Saaremaa, Estonia

The island of Saaremaa in the Gulf of Riga, Estonia, and its capital Kuressaare; history, unique geological features, medieval architecture.

1. Saaremaa, the largest island off the West coast of Estonia
Saaremaa is the largest
island off the West coast of
Estonia.
With its windmills, medieval
churches, limestone cliffs and rare
wildlife – this is one of the most
attractive destinations in Estonia.

SAAREMAA
ISLAND :
A haven of tranquillity
and a meteor crater.

2. Saarema and Muhu
are situated in the
Gulf of Riga.
Most of the 40 000
inhabitants work in
agriculture, mainly
dairy farming and
meat production, as
well as crops and
grain growing.

3. Saaremaa and
Muhu, are
connected by a
land bridge. The
main town is
KURESSAARE .

4. Most of the island is flat. 56% of Saaremaa is covered by forest.

5. The northern coast has high coastal escarpments: the Panga cliffs.

7. The Panga Pank (cliffs) on
the northern shore of
Saaremaa reach to a
maximum of 21 meters
high.

8. Kuressaare episcopal castle

10. •http://www.castles.info/estonia/kuressaare/
The most famous monument in the city of Kuressaare is a wonderful
episcopal castle, where Saarema museum is located.

11. Kuressaare Episcopal Castle is unique in being the only intact medieval
fortress in the Baltic countries. The late Gothic dolomite was built with the
purpose to house the bishop when he was visiting Kuressaare.

17. The building is a convent-type castle with a square main plan around
an inner courtyard, and the oldest part, the Tower of Tall Hermann, is
thought to date back to 1260.
Tall Herman watchtower

18. The main part of the building was probably started at around 1338 and
the construction lasted for 40 years .

19. The castle was built of local dolomite marble and was surrounded by a
rectangular outwork, a moat and a rampart.

21. The bishop’s balcony

27. The view from the castle towards the sea

28. In the center of the building
from tooled dolomite bricks
is a square courtyard,
which is on the second and
third floors surrounded by
a closed cloister.

30. Convent’s chapel

31. The castle is now part of the
Regional Museum of
Saaremaa, therefore housing
several exhibitions about the
history of the region.

34. Saaremaa Opera Days
Each year an opera festival takes
place against the castle’s wall.

The LATVIAN NATIONAL
OPERA ( founded by director
NEEME JÄRVI ) is the main guest.
http://www.concert.ee/index.php?mid=1004&sisu=tekst&lang=eng

40. Kuressaare (pop. 16 500)

41. In written records Kuressaare (Arensburg)
market town was first mentioned in 1424

42. The central part of Kuressaare is an architecturally protected area . In
the historic old town there are mainly one-storied limestone houses of
the classicistic style from the 18th-19th century, once owned by
merchants and noblemen.

44. The House of the Nobility or Knighthood Building was built at the end
of the 18th Century and today, it accommodates the County Government
of Saaremaa.

45. The Town Hall was built between 1653 and 1670

46. Kuressaare town hall
Northern Baroque style, with 2 stone lions at main door

47. The Town Hall now houses a
tourist information centre and
an art gallery and occasionally
serves as a venue for concerts.

51. Old Fire Brigade
station
Now a pub-restaurant

52. Café Classic in the center of Kuressaare

55. The Wildenberg Café , 1 Tallinna Street

57. Inside

58. Handmade chocolates

59. The Weighhouse

60. Vaekoda (The Weighhouse) stands at the central square, just opposite
the Town Hall. The Weighhouse was built in 1666 to keep the public
scales in there, while the central square served as the market place.
This is the only building of that type having survived in Estonia.

61. The main characteristic of the
small two story limestone
building is in the strict
symmetry in the architecture.

62. St. Lawrence's church
Suffered 3 fires before the present day reconstruction

64. St. Nicholas orthodox church ( Püha Nikolai Kirik )
Ancient trees shade the late classical Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas
with its two cupolas, first built in 1790.

