Brandenburg Church, Lutheran church ruins in Ushakovo, Russia

Brandenburg Church is a brick ruin with traces of Gothic architecture still visible in its remaining walls, rising from the rural landscape near Ushakovo. The deteriorated structure shows original construction elements and details that span multiple building periods.

Built at the start of the 14th century, the church was first mentioned in 1482. Its semicircular choir, rare in the Teutonic Order's lands, was built around 1320 as the burial place of Komtur Günther von Hohenstein, who was interred there in 1380. The tower was added in 1648, as a stone tablet above the entrance records. The building was badly damaged in the Second World War and in the 2000s local residents partly dismantled it for bricks.

The church became a pilgrimage site after Komtur Günther von Hohenstein received a relic of Saint Catherine from Emperor Charles IV, according to local tradition. A stone tablet above the tower entrance records that the tower was built in 1648 "by the grace of Friedrich Wilhelm." In 2010 the ruin was transferred to the Orthodox Church.

The site is located in the countryside and can be reached through Ulitsa Pobedy in the village of Ushakovo. Visiting in dry weather is recommended since the paths around the structure are unpaved.

The church's semi-circular apse is a rarity in the medieval Teutonic Order's lands: only the lost chapel on the Tannenberg battlefield (1413) and St. Anne's in Frauenburg (1430) share this choir form. The choir here, built around 1320, was laid out as the burial place of Komtur Günther von Hohenstein, interred in 1380.