The Hufen District is different from many other areas of Kaliningrad which were reduced to ruins during the war. It is still, as it always was, one of the most beautiful districts of the city. Because of the wealth of interesting buildings it remains a very strong character of its own. On the right of the Hansa-ring Street (part of Mir Avenue now) at the junction of Brams-strasse (Brams Street now) with Gluck-strasse (Grekov Street now) stands a splendid building which amazes the viewers by its majestic and harmonious Neogothic style. It was built in 1918 and housed the Post Head Office. It's the Headquarters of the Baltic Navy now. Just over the road one can see a long building with a flat roof which housed 'The Radio of Eastern Prussia', a newspaper editorial office and the City Archives. Nowadays its
premises are used by a number of institutions, the Atlantic Department of the Oceanology Institute and the Regional Public Library are among them.
At the junction of Hansa-ring with Hufen-allee (part of Mir Avenue from the Drama Theatre to the Kalinin Park) there was a majestic and elegant building of the former Kenigsberg Drama Theatre, the District Drama Theatre now. On the eve of World War II it was one of the most modern theatres in Germany. During the period from 1925 to 1933 it was under the direction of Fritz Yesner and the theatre was at its most prosperity. On its portal there was a Shiller's line: 'Only fantasy eternally abides with youth'. At the end of the war the theatre was severely damaged and its restorers made many alterations particularly to its front reproducing some forms of the facade of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The reconstructed building assumed a majestic appearance. Near the theatre there is a bronze statue of Shiller. It was unveiled in front of the Opera Theatre in Paraden-platz in 1910. In 1936it was moved to the Drama Theatre. This outstanding sculptured work of Stanislav Kauer, Professor of the Academy of Arts, was not like most of the Kenigsberg monuments destroyed during the war. A Russian soldier wrote on its pedestal: 'Don't shoot! This is poet Shiller'.
In this district there are a lot of recreation places buried in lush greenery which offer a relaxing escape from the bustle of city life. One of them is a sport complex originally named after the famous banker Walter Simon who sponsored the construction of the first sports grounds in 1892. In1938 it was renamed Erich Koch-platz and the statue of General York in front of it was removed.
The Kenigsberg residents were fond of their Zoo opened in 1896. Herman Klaas, its director for many years, loved animals passionately. An idyllic sculpture in his honour with a dedication to him made by sculptor Walter Rosenberg still remains on the site of the Zoo. It depicts a boy playing with two bear-cubs and a small hippopotamus. On the eve of the war there were about 2,000 animals in the Zoo. Almost all of them perished during the assault of Kenigsberg. But a lot of old open-air cages and lanes still remain to this day. The last director of the Zoo in 1939-1945 was Doctor Hans Georg Tinemann. His father, the famous scientist Iohannes Tinemann, initiated the opening of the ornithological station on the Kurshsky Spit in 1901.
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Opposite the Zoo stands an imposing building of the former Insurance Company 'Nordstem' (The Northern Star') which was renovated and converted to the 'Moscow' hotel. It was built by the well-known architect Zigfrid Zassnik who designed the first entrance to the Zoo. On the opposite side, next to the Zoo, a conspicuous building of the former high school stands back a bit from the road behind splendid trees. It was built under the direction of the construction adviser Kraatz in 1915.
'Scala' was the most beautiful cinema in the district ('Zarya' cinema now). Nearby in the former Gindenburg-strasse (Cosmonaut Leonov Street now) is an elegant building of the former Lyceum. In the post-war years it housed secondary school. Now it's the Industrial Training Centre. Above the entrance a few sculptured portraits by sculptor Kauer still remain to this day. One of the Russian cosmonauts — Yury Romanenko finished school № 18. There is ah obelisk in honour of our townsmen-cosmonauts — Romanenko, Leonov, Patsaev nearby made by sculptor B, Edunov.
Answer the questions:
1) What happened in period from 1925 to 1933?
2) What is near the theatre?
3) How many animals were in the Zoo on the eve of the war?
4. Architecture
Among the other attractions of Kaliningrad is the general architectural outlook of the city. There are almost no pre-war buildings in the center of the city. The German constructions remained close to the outskirts.
At the end of the 20th century, the attitude towards German architecture changed, some German buildings remained till that time was restored. Later the Cathedral church was restored as well as the historical Konigsberg House of Engineering.
In 2008, the program on restoration of the historical center of Kaliningrad was adopted and it was suggested to reconstruct the pre-war buildings in the central part of the city and to construct the new Konigsberg castle on the old base.
By the end of the 20th century, the Cathedral church was fully restored and at present the cultural and religious center is located there. One can listen to concerts of spiritual and organ music there. There are 2 organs in the church, one of them is the largest in Europe, it was restored with the help of the old drafts.
Orthodox and Lutheran chapels are located in the church towers as well as exhibits of Knaiphof island history, philosopher Kant and the Cathedral church itself. The Cathedral church (was mentioned for the first time in 1333) was the main church in Konigsberg and now it is one of the main places of interest in Kaliningrad.
Beside Cathedral church, 9 pre-war churches are retained in Kaliningrad. Yuditten-Kirkha (at present - the Orthodox St.Nickolas church) is the oldest building survived in Kaliningrad. It was constructed in the 12th century. All the rest survived churches of the German time are much younger and are referred to the end of the 19th - early 20th centuries.