Kiiu is a

small borough The following is a list of boroughs ( et, alevid) and small boroughs ( et, alevikud) in Estonia. Boroughs * Aegviidu *Järva-Jaani *Järvakandi *Kiili *Kohila *Kohtla-Nõmme * Lavassaare *Märjamaa * Paikuse *Pärnu-Jaagupi * Tootsi *Vändra S ...

( et, alevik) in

Kuusalu Parish Kuusalu Parish ( et, Kuusalu vald) is a rural municipality in northern Estonia, the largest in Harju County. After joining with the adjacent Loksa Parish in 2005, the municipality has now a population of 6,863 (as of 1 January 2009) and covers an ...

Harju County Harju County ( et, Harju maakond or ''Harjumaa''), is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in Northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the sou ...

, northern

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It has a population of 859 (as of 1 January 2012).

Kiiu Tower

Kiiu (german: Kida) tower is a medieval defensive

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

of a type found also elsewhere in the Baltic region and sometimes referred to as a "vassal castle". This type of fortification was not intended to be used in any major military operations. Other examples in Estonia include Vao tower and

Purtse Castle Purtse Castle ( et, Purtse mõis, german: Alt-Isenhof) is a castle of a local Purtse knight manor in Purtse, northeastern Estonia. It was built in the middle of the 16th century, probably by the landowner Johann von Taube, at a time when late G ...

. Kiiu tower was probably built around 1520 by the local lord of the manor Fabian von Tiesenhausen. Originally the tower was surrounded by a limestone wall and outbuildings, forming a courtyard. The tower itself is conical and four storeys high. Only the second storey was intended to be used as living quarters in times of war or unrest. On this floor, a bed alcove is found in the wall, as well as a fireplace and latrine which are also present on the other storeys. All the other storeys had purely defensive purposes, including

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s of 11 different shapes, and were connected by a spiral staircase running through the thick wall. The reconstructed

hoarding Hoarding is a behavior where people or animals accumulate food or other items. Animal behavior ''Hoarding'' and ''caching'' are common in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will a ...

that surrounds the third storey is unique in Estonia. The tower was damaged during the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pre ...

and subsequently used as an outbuilding for the local manor house. In 1973 the tower was restored under the guidance of well-known art historian

Villem Raam Villem is an Estonian language, Estonian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the English language William (given name), William and the German Wilhelm (name), Wilhelm and may refer to: *Villem Gross (1922–2001), Estonian writer and journa ...

References

External links

Non-profit association Kiiu Arendus
Boroughs and small boroughs in Estonia Kuusalu Parish Kreis Harrien {{Harju-geo-stub

Kiiu Tower

See also

References

External links