Paide Holy Cross Church ( et, Paide Püha Risti kirik, german: Kirche zum Heiligen Kreuz ) is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church in

Paide Paide is a town in Estonia and the capital of Järva County, one of the 15 counties of Estonia. Etymology Paide's German name ''Weißenstein'' (originally ''Wittenstein'' or ''Wittensten'' in Low German) means "white stone". This name was de ...

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 ...

. Church existed in Paide in medieval times, but was destroyed in 1573 during the siege of Weissenstein (old name for Paide). It was replaced with a wooden church, which was burnt down by Russian forces in 1703 during 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 ...

. In the 1730s a small church was erected, replaced by a stone church built between 1767 and 1786. The church tower was built exceptionally to the southern side of the church to bond the church with the market square into a single architectural ensemble. There was a fire in the church on May 10, 1845. A large fundraising was set up to pay for restoration works. During 1909–1910 the church underwent a larger reconstruction.

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Paide Lutheran churches in Estonia Buildings and structures in Järva County Tourist attractions in Järva County {{Estonia-church-stub