Paradeplatz (Königsberg)

Paradeplatz (parade square), also known as the Königsgarten (king's garden), was a park in Königsberg, Germany.

In 1509 Grand Master Frederick of Saxony established land north of Königsberg Castle and Burgfreiheit and south of Tragheim as a garden; the original garden was larger than the 20th century park. It subsequently became the ducal pleasure garden after the establishment of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. John Sigismund, heir to Brandenburg, married Anna of Prussia in the garden in 1594. Elector Frederick III honored Kanzler Georg Friedrich von Creytzen and Obermarschall von Wallenrodt among its old lime trees in 1697. It became a royal garden in 1701 with the formation of the Kingdom of Prussia. Much of the garden, which included foreign and specialty plants, froze during the unusually cold winter of 1708/09.

King Frederick William I of Prussia (reigned 1713 to 1740), nicknamed the "Soldier-King", used the garden as a training ground for drilling troops. The architect Joachim Ludwig Schultheiß von Unfriedt began construction of a garrison church in the garden's northeast to replace the small church in Fort Friedrichsburg in 1731. Ludwig von Baczko considered the window-high building to be the most beautiful church in Königsberg, but the project was halted by King Frederick II (reigned 1740 to 1786). The classical Königshalle was built to the south in 1790, while a new building for military drills was constructed in 1791 along the northern side of the garden. Gauntlet punishments were held until 1808. Besides the common 18th century name Königsgarten, other historical names included Baumgarten, Fürstlicher Garten, Herzoglicher Garten, Hetzgarten, Lustgarten, Paradegarten, and Schloßgarten; in 1811 it was designated Paradeplatz.

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