Chistye Prudy, Kaliningrad Oblast
Encyclopedia
Chistye Prudy is a rural locality (a settlement) in Nesterovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast
, Russia
. The settlement is located fifteen kilometers from the Russian border with southwestern Lithuania
.
Tollmingkehmen was mentioned in the written sources in the 14th century. In 1589, it became a center of a parish
. Many famous people worked in the parish including Christian Donalitius (since the 20th century also called Kristijonas Donelaitis
), the author of the first Lithuanian poem The Seasons
. Donalitius was the Lutheran pastor of the German and Lithuanian language inhabitants of Tollmingkehmen in eastern Prussia for 37 years. He built a new church which is now reconstructed into his memorial museum. Donalituis also built pianos, as well as thermometers and barometers.
It was an important cultural center in the Kingdom of Prussia
's Lithuania Minor
region and had a sizeable Prussian Lithuanian minority until the early 19th century, which fled during the last months of World War II or was expelled with the other inhabitants of East Prussia
after 1945.
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The settlement is located fifteen kilometers from the Russian border with southwestern Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
.
Tollmingkehmen was mentioned in the written sources in the 14th century. In 1589, it became a center of a parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
. Many famous people worked in the parish including Christian Donalitius (since the 20th century also called Kristijonas Donelaitis
Kristijonas Donelaitis
Kristijonas Donelaitis was a Prussian Lithuanian Lutheran pastor and poet. He lived and worked in Lithuania Minor, a territory in the Kingdom of Prussia, that had a sizable minority of ethnic Lithuanians...
), the author of the first Lithuanian poem The Seasons
The Seasons (poem)
The Seasons ' is the first Lithuanian poem written by Kristijonas Donelaitis around 1765–1775. It was published as "Das Jahr" in Königsberg, 1818 by Ludwig Rhesa, who also entitled the poem and selected the arrangement of the parts. The German translation was included in the first edition of the...
. Donalitius was the Lutheran pastor of the German and Lithuanian language inhabitants of Tollmingkehmen in eastern Prussia for 37 years. He built a new church which is now reconstructed into his memorial museum. Donalituis also built pianos, as well as thermometers and barometers.
It was an important cultural center in the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
's Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial...
region and had a sizeable Prussian Lithuanian minority until the early 19th century, which fled during the last months of World War II or was expelled with the other inhabitants of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
after 1945.