Rossgarten Gate, Kaliningrad, Russia

The Rossgarten Gate is one of seven surviving city gates of Kaliningrad. Named after the district Rossgarten, the current gate replaced a previous version of the gate from the beginning of the 17th century. It was constructed between 1852-1855 under the supervision of Wilhelm Ludwig Stürmer. The gate was damaged after the war, but restored afterwards and currently houses a café-restaurant called Solnetsnyy Kamen ('Solar Stone').

The gate consists of only one passage of about four meters wide. On both sides of the passage three casemates are located, so the gate in total has seven openings. On top of the facade of the gate can be found a series of merlons, divided into two parts by the central elevated part of the gate. The gate itself has two high octagonal turrets. Above the main arch of the gate a lookout area is situated, again equipped with merlons. Reliefs of the Prussian generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August Neidhardt von Gneisenau decorate the main arch. While the city side of the gate is a highly decorated, the outer side does not have any decorative ornaments.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in Russia

User Reviews

Galina Golovkina (2 years ago)
Одно из немногих атмосферных мест Калининграда.

Александр Павлюк (3 years ago)
Росгартенские ворота (нем. Roßgärter Tor) — одни из семи сохранившихся городских ворот Калининграда. Расположены на пересечении улиц Черняховского и Александра Невского, рядом с площадью Василевского и музеем янтаря. Нынешнее здание ворот расположено на том месте, где располагались одноимённые ворота, относившиеся к первому вальному укреплению города (начало XVII века). Сохранившееся до наших дней здание ворот было построено в 1852—1855 годах по проекту Инженера-гауптманна и директора крепостного строительства Ирфюгельбрехта и инженер-лейтенанта фон Хайля в Кёнигсберге. Проект фасада ворот был разработан тайным верховным строительным советником Августом Штюлером, руководителем Технической строительной депутации в Берлине. Автор скульптурных украшений — Вильгельм Людвиг Штюрмер. Первый проект ворот был разработан в 1852 году ведомством крепостей в Кёнигсберге. Этот проект был значительно переработан тайным советником Штюлером. Штюлер сам проработал проект фасада, придав ему ярковыраженные готические формы. После войны ворота были восстановлены и стали использоваться как кафе-ресторан «Солнечный камень».

Dmitry Ignatov (3 years ago)
Да ладно... Какая инстанция согласовала размещение мест на улице? Замеры шума и содержания СО проводились? Зашли и вышли - поток машин, вонь от выхлопных газов неслабая.

Оля Ля (3 years ago)
Обслуживание медленнее черепахи! При том, что много столов было незанятых. Кухня ни о чем: заказали шашлык из свинины двойную порцию - не вкусно, так ещё и явно был обвес, шашлык из курицы - такое ощущение, что мясо не жарили, а тушили, овощи-гриль вообще не принесли, но в счёт включили. Единственное, что понравилось - вид на внутренней территории. Больше туда ни ногой, и другим не советую.

Lilia Faizova (3 years ago)
Вид с террасы супер. Еда так себе. 4 только за вид.

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Quimper Cathedral

From 1239, Raynaud, the Bishop of Quimper, decided on the building of a new chancel destined to replace that of the Romanesque era. He therefore started, in the far west, the construction of a great Gothic cathedral which would inspire cathedral reconstructions in the Ile de France and would in turn become a place of experimentation from where would later appear ideas adopted by the whole of lower Brittany. The date of 1239 marks the Bishop’s decision and does not imply an immediate start to construction. Observation of the pillar profiles, their bases, the canopies, the fitting of the ribbed vaults of the ambulatory or the alignment of the bays leads us to believe, however, that the construction was spread out over time.

The four circular pillars mark the start of the building site, but the four following adopt a lozenge-shaped layout which could indicate a change of project manager. The clumsiness of the vaulted archways of the north ambulatory, the start of the ribbed vaults at the height of the south ambulatory or the choice of the vaults descending in spoke-form from the semi-circle which allows the connection of the axis chapel to the choir – despite the manifest problems of alignment – conveys the hesitancy and diverse influences in the first phase of works which spread out until the start of the 14th century.

At the same time as this facade was built (to which were added the north and south gates) the building of the nave started in the east and would finish by 1460. The nave is made up of six bays with one at the level of the facade towers and flanked by double aisles – one wide and one narrow (split into side chapels) – in an extension of the choir arrangements.

The choir presents four right-hand bays with ambulatory and side chapels. It is extended towards the east of 3-sided chevet which opens onto a semi-circle composed of five chapels and an apsidal chapel of two bays and a flat chevet consecrated to Our Lady.

The three-level elevation with arches, triforium and galleries seems more uniform and expresses anglo-Norman influence in the thickness of the walls (Norman passageway at the gallery level) or the decorative style (heavy mouldings, decorative frieze under the triforium). This building site would have to have been overseen in one shot. Undoubtedly interrupted by the war of Succession (1341-1364) it draws to a close with the building of the lierne vaults (1410) and the fitting of stained-glass windows. Bishop Bertrand de Rosmadec and Duke Jean V, whose coat of arms would decorate these vaults, finished the chancel before starting on the building of the facade and the nave.

Isolated from its environment in the 19th century, the cathedral was – on the contrary – originally very linked to its surroundings. Its site and the orientation of the facade determined traffic flow in the town. Its positioning close to the south walls resulted in particuliarities such as the transfer of the side gates on to the north and south facades of the towers: the southern portal of Saint Catherine served the bishop’s gate and the hospital located on the left bank (the current Préfecture) and the north gate was the baptismal porch – a true parish porch with its benches and alcoves for the Apostles’ statues turned towards the town, completed by an ossuary (1514).

The west porch finds its natural place between the two towers. The entire aesthetic of these three gates springs from the Flamboyant era: trefoil, curly kale, finials, large gables which cut into the mouldings and balustrades. Pinnacles and recesses embellish the buttresses whilst an entire bestiary appears: monsters, dogs, mysterious figures, gargoyles, and with them a whole imaginary world promoting a religious and political programme. Even though most of the saints statues have disappeared an armorial survives which makes the doors of the cathedral one of the most beautiful heraldic pages imaginable: ducal ermine, the Montfort lion, Duchess Jeanne of France’s coat of arms side by side with the arms of the Cornouaille barons with their helmets and crests. One can imagine the impact of this sculpted decor with the colour and gilding which originally completed it.

At the start of the 16th century the construction of the spires was being prepared when building was interrupted, undoubtedly for financial reasons. Small conical roofs were therefore placed on top of the towers. The following centuries were essentially devoted to putting furnishings in place (funeral monuments, altars, statues, organs, pulpit). Note the fire which destroyed the spire of the transept cross in 1620 as well as the ransacking of the cathedral in 1793 when nearly all the furnishings disappeared in a « bonfire of the saints ».

The 19th century would therefore inherit an almost finished but mutilated building and would devote itself to its renovation according to the tastes and theories of the day.

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