This beautiful red-brick neo-Gothic church was built in 1897. Originally, it was the local Lutheran church of the village of Ponart, which later became part of Königsberg.
After World War II, when the city became part of the USSR, where churches were not held in high regard, the church building stood empty for several decades. In the 70s, the "Shtorm" gym was opened here, where schoolchildren practiced gymnastics.
In 1992, the former Lutheran church was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and thus it became the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Gothic wimpergs, pointed windows with characteristic stained glass, and a tall square tower look rather eclectic in combination with Orthodox crosses and small golden domes.
But while the church looks completely unusual for an Orthodox church from the outside, everything inside was changed to meet the requirements. The interior of the German church was completely replaced, the structure of the space was transformed, and a new altar was installed. In addition, in 1993, as befits an Orthodox church, a bell tower was added here.
