This photograph was found in a family album of a Kaliningrad resident. The photo appeared in the collection of Kaliningrad Museum of Fine Arts thanks to Vladimir Voronov, the ethnographer and photographer selecting the materials for the exhibition project Kaliningrad 1946-1966. Photos from Family Album. This photo depicts Konigsberg Exchange — one of the key landmarks of Kaliningrad. Today the museum owns this building and uses it for presenting its main collection.

Heinrich Muller, the German architect, designed the building of the Exchange in the late 19th century. For a long time it was the symbol of the city and could be seen on numerous photos and postcards.

Back from the very old times, Konigsberg has always been the market town, so it needed the place for closing numerous commercial deals. The first building of the Exchange appeared on the southern bank of the River Pregel in 1623. It was situated across the road from the today’s building. However, the wooden building deteriorated very quickly. Only in 1870-s the city managed to build a new Exchange — the one we can see today. It is a splendid mansion resembling Italian palazzo of the Renaissance. Because of this building, the residents even started calling this district small Venice.

In the last century, the locals used this building not only to close commercial deals, but also for exhibitions, concerts, balls and other public events. For example, in 1917, the anniversary exhibition of Kathe Kollwitz, the first woman ever to be elected the professor of Prussian Academy of Fine Arts, took place there.

In the summer of 1944, due to the bombing by British air force the building was partially ruined. After the end of World War II, the Exchange remained abandoned for a long time, and the photo depicts this. This building was often used as the scene was filming movies about the war to show a city in ruins.

In 1960, by virtue of the Resolution of the Soviet government, the building received the status of an architectural monument. At the same time, the city administration got the idea to use it for the local ethnography museum, but failed to implement it. In 1967, the building finally was restored — however, the restoration artists managed to preserve only the facade. Unfortunately, the splendid interior was lost. Kaliningrad Museum of Fine Arts received the building in 2017.