Introduction

This publication has been prepared in the framework of the Lithuania-Russia Federation (Kaliningrad region) Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 implementing project “Cultural heritage at the border region – for tourism and cooperation”.

It attempts to review objects of architectural, cultural and heritage sites in the border region of the two countries. The presence of personalities and better knowledge of them, the development of an advanced international community often create conditions for giving buildings opportunities for revival, allowing communities to focus on them.

With the activities and funds for the strengthening of further cooperation are renewing two of them: Kristijonas Donelaitis memorial museum in Chistye Prudy (in Lithuanian/lit. - Tolminkiemis; in german/ger. – Tollmingkehmen) and the barn of Kiduliai manor in Šakiai district, adapting it to the needs of culture and cooperation.

The whole region is the territory of the life started by the old Lithuanians Nadruvians and Suduvians and their descendants, and later - by more numerous representatives of other ethnic groups. The eastern part of Ostpreussen / Minor Lithuania / Karaliaučius region (present Kaliningrad region) has given the first Lithuanian book, the first Lithuanian grammar, the first songbook, the first Lithuanian poems. The publication mentions a whole group of famous Lithuanians who were born and lived here in the past centuries, also there you will find some more recent Russians and people of other or unifying nationalities, buildings or places, that remember them.

It is hoped, that changes in political attitudes will provide opportunities to rebuild, renovate and adapt many of these buildings to public needs and to preserve them for future generations.

The described territory was affected by similar historical-administrative events, processes, divisions, wars. Some villages or towns did not remain after the Second world war, collectivization. They are remembered by names, works, old photos.

In the Kaliningrad (lit. - Karaliaučius; ger. - Kionigsberg) region two administrative structures changed the "official" names of places and water names at least a couple of times. In the history of the Lithuanian language and in this publication they are called in old names in Lithuanian, usually indicating their names in brackets in other language versions. The names, used by the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation are marked "now in Russian/rus." or in German (East Prussian) - "ger.".

Cultural heritage on both sides of the border is numerous and various, there are cultural heritage objects of diverse cultural and economic groups. Most of them - surviving tombs and cemeteries, a number of sacral monuments, houses of worship, a little less surviving old towns, palaces and very few castles or their ruins, which have survived only in the region of Kaliningrad (Karaliaučius /).

With the Evangelical Lutheran faith dominating in the Ostpreussen / Minor Lithuania (now in rus. Kaliningrad region) and Catholicism in the Marijampolė, these religious features became apparent also in the construction of houses of worship and their decoration. The events of the Second world war and the post-war years brought many changes to the survival and dependence of the buildings of the house of prayers. In the Kaliningrad / Karaliaučius region a relatively significant part of them are abandoned, burnt, ending in collapse, some have changed owners. Special was the year 2010, when most of the houses of worship, castles and similar historic buildings in the area were handed over to the ownership of the Orthodox church by the decisions of the Federation Institutions and the Region Duma. There are several cases of “takeover” from one confession to another in the Marijampolė region also. Following these changes the rebuilding of houses of worship for one religious denomination with symbols or "towers" of another religious confession on them draws attention and raises various questions. It is also the uniqueness of this land, stories, with are worth knowing. In the lands of the centres (capitals) of both countries there are many ornate objects of architectural and cultural heritage, they are usually better known and more visited. This publication wanted to highlight those objects, that are further away from the “centres”, in the border regions: in the eastern part of the Kaliningrad region (old Nadruva region) - in Oziork (lit. – Darkiemis, ger. - Darkehmen), Chernyachovsk (lit. Įsrutis, ger. Insterburg), Gusev (lit. Gumbinė, ger. Gumbinnen), Krasnoznamensk (lit. Lazdynai, ger. Lazdehnen), Nesterov (lit. Stalupėnai, ger. Stalluponen) and Neman (lit. Ragainė, ger. Ragnit) districts, as well as in Marijampolė (north part of Sūduva) region - in Kalvarija, Kazlų Rūda, Marijampolė, Šakiai and Vilkaviškis district municipalities.

These districts and municipalities are part of the Nemunas/Neman euroregion, a union of border regions of Lithuania, Belarus, Poland and the Kaliningrad region, established in 1998 to strengthen the economic well-being and people cooperation of the border regions.

This publication includes those objects, which are included in the Register of immovable cultural property. The authors of the publication tried to include the most interesting, most visited and new objects from each district or municipality.

The limited scope of the publication did not allow to include in it the heritage of all architectural and famous personalities and other objects - mounds, some monuments, places of historical events, cemeteries and ancient cemeteries.

The preparation of this publication was based on various sources - a lot of material was provided by tourism information centres, a lot of information about Nadruva monuments was found in the Encyclopedia of Lithuania Minor and in the book “Traces of culture of Lithuania Minor”. Various information publications, material published on the Internet were also used, and photographs were submitted by the authors and project implementers - the Nemunas euroregion Marijampolė bureau and the Museum of history and art of the Kaliningrad Region. We sincerely thank everyone, who provided information, photos, gave advices.

More information about the architectural, cultural and famous persons heritage of Kaliningrad and Marijampolė and other parts of Nemunas euroregion is available on the websites and social networks of tourism information centres, museums and other institutions in both countries.

Public institution Nemunas euroregion Marijampolė bureau

www.nemunas.info