67. The neoclassical building
was designed by Luigi
Rusca, an architect from
St. Petersburg, and built in
1820-27

68. Kauba, 1

70. Kauba street

72. Vanalinna hotel, Kauba

74. Chameleon café lounge, bank and shop on Kaube street

76. http://www.chameleon.ee/

77. The residential area has a suburban charm due to the coloured
wooden villas.

82. Antique shop at Lossi street

84. Tea house

86. Kuressare University center
A university office
was established in
the city of
Kuressaare on
Saaremaa in 1993
for regional
development
courses and
courses for the
owners of the first
private small and
medium-sized
enterprises.

87. The Aaviks´museum – museum of musical language and the language
of music: Johannes Aavik (1880-1973) was a distinguished linguist and
language researcher who discovered phonetic homogeneity, while his
cousin, Joosep Aavik, (1899-1898) was a music teacher, organist, conductor
and composer.

88. Kuressaare Kultuurivara
(cultural centre)
organises concerts and art exhibitions
http://www.kultuurivara.ee/?pgid=143

89. Ferrum Department
Store
Shopping Center

90. At the
open air Market

92. Mugs in the market

93. Kuressare at night

95. Arensburg hotel

97. Hotel Grandrose
http://www.grandrose.ee/#en/hotell

99. •The Ekesparre pension was a favourite among Estonian cultural
figures in the 1920s.
•After the end of the war, the former pension house went to the
local Soviet police department.
•In 1996, the pension was renamed Hotel Lossi.
• http://www.ekesparre.ee/index.php?lang=en
Ekesparre Residence Hotel
1908

103. The Lossi Hotel is located in front of the
Bishop’s Castle

104. Villa Vallin
Recently renovated wooden house

105. Restaurant/ Bar
VeskiTavern
The windmill was
built in 1899

107. Resort Club (Kuursaal)
The renovated Resort Club in the park was built in the 19th century and
now houses a café, a bar and a concert hall.

108. In summer, concerts take place in the square garden in front of the Kuursaal

110. Smoking sauna

111. The growing number of spas has returned the town's former reputation
to a resort town. It is pleasant to walk and bike in Kuressaare as the
town has become more pleasant in recent years, especially the beach
promenade whitch is great for romantic walks.

112. The beach

114. The Järve beach
Nice sandy beach
about 15km from
Kuressaare.
About 8-kilometre
long shore area is
famous for its sand
beach and dunes

115. Panga cliffs walk

116. In front of the Panga cliffs walk there is another cliff directly under the water
that forms almost a perfect semicircle, and against which the waves break .

117. Kuressaare Town park

119. Sörve lighthouse
Sorve lighthouse

120. The Sõrve lighthouse is located in Sääre at the tip of the peninsula.
The current structure dates from 1960 and is 52m high. There have
been several previous wooden and stone lighthouses at this location.

121. Kaali crater , Estonia’s most unique geological feature.

122. The Kaali meteorite crater is the result of a meteorite impact possibly in
700 BC. It is about 110 meters wide and 20 meters deep. The crater walls
are covered with trees and vegetation. A path around the rim of the crater
allows you to observe it from all sides.

125. This event also played a role in the Estonian mythology. The former inhabitants of
the island knew it as the "holy lake ", and archeological excavations show that this
was the place of immolation for a period of many centuries. Kaali crater has an
important place in Finnish mythology, and some viewed it as fabulous Thule that was
described bu Pytheas, the greek explorer.
The explosion that created these craters, scientists believe, could occur sometime in
the Holocene. The explosion was apparently comparable to that which occurred after
an explosion in Hiroshima.

127. Lake Kaali diameter varies from 30 to 60 meters

129. The Kaali Meteorite is the last (+/- 7500 years ago) giant iron meteorite
fallen to a densely inhabited area in the world.

130. Angla Windmills

131. Just to the north of Karja are the five Angla windmills.
These typical Estonian style windmills are a landmark on Saaremaa.
Angla Windmills

132. They are almost the
only ones remaining on
the island; in the mid
19th century, there were
about 500 in active use,
only 30 of which remain
to this day.

