This decorative plate with embossed images based on the works of the German poet and artist Ludwig Richter is a souvenir of the anniversary of Tilsit, where Prussia signed that unfortunate treaty. Queen Louise visited the city on the occasion of the signing of the Tilsit Peace Treaty of 1807 and met with French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, hoping that through friendly and amiable conversation she could induce him to agree to more favorable terms of peace for Prussia, but her efforts were futile.

When Napoleon’s army occupied most of Prussia, Memel (now Klaipeda, the Republic of Lithuania) was the only free city in the north, and the Prussian royal couple decided to go there from Königsberg. The queen at the time was seriously ill with typhoid fever. But the fear for the family and the court was stronger than the physical exhaustion.

The queen stayed in Kranz (now Zelenogradsk, Kaliningrad Oblast). The house on Turgenev Street is now renovated and decorated on the outside with a beautiful bas-relief by sculptor F.A. Moroz. The further way ran along the narrow strip of the Curonian Spit, almost impassable in the winter time. Another overnight stop was Nidden (now Nida, the Republic of Lithuania). Louise spent the night at the post station of David Gottlieb Kuvert. Legend has it that the queen inscribed lines from Goethe on the window pane with the diamond of her ring:

Almost dying on the way, Louise reached her destination safely. The joy of those who met their patroness in the Prussian town of Memel knew no bounds. Her personal physician was surprised to note an improvement in the queen’s condition after the journey. This episode, along with Louise’s encounter with Napoleon, is firmly embedded in all the queen’s biographies. In Memel, the royal family settled in the house of the merchant Friedrich Ludwig Consentius on the north bank of the Danė River. This house served as the royal residence until January 15, 1808.

Those very lines from Goethe’s poem are displayed in the center of the plate, along with the inscription “Queen Louise of Prussia during her flight from Tilsit to Nida in August 1807. The inscription at the bottom explains that the plate was a “Gift for the 440th Anniversary of Tilsit” dated August 21, 1992. The inscription running around the circle is the words from the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”