The Church of St. Catherine

The Church of St. Catherine

In 1322, on the territory of the Prussian fortress in the Arnau district, an Order Castle was built. Next to it, on a nearby hill a wooden chapel appeared. In 1340, instead of the chapel, a new Catholic brick church was erected. Around 1370, an unknown artist painted the walls of the temple with frescoes which illustrated 199 plots from the Old and New Testaments. The Arnau Kirche was dedicated to St. Catherine and was a place of pilgrimage of the believers up to the Church Reformation of 1525 after which instead of the monastery the Loebenichth Hospital was established, and in this connection, all the frescoes were hidden by whitewashing. Only in 1868, when examining the church, frescoes of the 15th century were discovered under the whitewash. In 1945 the church was almost completely destroyed and since 1960 it was used as a granary after the reconstruction. In 1994 the church was freed from extensions. Some accident-prevention work was carried out. Despite the loss and destruction, the Church of St. Catherine is an example of the Gothic architecture of the Order State. Since May 11, 2010, the church has been used by the Kaliningrad Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Centralised Religious Organisation. From 2011 to 2014 the church was completely restored and today it is an active Orthodox parish.

The information has been provided by the rector of the church.