Kuressaare Castle ( et, Kuressaare linnus; german: Schloss Arensburg), also Kuressaare Episcopal Castle, ( et, Kuressaare piiskopilinnus), is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

Saaremaa island Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the islan ...

, in western

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 ...

History

The earliest written record mentioning Kuressaare castle is from the 1380s, when the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

began its construction for the bishops of Ösel-Wieck. Some sources claim that the first castle was built of wood. As the inhabitants of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

put up stiff resistance to foreign efforts to Christianise them, the castle was undoubtedly built as part of a wider effort by the crusaders to gain control over the island. From the outset, it was a stronghold belonging to the bishop of Saare-Lääne (german: Ösel-Wiek) and remained one of the most important castles of the Bishopric until its dissolution 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 ...

Saaremaa Museum SM F 3761 245 F, Kuressaare linnus, kindluse plaan 1710

In 1559, Denmark-Norway seized control over Saaremaa and Kuressaare castle. During this time, the fortifications were modernised. Following the

Peace of Brömsebro Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

, which ended the 1643-1645 war between Sweden and Denmark-Norway, Saaremaa passed into Swedish hands. The Swedes continued the modernisation of the fortress until 1706. Following the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

, Saaremaa and Kuressaare castle became a part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. As the frontiers of the Russian Empire gradually pushed further west, Kuressaare lost its strategic value. Especially after the

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

and the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polish ...

, military focus shifted away from Estonia. In 1836, following the construction of the fortress of Bomarsund on

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

, the Russian garrison at Kuressaare withdrew. The fact that Kuressaare castle was not employed by the armies who fought in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

is also indicative of its lost strategic importance. In the 19th century, the castle was used as a poorhouse. In 1904–12 the castle was restored by architects and

Wilhelm Neumann Carl Johann Wilhelm Neumann ( lv, Kārlis Johans Vilhelms Neimanis; russian: Карл Иоганн Вильгельм Нейман; born 5 October 1849 in Grevesmühlen – died 6 March 1919 in Riga) was a Baltic German architect and art histori ...

. In 1941, the castle was used as a stronghold by occupying Soviet forces, who executed 90 civilians on the castle yard. The subsequent Nazi invasion and occupation saw over 300 killed on the castle grounds. It underwent a second restoration in 1968, this time led by architect . Today the castle houses the Saaremaa Museum.

Architecture

Kuressaare piiskopilinnus - Põhjabastioni suurtükitorn

Kuressaare castle is considered one of the best preserved medieval fortifications in Estonia. The castle is late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

in style and characterised by a simplicity of form. The central, so-called convent building, is a square building around a central courtyard. The so-called defence tower, in the northern corner, reaches . A defence gallery with battlements running along the top of the building was restored in the 1980s. The

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

and gate defences are also reconstructions. Inside, the castle is divided into a cellar which was used for storage and equipped with a sophisticated

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

heating system, and the main floor, which housed the most important rooms of the castle. Here, a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

surrounds the courtyard and connects all the main rooms. Notable among these are the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...

, the dormitory, the chapel and the bishop's living quarters. In the latter, eleven baroque carved epitaphs of noblemen from Saaremaa are displayed. At the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century, a wall, long, was built around the castle. Due to improvements made in firearms, additional defensive elements were added between the 16th and 17th centuries.

Erik Dahlbergh '' Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh (10 October 162516 January 1703) was a Swedish military engineer, Governor-general and Field marshal. He rose to the level of nobility through his military competence. As an architect and draftsman, he was reno ...

designed the Vauban-type fortress with

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s and ravelins that are still largely intact. When the Russian garrison left the fortress in 1711 following the Great Northern War, they deliberately blew up much of the fortifications and the castle, but later restored some of it. In 1861, conversion of the bastions into a park began under the supervision of

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

architect H. Göggingen. Kuressaare linnuse sissepääs.JPG, Bridge to the castle Kuressaare castle - panoramio (3).jpg, Main gate Kuressaare linnuse siseõu.jpg, Inner court Kuressaare linnus, vahitorn.JPG, Watchtower Kuressaare linnus õhust.jpg, Overview

References

External links

Saaremaa Museum

The Association of Castles and Museums around the Baltic Sea
{{Castles in Estonia Castles in Estonia Kuressaare Buildings and structures in Saaremaa Gothic architecture in Estonia Tourist attractions in Saare County Museums in Estonia

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links