Before the appearance of the knights of the Teutonic Order in the southeastern Baltic region, on the high southern bank of the Memel (Neman) River, there was a fortress of Raganita, which belonged to the Western Balt tribe of Skalov. There is an assumption that the name of the fortress is associated with the name of the river, which does not exist now. Not far from the fortress, on the northern bank of the Memel, was the famous Rombinus mountain (lit. Rambinas) - a pagan cult place covered with legends.
Conquering the territory of the Prussians, the Teutonic Order reached these places: in 1275 the crusaders captured and destroyed the fortress of Raganit. In 1289, the order's landmaster Meinhard von Querfurt built a new timber-earth fortress on this site, which was originally named Landeshut. Later, in 1326, the fortress returned its former, somewhat modified name - Ragnit.
View of the castle, early XX century.
During this period, the fortress Ragnit was one of the forward posts of the Teutonic Order and played the role of a stronghold in the confrontation with Lithuania. In the XIV century. the fortress was repeatedly destroyed by the Lithuanians. In 1397-1409. Castle Ragnit was rebuilt from stone just downstream of the river, where its ruins are today. It was one of the most powerful fortifications of the order.
Back in the XIII century. settlers began to arrive on the conquered Prussian lands. The settlement, formed near the Ragnit fortress, already at the end of the XIV - the beginning of the XV century. has become an important trading place. There is information that in 1409 the order planned to found a city here, but the defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 prevented the implementation of these intentions. Until the formation of the Prussian Duchy, Ragnit remained the center of the eponymous komturstvo.
In 1709-1711. in Ragnit, as in other settlements of East Prussia, an epidemic of plague was raging, which significantly reduced the population. The policy of the Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm I contributed to the arrival of a new wave of immigrants here, mainly from German regions. After these events, a new period began in the development of Ragnit.
In 1722 Frederick William I granted the status of a town to the settlement of Ragnit. However, being close to Tilsit, which received city rights back in 1552, Ragnit looked like a small provincial town. The development of the city plan, taking into account the old buildings in 1723, was undertaken by the architect I. L. Sh. von Unfried. One of the sources says that under King Frederick Wilhelm I, the city was surrounded by palisades.
Promotional video:
During the Napoleonic Wars, the city had to endure difficult trials. In 1807, most of Ragnit burned out, an epidemic that broke out claimed the lives of 260 townspeople. In 1829, a strong fire broke out in the Ragnitsky castle. The castle was restored only in 1840 - it housed the city and district court, in 1849 - the military tribunal, and since 1879 - the administrative court.
This is what the castle looked like in 1939.
And this is how I saw him now.
How did it happen that the whole castle in the photographs of the early twentieth century is now in such a depressing state? I will say right away that he practically did not suffer during the Great Patriotic War.
For many centuries this unique castle withstood all the numerous wars and natural disasters, but was turned into ruins by Lenfilm specialists under the direction of director Alexei German during the filming of the movie Twenty Days Without War in 1976. In the title role, you probably remember Yuri Nikulin there.
During the filming, the actors of the picture got used to the atmosphere of wartime. The team lived in the hotel, and in the carriages where the events of the film took place. According to Herman, they managed to "create an atmosphere in which you can't lie."
The military episodes were filmed in the Kaliningrad region, mainly near Kaliningrad and Znamensk, where they managed to find landscapes close to Stalingrad. And in the city of Neman, the group was noted not in the best way, because during the work it almost destroyed the Ragnit castle of the Teutonic Order of the 15th century, which miraculously survived the war.
For the scene of memories, Herman needed a spectacular explosion of the wall. They decided to blow up the castle wall, which further contributed to its collapse.
The episode of the barbaric, unjustified explosion in the city center, which led to further catastrophic destruction of the castle, took 9 seconds in the film. One of the inner walls of the castle, 30 meters long, 10 meters high and up to 2 meters thick, has been irretrievably lost. At the time of the explosion, the area of the castle was cordoned off by the soldiers of the local garrison.
The next year in the Neman, already on the ruins of the castle, the film “Soldier and the Elephant” was filmed (USSR, Armenfilm, 1977, director Dmitry Kesayants, starring Frunzik Mkrtchyan).
Also, in the Kaliningrad city of Chernyakhovsk, they filmed a scene at the Tashkent railway station, since it was here that a station was found, exactly similar to the one that was in the capital of Uzbekistan during the war.
One can understand the destruction of historical sites during the war. Everything is complicated there, anything can happen. You can even understand the struggle against the "German" right after the war - the memory of the people of the atrocities of the Nazis is understandable.
But when you come to the ruins of the fourteenth century and ask - when did it fall apart? And they answer you - in the 90s! This is insulting.
It was clear that on the territory of “the greater Russia there were isolated stone objects of the fourteenth century. And on the territory of the Kaliningrad region, you can call in any town with 4,000 population and see the ruins of a church in 1350 approximately. And many are in a sad state.
But we will talk about this in subsequent reports.
But this building is a contemporary of a number of grandiose events. Thousands of people were closely associated with this magnificent example of medieval architecture, one of 110 fortresses in East Prussia.
The almost square brick structure was built in 1397 - 1408. The castle was built under the direction of the renowned architect Nikolaus Fellenstein from Koblenz. The construction of the walls was carried out by the Konigsberg master Albrecht. At a depth of five meters, massive granite slabs were laid at the base of the foundation. Made for centuries, with the famous German safety margin.
The four-storey building measuring 58 x 59 meters was considered large at that time. It consisted of 11 spacious halls and a mass of premises for various purposes, had a moat and a defensive rampart. There was a mill dam near the castle.
An almost inaccessible brick structure towered near the Memel (Neman) River. From the top of the castle, a wonderful view of the surroundings and the opposite bank opened up. It was there that the pagans lived - the Lithuanians (Samogitians), with whom the Teutons fought.
The harmony of the castle's forms was achieved through a combination of openwork arched openings, twisted staircases, beautiful brickwork and the strict outlines of the citadel. Despite the severe destruction, the former beauty is visible here and now.
For hundreds of years of its existence, the fortress has never been used! It housed various courts, a prison and even - in the post-war years - the city market. In the same period, fairs were held in the courtyard, and more or less suitable premises of the citadel turned into warehouses and utility rooms.
Only in 1982, thanks to the initiative of the Neman-Plön Society, the 25-meter clock tower was partially repaired. The roof and stairs were restored, the windows were taken with bars.
By the decree of the government of the Kaliningrad region of March 23, 2007, the ruins of the Ragnit castle received the status of an object of cultural heritage of regional significance, and in 2010, by decision of the deputies of the Kaliningrad Regional Duma, they were transferred to the ROC along with the land plot. However, to this day, no one is engaged in the restoration of the former citadel.