135. Built on stones and standing
on a high post, the oldest type
of windmills of Europe is
characteristic of the West-
Estonian islands

137. In winter

139. Churches of Saaremaa

140. Valjala church

142. Saint Martin's
church of Valjala
the oldest building in
Saaremaa.
A unique feature of the
church is that the tower is
located on one side near
the altar.

143. Deriving from the first half of the 13th century, the church has been
built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles.

144. Concerts often take
place here.

146. Karja Kirik
(St. Catherine’s church)

147. St. Catherine in Karja is a towerless gothic church, built in the late 13th or
early 14th century.
It’s the sculptural decoration that makes the church a real jewel. Its portals,
bosses and vaulting supports are decorated with superb High-Gothic stone
decor.

152. Relief of the Golgotha scene

155. Magic ceiling
marks:
three-legged
triskele, a devil
that looks
between its legs.

156. Kihelkonna Church Kihelkonna Church Kihelkonna Church
The altarpiece,
carved in 1591, has
survived remarkably
well.
The tower is in fact
the highest point in
Saaremaa.
Kihelkonna Church
(13th century )

157. The first bell-tower was built during the 17th century, and is located some
hundred meters away from the church. It is the Baltic countries’ only
separately built and still standing bell-tower.

162. Lake Karu – Karujärv (Bear lake)
the oldest lake on Saaremaa, it appeared here almost 8000 years ago.

163. Lake Karu (3.3 km
2
), located in the forests of the West-Saaremaa upland,
with its sinuous coastline and numerous small islands, is considered to be
one of the most beautiful lakes in Saaremaa.

164. From Saarema to Muhu

165. Saaremaa is joined by a
causeway to Muhu, the
neighbouring island.

167. Muhu
Muhu is Estonia's third
largest island.
There are several sites
of interest, including:

• Liiva Church
• Koguva ( an old
village)
• Eemu Tuulik windmill
and shop

169. Symbol of Muhu,
this sign welcomes
visitors to the island.

170. Liiva church (end of XIII cent.)

172. Liiva ' s gothic style fort-
church.
This church also has no
tower and was built between
1267-1280.

174. Church has no tower and was built between 1267-1280.

176. Koguva

178. The village of Koguva is the best-preserved village ensemble in Estonia
(100 buildings, some 20 permanent inhabitants).

180. Streets with stone fences, log houses with cane roofs, old trees and draw
wells with poles.

182. The oldest building of Koguva - the barn of the Andruse Farm, situated in the
center of the village

193. The museum is situated in the heart of the village. Tooma farmstead , with all
outbuildings and farm equipment, is the heart of the museum.

195. Additionally, an old village
school dating back to the
mid-19th century and a display
of ethnographic textiles are
exhibited in the office building of
the museum at Koguva Välja.

196. Traditional
Muhu shoes

198. The Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus osiliensis) Is exclusive to Saaremaa
(its most famous endemic species ) and the island’s symbolic flower.

200. Rhinanthus
osiliensis

201. Long warm autumns, mild winters, late cool springs, strong winds,
long sunny periods and low precipitation are characteristic of this
region.

202. Kuressaare International Airport serves flights to and from Tallinn,
Gotland, Stockholm, Riga and Helsinki.

203. The airport operates with very small planes (7 -18 seaters); the service
is sometimes suspended due to high winds.

204. Saab 340

205. Saaremaa Shipping Company
A/S Saaremaa ferry from Virtsu to Saaremaa

206. "Scania" sails from Ventspils to Mõntu (Saaremaa island). Built in 1972
and purchased by “Saaremaa Laevakompanii“ in 2000.

210. Links:
•http://www.visitsaaremaa.com/kuressaare.asp
•http://www.saaremaamuuseum.ee/eng/
•http://www.7is7.com/otto/estonia/
•http://www.livoniamaritima.eu/index.php?page=74&
Sources:
•http://www.trekearth.com
•http://www.panoramio.com/
•http://www.pbase.com
•http://www.flickr.com/
•http://picasaweb.google.com
•http://www.woophy.com/photo
© Mário Ricca,
2009