Kaliningrad Fiori Fiorista

Königsberg in recent times, Kaliningrad is the westernmost administrative center of the Russian Federation. In fact, the city is the only Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea squeezed between two members of the European Union – Lithuania and Poland. Königsberg’s history dates back to the 1200s. It belonged to the military state of the Teutonic order. Later it used to be the capital city of Preußen (Prussia). As agreed by the participants at the trilateral Berlin conference, that area of Nazi Germany was annexed to the Soviet Union. Since then it has become Kaliningrad. It is a fascinating corner of Europe dotted with medieval fairy castles. The former Prussian capital city played a crucial role in the Enlightenment – not to mention a famous philosopher Immanuel Kant’s living here (1724 – 1804). He was buried at Königsberg Cathedral on Kant Island. Nowadays, it is a quaint mix of the regal architecture of German-speaking Prussia, a cosmopolitan European culture and the tangible proof of the Soviet negligence.
A visit to this vibrant city with the population of half a million people is not complete without an excursion to its leafy parks, full of blossoming flowers, such as Kaliningrad Central park. Its name was Luisenwahl until 1946. The richest person in the Kingdom, King Frederick William III and his family bought Christophe Busolt’s manor in the early 19th century and chose it as their summer residence. Later emperor William II granted that residence to the city. Not until Deutsches Reich lost the WWII, the Soviet administration assumed of that wonderful park. They renamed it after Mykhail Kalinin.
The Central Park is home to city’s two largest fountains providing with a comforting chill at scorching days. It also greets its visitors with colorful splendor and noble fragrance of flowers representing about 20 species including some indigenous wildflowers. Numerous flower beds are designed to amuse the eye. Flower lovers can enjoy the same view that impressed the Prussian royal couples in XIX century.