History and culture of the town

A story about the history of Svetlogorsk (former Rauschen) Must begin not with the German, but with the Prussian (pagan) period of this land. The settlement, which later received the name Raushen, and even later Svetlogorsk, was located on the northern tip of the Sambian Peninsula (Zamland). The first mention of a pagan settlement at the site of Rauschen dates back to 1258; at that time it was a settlement of the Prussians and Curonians; it was located in the lowlands between two dunes. The settlement consisted of no more than a dozen fishing and peasant households. The inhabitants were engaged in fishing and hunting. The settlement was called Ruse-moter, which in the Sambian dialect of the Prussian language meant "the edge of the cellars."
After the knights of the Teutonic Order conquered Sambia, they renamed "Ruse-moter" to "Rause-moter", then to "Rausche-moter", and finally to just a "Rauschen". The final version of "Rauschen" has been mentioned in official papers since 1458. At that time, Baron Albrecht von Rawschen received 64 hectares of land east of the settlement, and gradually the name of the settlement changed to almost reflect the baron's surname. Quite by chance, this name coincided with the indefinite form of the German verb "rauschen" ("make noise", "rustle"), which often became the reason for the incorrect interpretation of its origin. The Order's brothers set a new direction for the life of the village: they blocked the Katzenbach stream (Cat's stream), which fell into the pond, and built a mill on the stream. From that time on, the pond began to be called Mühlen-taich (Mill Pond), and the mill business became the main one for the inhabitants of the village. During the Order's times, it was the largest mill on the Samland Peninsula.
At the very beginning of the 19th century in Europe, travel and recreation with swimming in the sea became fashionable, and vacationers began to visit these places, travelers began to stop here. Access to the sea was hampered by a sand dune, so the picturesque corners of the Mill Pond were a place for living and rest. A tavern was opened near the mill, new houses appeared. In Rauschen, cozy villas and boarding houses began to be built, and carts with sacks of grain gradually began to get lost among the carriages loaded with suitcases, with holidaymakers inside and their wives in air hats. The Rauschen resort was officially opened on June 24, 1820. However, in reality, Rauschen was recognized as a resort of national importance after King Frederick William IV visited the town in 1840 after his coronation. The king was fascinated by the romanticism of these places. At the behest of the king, the coastal dune began to be intensively landscaped, convenient slopes to the sea were built, and the sea embankment was strengthened. However, the arrangement of the resort for the most part remained the initiative of private individuals, despite the official status and attention of the crowned person. Perhaps that is why Rauschen remained a quiet and uncrowded place until the beginning of the 20th century.
The popularity of the town as a resort has grown significantly since 1900, when a railway was built from Königsberg to Rauschen/Orth station (now Svetlogorsk-1), extended in 1906 to Rauschen/Dune station (Svetlogorsk-2). Trains were now able to drive closer to the sea, and the resort became much more accessible for many residents of Königsberg. A positive role both in the development of the resort and in attracting tourists was played by the hippodrome opened in Rauschen by the equestrian society. The town began to divide into two parts: the lower one - near the lake, and the upper one (40-50 m higher) by the sea.  The upper village was located approximately at an altitude of up to 40 m above sea level, so a pleasant event in his life was the opening in 1912 of a funicular - a 90-meter inclined railroad to deliver holidaymakers to the sea and back. The arrangement of the resort could not do without the arrangement of beach areas.
