Puppet Theatre in Kaliningrad

Formely Queen Louise Memorial Church (the Luisenkirche)

The Kaliningrad Puppet Theatre is a puppet theatre in Kaliningrad, Russia. The building was originally the Königin-Luise-Gedächtniskirche (Queen Louise Memorial Church), popularly known as the Luisenkirche, a Protestant church in Königsberg, Germany.

History

The Luisenkirche, the first church built outside of the Königsberg fortifications, was named in honor of Queen Louise of Prussia (1776–1810), who was beloved by Königsbergers. Land and funding was primarily donated by commerce official Louis Großkopf and his wife, with additional funding coming from banker Walter Simon, industrialist Fritz Heumann, and A. Siebert.

The Neo-Romanesque building was designed by the architects Friedrich Heitmann and Franz Krah to serve the communities of Amalienau, Mittelhufen, and Vorderhufen. It was constructed in Amalienau from 1899-1901 and dedicated on 9 September 1901. The church was heavily damaged during World War II; Königsberg became Soviet Kaliningrad after the war.

The Soviets planned to demolish the ruins in the 1960s, but officials were convinced by architect Yuri Vaganov that the building could be converted into a puppet theatre. Renovations were completed in 1976. While the exterior of the building is similar to its pre-war condition, the interior was redesigned to fit the needs of a theatre.