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History
Peter of Dusburg wrote of a settlement known as Tapiow, first documented in 1254, and the neighboring fort Surgurbi built by 1265.[1] The Old Prussian names were derived from tape, teplu, toplu, tapi, meaning "warm", and sur garbis, meaning "around the mountain". During the 13th century Prussian Crusade, the area was conquered by the Teutonic Knights. To protect Samland from the Nadrovians and Scalovians, the crusaders built a wooden fort between the Deime and Pregel rivers from 1283–90. This was replaced by Tapiau Castle, a stone Ordensburg, in 1351.
The settlement gradually became known by the German crusaders as Tapiau. Vytautas, the later Grand Duke of Lithuania, was baptized in Tapiau in 1385. After the transfer of the Grand Master's seat from Marienburg to Königsberg, Tapiau became the site of the Order's archives and library from 1469–1722.
Tapiau became part of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. Tapiau Castle was often used as a second residences of the Prussian dukes; Albert of Prussia died there in 1568. The town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, receiving town rights from King Frederick William I of Prussia in 1722. It was part of the Prussian Province of East Prussia and was administered in Landkreis Wehlau (1818–1945). Tapiau became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871.
Unlike most other towns in northern East Prussia, Tapiau was largely undamaged during World War II. Following the war's end in 1945, it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed Gvardeysk ("guard town") in 1946. The German population evacuated or was expelled westward and replaced by Russians.
Tapiau's most famous resident was the painter Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), who donated the painting Golgatha for the altar of the town's church in 1910; the painting disappeared near the end of World War II. The house where Corinth was born still stands in Gvardeysk.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Gvardeysk depicts a bare hand holding a sword amongst clouds, beneath a golden sun. When the town was known as Tapiau before 1945, the golden sun also included the Tetragrammaton (Jehova-Sonne).[2]
Sights
Sights of Gvardeysk include a church from 1502 and the ruined Castle Tapiau, reconstructed into an orphanage in 1879. It has been used as a prison since 1945.
People
- Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490-1568), died in Tapiau
- Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), painter born in Tapiau
Notes
References
- Hupp, Otto (1896 and 1898). Königreich Preußsen: Wappen der Städte. Flecken und Dörfer. Frankfurt: Verlag von Heinrich Keller, 185. (German)
- Oesterley, Hermann (1883). Historisch-geographisches Wörterbuch des deutschen Mittelalters. Gotha: Justus Perthus, 805. (German)
External links
- Website on Tapiau (Russian)
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