Zelenogradsk, prior to 1946 known by its German name Cranz, is a town and the administrative center of Zelenogradsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located 34km north of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast, on the Sambian coastline near the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea. Population:In its heyday, Zelenogradsk (as Cranz) was a popular seaside resort on Germany's eastern Baltic coast, comparable to Bognor Regis in England. Since the end of World War II and the Soviet takeover, much of its tourist traffic has been diverted to nearby Svetlogorsk, formerly called Rauschen.HistoryThe site of today's Zelenogradsk was originally an Old Prussian fishing village, in the proximity of Kaup, a Prussian town on the coast of the Baltic Sea in the Viking era. The area became controlled by the Teutonic Order and settled with Germans. The German name Cranz, originally Cranzkuhren, derives from the Old Prussian word krantas, meaning "the coast". For most of its history it remained a small village in East Prussia.