Stone in honor of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia

The most famous and popular memorial stone of the Romintskaya Pushcha is located near the Oleniy Bridge in the former Rominten (now Raduzhnoye) in the direction of the former Imperial Hunting Lodge .

 

Inscription on the stone:

 

"The death of Prince Friedrich Carl von Preussen. If you stand in front of the building, you might want to wait until you reach the end of the line. 1869 - 1884»

 

Translation:

 

"In memory of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia. Here was the Teerbude forestry, where this nobleman stayed during his visit to the Romincka Forest from 1869 to 1884."

 

 

Coordinates:

 

54.363097, 22.543352

 

Prince Friedrich Karl Nikolai of Prussia ( 20 March 1828 – 15 June 1885) was a Prussian prince and Prussian and Russian field marshal. Prince Friedrich Karl was a passionate hunter and forest lover, and it was he who inspired his royal relative Wilhelm II to build a hunting lodge in the Rominten Forest. The "Red Prince" himself visited the Rominten Forest between 1869 and 1884, especially the Nassaven forestry. He also hunted in the Schittkemen and Warnen forestry districts. If not since the time of the Great Elector, then certainly since the time of Elector Georg Wilhelm, he was the first Hohenzollern to visit Rominten after a long break. Every year on September 24, he came to the Forest accompanied by his personal huntsman Böck, a servant and a pack of Hanoverian hounds and lived in the forester's house in Teerbude, on the left bank of the Rominta near the old wooden bridge. The prince loved the forest and often stayed in the forest, spending the night near a fire on a moss bed. His last hunt in the Forest took place in 1884. Another memorial stone was erected at the site of the deer he killed. In 1907, Wilhelm II erected a memorial stone in the Teerbude forestry in honor of his relative.

 

 

 

 

1. Because of his red Zieten hussar uniform, which Prince Friedrich Karl had proudly worn since the war with Austria (1866), he received the nickname "Red Prince" ( Rote Prinz ).

 

Another stone in honor of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia is one of the "elusive" stones of the Romincka Forest. It is marked on the map, there is evidence that in the early 2000s it lay in a meadow, with the dedication inscription facing down. We made four attempts to find it (one even involved employees of the Vyshtynetsky Nature Park and special equipment), which, alas, did not bring results. What this stone looks like, as well as its fate, is still unknown. But the story of its appearance in the Forest  is known ...

 

 

Prince Friedrich Karl hunted his last deer in the Romint Forest in a small meadow between Friedrich-Karls-Weg and Rodohnengestell in the square (Jagen) 118 (cordon Schwentischken) in the autumn of 1884. It was here in 1890, five years after the prince's death, that it was decided to erect a memorial stone in his honour. The budget allocated for this was modest - 30 marks. The stone was found in the bed of the Romint River by forester St. Paul together with trainee von Sternburg. The dedication was carved on it by a stonemason from Mehlkehmen:

 

Prince Friedrich Carl/Prince Friedrich Carl

Letzter Hirsch/The Last Deer

Herbst 1884/Autumn 1884

 

On 31 August 1890, the ceremony to unveil the memorial stone was attended by Chief Forester Hildebrand (from 1887 to 1891 Chief Forester of the Gumbinnen government district), foresters Mehlburger (forester and from 1885 to 1890 forest inspector of the Gumbinnen government district for the Romint Forest main forestry), Sankt Paul and others with their families, as well as several district officials. Torches were lit on both sides of the stone to the tune of "Fürstengruß" played on hunting horns, and Hildebrand and Sankt Paul made speeches. Then, to loud cries of "Hurrah!", the ceremony ended.