Väike-Maarja Church is a church in

Väike-Maarja Väike-Maarja () is a Populated places in Estonia, small borough () in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Väike-Maarja Parish. The population of Väike-Maarja in January 2023 was 2,155 people. Väike-Maarja Chu ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

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

. Constructed in 1346, Väike-Maarja Church has three nave-halls in Gothic architectural style and was initially built as a

fortress church A fortress church () is a particular type of church that, in addition to its religious functions is also used by the local population as a retreat and defensive position, similar to a refuge castle. A fortress church usually implies that the churc ...

. The church's

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

was installed by Gustav Normann in 1848. A

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

, reaching a height of , was added during renovations in 1873. In 2002, the altar painting ''Come to me'' and the

stained-glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

"Let the children come to me" were restored by glass creator Riho Hütt. In 2003, Hütt created the "Hyperdulia" rose window. The churchyard includes the tombs of the noted explorers Krusensterns and the Lurich people. The church has comparatively thick walls: on average, and also has two

embrasures 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 ...

close to the western-side pillar. On August 8, 2010, a

derecho A ''derecho'' (, from , 'straight') is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of Severe weather#Categories, severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. Derechos cause Bea ...

destroyed the church spire. A new spire was built in 2012.

Gallery

Väike-Maarja kirik august2010-1.JPG, Storm damage in 2010 Väike-Maarja kirik talvel.JPG, The church in 2012 with the replacement spire ready to be fitted Väike-Maarja kiriku roosaken ja päikesekell.jpg

References

External links

On the map
visitestonia.com Väike-Maarja Parish Former churches in Estonia Lutheran churches in Estonia Tourist attractions in Lääne-Viru County Buildings and structures completed in 1346 Churches completed in the 1340s {{Lutheran-church-stub