A visit to the ethnographically oriented History & Art Museum is an odd experience these days. Totally without signposting outside, we would have walked straight past but for the museum-like size and grandeur of the red-roofed building and garden. Originally serving as the Stadthalle concert hall, the building was badly damaged during air-raids in 1944 and stood in ruin until being rebuilt in 1991. Inside, the place is in the midst of another major long-term renovation project and it shows – two floors of generally interesting exhibits, covering everything from stuffed Russian fauna to military uniforms and an in-depth dissection of the Battle of Königsberg, sit in sparse rooms without floor skirting where insulation foam frames the doorways.
In spite of this and the usual infuriating dearth of information in English, there are nevertheless some notable highlights to get excited about, mostly upstairs. Chief among these is a 1:1 scale model of an obliterated Königsberg street strewn with rubble and twisted metal which comes to life with terrifying air raid audio. The extensive collection of Soviet propaganda posters, more often than not packed with black humour, is another.
