__NOTOC__ Paluküla Church is in

Hiiumaa Parish Hiiumaa Parish ( Estonian: ''Hiiumaa vald'') is a rural municipality of Estonia on the island of Hiiumaa. Hiiumaa Parish was established by merging Emmaste Parish, Hiiu Parish, Käina Parish and Pühalepa Parish after the municipal elections held ...

Hiiu County Hiiu County ( et, Hiiu maakond or ''Hiiumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia, being the smallest county both in terms of area and population. It consists of Hiiumaa (German and sv, Dagö), the second largest island of Estonia, and several s ...

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 ...

in a woodland close to the road. The church was founded by the baronial family of

Ungern-Sternberg The House of Ungern-Sternberg is the name of an old and influential Baltic-German noble family, with branches belonging to the German, Finnish, Swedish and Russian nobility. Notable members * Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg (1689–176 ...

in 1820. Until 1939, it was as branch church of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Kärdla Kärdla (; sv, ; german: Kertel) is the only town on the island of Hiiumaa, Estonia. It is the capital of Hiiu County and the administrative center of Hiiumaa Parish. Geography Kärdla is located on the northeastern coast of Hiiumaa, by the Ta ...

. Paluküla church has been registered in the list of cultural monuments of Estonia since 1999 under number 23605.

History

There was no

pastorate A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

at Paluküla Church, it had 100 seats. The church was built in 1820 for the family of Baron

as a cemetery church, however, due to the high

groundwater level The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

, it was not possible to build a burial

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

s below ground level, so there is no

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

near the church. In 1939, after the annexation of

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa (, ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within H ...

island by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and its transformation into a military zone, the church was used as a warehouse for military equipment. The church tower was used as a lookout position. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the building again served as a warehouse and the tower as an observation post. Over time it was gradually abandoned until, in 1989, the tower was ruined by a fire.Paluküla church
''hiiumaa.ee''

''7is7.com'' The tower was repaired in 1994 and a roof was built in 1996.

Nautical navigation point

The church tower served as a daily nautical navigation point. It was a rear

sea mark A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a form of aid to navigation and pilotage that identifies the approximate position of a maritime channel, hazard, or administrative area to allow boats, ships, and seaplanes to navigate safely. Th ...

in range with . The distance between these points is 2580 meters with a target azimuth of 229.6°. It is listed under the number 626 in the Estonian lighthouse number list.

References

Former churches in Estonia Cultural heritage of Estonia Hiiumaa Parish Lighthouses in Estonia Buildings and structures in Hiiu County Tourist attractions in Hiiu County {{Estonia-struct-stub