5/5 Людмила �. 5 years ago on Google • 139 reviews
A
great
place
to
relax
with
your
family
and
especially
with
children.
In
summer
there
is
a
fountain.
There
is
a
huge
children's
playground
with
ladders
and
slides.
Lots
of
benches
to
rest.
The
bike
paths
are
well
equipped,
and
you
can
also
go
rollerblading.
They
sell
cotton
candy,
ice
cream,
corn
and
much
more.
Comfortable
and
very
beautiful
pedestrian
recreation
area.
You
can
feed
the
swans
and
ducks.
It
is
known
from
history
that
the
Upper
Pond
is
of
artificial
origin.
The
pond
was
created
in
1270
in
the
capital
of
East
Prussia,
the
city
of
Königsberg,
when
the
knights
of
the
Teutonic
Order
from
the
nearby
Königsberg
Castle
dammed
a
tributary
of
the
Pregolya
River
with
an
earthen
dam.
The
pond
was
used
for
fish
breeding.
The
Upper
Pond
is
the
second
oldest
man-made
structure
in
Kaliningrad
that
has
survived
to
this
day.
Only
the
Lower
Pond,
created
in
1256,
is
older.
The
oldest
surviving
building
in
Kaliningrad,
the
Juditten
Church,
was
built
later,
in
1288.
Until
the
beginning
of
the
20th
century,
the
Upper
Pond
was
almost
entirely
outside
the
city.
A
ring
of
city
defensive
structures
ran
along
the
southern
shore
of
the
pond
(now
Chernyakhovsky
Street).
At
the
beginning
of
the
20th
century,
the
old
defensive
structures
lost
their
military
significance,
were
bought
by
the
city
and
partially
demolished.
The
city
began
to
grow
beyond
its
old
boundaries.
A
new
prestigious
area
of
Maraunenhof
villas
(Thälmann
Street
area)
was
built
next
to
the
lake.
The
lake
itself
turned
into
a
vacation
spot
for
the
townspeople.
Its
bottom
was
lined
with
a
thick
layer
of
sea
sand.
Baths,
cafes,
restaurants,
and
piers
for
pleasure
boats
were
built
on
the
banks.
The
shores
of
the
lake
were
decorated
with
sculptures
and
monuments.
On
the
west
coast
in
1913,
a
group
of
four
sculptures
of
sea
animals
was
installed:
a
walrus,
an
elephant
seal,
a
sea
dog
and
a
sea
lion
by
sculptor
Hermann
Thiele.
Only
two
sculptures
have
survived
to
this
day,
but
during
large-scale
work
to
clean
up
the
pond
and
build
an
embankment,
all
the
sculptures
were
restored.
Nearby
stood
the
sculpture
“Mother
and
Child”
by
Stanislav
Kauer.
In
the
eighties,
to
ensure
safety,
it
was
moved
to
the
courtyard
of
the
Kaliningrad
University.
The
equestrian
monument
to
the
cuirassier
that
stood
next
to
the
pond
was
melted
down
after
the
war.
Upper
Pond,
view
of
the
Amber
Museum
(Don
Tower),
photo
from
1982
After
the
war,
the
pond
was
a
place
for
swimming
and
fishing.
In
the
60-70s,
celebrations
of
Navy
Day
were
held.
The
rowers
conducted
the
training.
There
was
a
boat
station
in
Yunost
Park.
Later,
the
“Prichal”
cafe
on
the
northern
shore
and
the
“Parus”
restaurant
(now
“Shelf”)
on
the
side
of
Chernyakhovsky
Street
were
opened
on
the
banks.
Currently,
in
conjunction
with
the
improvement
of
Yunost
Park,
work
is
being
carried
out
to
reconstruct
the
banks
of
the
pond.
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