Purtse Castle ( et, Purtse mõis, german: Alt-Isenhof) is a castle of a local Purtse knight manor in Purtse, northeastern

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, an ...

. It was built in the middle of the 16th century, probably by the landowner Johann von Taube, at a time when late Gothic ways of building were slowly being abandoned in favour of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

ideas. The building therefore contains partly elements which were archaic even for its time, and partly examples of renaissance architecture.

History

The castle was built as a fortified manor house, different from a purely defensive

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

in that the floors have not only one but several rooms. It consists of three storeys: the lower was used for storage, the middle for living and the top floor had a defensive function. The building was entered on the second floor via a ladder which could, in times of danger, be pulled up. Inside, the basement contained 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 ...

system which could be used for heating the main hall on the middle floor. During the course of history, the castle has had several different owners, notably

Henrik Fleming Henrik Klasson Fleming (15 August 1584 – 7 November 1650) was a member of the Swedish nobility and admiral, diplomat and lord marshal. He was the author of one of the first autobiographies in Swedish, a colourful depiction of his early life ...

(1584–1650), Governor of

Ingria Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with Esto ...

, and the

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

von Stackelberg family. The castle has also seen many different uses, including a feudal home, a fortification, a cellar, a milk chamber, a grain storage, a prison and a workers' residence. During its long history, the manor has also burnt down several times. After 1940 it was abandoned completely. The castle was restored in 1987–90. The building is under state protection in Estonia and listed in the National Registry of Cultural Monuments.

Gallery

Purtse castle - panoramio.jpg Purtse kindluselamu 2.jpg Purtse kindluselamu interjöör 2006.jpg Purtse kindluselamu 2006.jpg

References

External links

Purtse CastlePurtse Manor
at Estonian Manors Portal {{Castles in Estonia Castles in Estonia Lüganuse Parish Buildings and structures in Ida-Viru County Manor houses in Estonia Kreis Wierland Tourist attractions in Ida-Viru County

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links