ABSTRACT
Better and better with each passing year, our Kaliningrad has been transformed beyond recognition. Having at last bestowed upon Kaliningrad an ideologically suitable historical narrative, attention turned towards the city’s built environment. Continuing to build upon the founding principles of the new Soviet historical narrative, three thematic routes were devised between 1966 and 1967: ‘Historical and Memorable Places of Kaliningrad’; ‘Socialist Kaliningrad’; and ‘Kaliningrad-Kaunas’. In addition to seeking to situate Kaliningrad in the wider Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Bureau’s other two excursions were aimed specifically at fostering engagement with the city itself. As a result, as the Soviet Union began to collapse, Kaliningrad found the heart of its city still tuned to static. Far from becoming the orientating point of the city, the uncompleted centre instead proved a suitable metaphor for the USSR’s ensuing disintegration.
