide roadway and their large passage is bricked up, is deceptive and does not give an idea of the original form of the gate. At first, the gate consisted not only of two towers with a gateway between them. Buildings continued to the left and right of the gate. Here, specific direction was given in width but not in length. 

Two portrait medallions of York and von Bulow (also made by Wilhelm Ludwig Stürmer) are now missing. Only empty medallions are visible. In 2013, the Sackheim Gate was placed under the control of the Kaliningrad Union of Photo Artists, together with a group of curators initiated the creation of an art platform called "the Gate" . A large-scale reconstruction was carried out inside the building: windows were installed, communications were held, in 2015 a second floor was built.