Exhibits of the 'Packhaus' Exhibition Center

About exhibition

The central exhibit of the exhibition hall is the archaeological find “19th‑century Ship.” In 2000, workers of the Kaliningrad Amber Combine in the “Primorsky” quarry came across the hull of a wooden single‑masted sailing vessel. Nearby lay an anchor, displaced by water currents, with a substantial length of anchor chain fused to remnants of the planking of the forecastle bulwark. Iron rigging parts, an iron swivel, several fragments of wooden components, and several cut sections of cast‑iron pipes were visible; these may have been either part of the ship’s cargo or hold ballast to ensure its stability. After painstaking and lengthy restoration, the fragments of the vessel were assembled and are displayed in the museum hall; they illustrate the history of regional shipbuilding and seafaring. Other items in the exhibition—maps, historical photographs, documents, and pieces of ship equipment—tell the story of maritime Königsberg–Kaliningrad, the construction of the first ports, the modernization of port complexes and shipyards, and navigation and fishing on rivers, canals, bays and, of course, in the Baltic Sea. A separate stand is devoted to the history of the famous walks of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, the route of which ran through the area of the city port.