Kambja is a small borough ( et, alevik) in

Tartu County Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% ...

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 is the administrative centre of

Kambja Parish Kambja Parish is a rural municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. Settlements ;Small boroughs: Kambja - Külitse - Räni - Tõrvandi - Ülenurme ;Villages: Aakaru - Ivaste - Kaatsi - Kammeri - Kavandu - Kodijärve - Kõrkküla - Kull ...

. Earlier there was located Vastse-Kambja manor (''Neu-Kamby''). (retrieved 20 March 2020)

Kambja St. Martin's Church

Kambja Church burned down several times, but was always rebuilt. The first mention of Kambja and the church at its present location dates to as early as 1330. After the first fire in 1558, it took 84 years to rebuild the church. Again was it destroyed in 1704 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-Swed ...

. Renovation were finished in 1721 and those walls are the basis for the present building. In 1874 an extension was built; there were ten thousand members in the parish around that time. In 1937 a new northern tower with staircases was built. During

World War II 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 opposing ...

, on 19 August 1944, the church was bombed by the invading

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n troops. The new

Soviet regime The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the Co ...

did not allow the church to be rebuilt and the congregation was forced to close. The church remained in ruins until 1987, when the times started to change and on the initiative of Ivar Tedrema, the state farm director at that time, and with the help of school principal Madis Linnamägi, Toivo Traksmaa and many others, the renovation began. The

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

congregation was re-established in 1994.

Gallery

File:WMEE-exp2019-(007) Kambja.jpg, Kambja village and lake Kambja church 05.JPG, Kambja church Vabadussõja mälestussammas Kambjas.JPG, Monument to the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westw ...

Kambja kalmistu (2014).JPG, Kambja cemetery Kambja kool.JPG, Kambja School Kambja järv.JPG, Kambja lake

References

External links

Kambja Parish
{{estonia-geo-stub Boroughs and small boroughs in Estonia Kreis Dorpat

Kambja St. Martin's Church

Gallery

See also

References

External links