In 1908, a wooden promenade-promenade deck was built on the seashore on stilts, several serpentine descents led to it. Among the celebrities who stayed here in the first half of 19th century were Otto Nicolai, author of the famous comic opera "The Wicked Women of Windsor" based on Shakespeare, much later Käthe Kollwitz and Thomas Mann. In the early years of the 20th century, private individuals launched an intensive construction of country houses, villas, boarding houses in Rauschen, especially in the upper part of the resort. The buildings had architectural forms with elements of half-timbered, neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau to fit well into the landscape. In the center of Rauschen, the tower of the hydropathic institution was erected by the architect Otto Walter Kuckuck from Königsberg. This building, built in 1900-1908 in the style of national romanticism, has become a kind of symbol of the town. Even then, in addition to water treatments such as sea, carbonic and other baths, the town's retreats practiced mud, electric and light treatments, and therapeutic massage. An observation platform was located under the helmet-shaped roof of the tower for viewing the surroundings. Some of the town's buildings were built by a charitable society, which consisted of local and visiting entrepreneurs and the wealthy part of the intellectuals.
Since 1841, this charitable society published the newspaper "Hospitable Resident of Rauschen" in a typographic way together with the resort guests. With the care of the society, a home for elderly schoolmistresses was built, and in 1903-1907, the town's Evangelical kirche was built. The kirche was consecrated on July 7, 1907. It was built according to the project of architects Ernst Wichmann and Otto Walter Kuckuck in the neo-Romanesque style with elements of the Art Nouveau style. The main attraction of the kirche was the carved wooden altar, which was created by the architect Adolf Hering.
During the First World War, Rauschen became an "affiliate" of the German military department as civilians were almost driven out by German officers who were brought here for rest and treatment. After the First World War, a power plant and a sewer network were built in Rauschen. The local government in the town was represented by the local government, and the mayor was also the resort commissioner. The resort service was divided into medical and economic parts. Those who arrived to the town from June 1 to September 15 (the official holiday season) were required to register with the resort's commissariat within 24 hours and pay a certain amount to the resort's cash account. The number of vacationers can be gauged from the number of individual lockable cabins: on all beaches, their total number reached three thousand. During the high season, about 20 hotels, boarding houses, restaurants and cafes were open in the upper part of the town. Most of them were closed for the winter. By the beginning of World War II, Rauschen was a highly developed European resort with a network of hotels and medical centers.
On April 14, 1945, Rauschen was taken by Soviet troops with little or no destruction. In 1946, East Prussia was renamed to be the Kaliningrad region, and in 1947 the town was renamed Svetlogorsk. Since that time, it began to be used as a local resort, and since 1971, tourists from all over the Russian Republic have been sent here. During the Soviet period, the resort developed further. Almost all of the currently operating SPA retreats, boarding houses, holiday inns and children's health camps were built at that time. Svetlogorsk has become one of the most attractive health resorts in the USSR. In the post-Soviet period, the resort business has become the only mainstream of local development. Svetlogorsk was granted the status of a resort of federal significance by the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 29, 1999. Since then, in addition to the main business of resort and tourism development, the town began to position itself as a cultural and business center. It hosts international conferences, summits, assorted art festivals, creative workshops, competitions, concerts. Svetlogorsk is the center of the Baltic Seasons Art Festival, the Baltic Debuts Film Festival, the International Plein Air of Painters "Svetlogorsk Gleuzes of Rauschen", the World Intellectual Sports Championship “What? Where? When?" Currently, 120 buildings and structures located on the territory of the Svetlogorsk urban district are classified as monuments of historical and architectural heritage, including: a marine spa with a water tower, the Organ hall of the Makarov company (former Catholic chapel "Mary, Star of the Sea"), the Hunting Lodge by architect Adolf Hering, House-Museum of the sculptor Hermann Brachert (Otradnoye). Also, the tourist attractions of the Svetlogorsk urban district are the Orthodox Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov (the former Evangelical kirche of 1907) and the Orthodox chapel in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in 1994, the building of the Old Doctor hotel (former Tannenhof boarding house), sculptures "Nymph" (1938) and "Water Carrier" (1944) by Hermann Brachert, the contemporary "Frog Princess" by Oleg Melekhov (2006). Nowadays, Svetlogorsk is a real cultural capital of the amber region, a wonderful healing corner of nature, which is always ready to give health and vigor to its guests who obtain the best impressions from meeting the Baltic coast of the westernmost region of Russia.