Gvardeyskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast
Coordinates: 54°29′N 20°38′E / 54.483°N 20.633°E
Gvardeyskoye (Russian: Гварде́йское) is a rural locality (a settlement) in Bagrationovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) north of Bagrationovsk, the administrative center of the district, and 25 kilometers (16 mi) south of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. It was previously known in German as Mühlhausen (Kreis Preußisch Eylau).
History
It was founded by the Teutonic Knights in the Old Prussian region of Natangia as a location of a mill (mühle means a mill) and a church, first mentioned in 1372. IT was given as a pawn by the Order to Daniel von Kunheim in 1474. The laird Georg von Kunheim, a student at Wittenberg, married Martin Luther's youngest daughter Margarethe Luther in 1555; she died in Mühlhausen in 1570. Two paintings of Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora by Lucas Cranach existed at the church up to 1945, as well as the original summons of Martin Luther by Emperor Charles V to the Diet of Worms and an original letter, written by Luther.
After the secularization of the Teutonic Knights in 1525, Mühlhausen became a part of the Duchy of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. In 1643, Mühlhausen came into the property of the von Kalckstein family until 1826, also as advowson of the Church.
Conquered by the Red Army during World War II, Mühlhausen was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union according to the 1945 Potsdam Conference and had its German population expelled. It was given its present name by the Soviets.
The formerly ruined church was rebuilt after 1994.
Population
- 1820: 353
- 1846: 454
- 1871: 670
- 1895: 662
- 1930: 576
- 1939: 939 (after the incorporation of Knauten)
Notable people
- Caspar Hennenberger (1529–1600), cartographer, Lutheran pastor
- Albrecht von Kalckstein (1592-1667), Prussian count
- Christian Ludwig von Kalckstein (1630–1672)
- Christoph Wilhelm von Kalckstein (1682-1759), educator of Frederick the Great
- Ludwig Karl von Kalckstein (1725-1800), Prussian count and field marshal
- Karl Georg Otto Willibald von Kalckstein (1812-1894), politician
References
- Horst Schulz, Der Kreis Pr. Eylau, Verden/Aller 1983
External links
- The Church in 2002 (p. 12) (German)
- color picture of the church in 1943