St. Paul's Lutheran in Viljandi

Visited March 26, 2011

I visited St. Paul's Lutheran the same day as I visited St. John's. It was a bit treacherous to go up the walk...lots of ice! Plus it started sleeting while we were there, as you can see below. But at least this time I didn't end up on my backside!

This church was built in 1866 and apparently has a pseudo-gothic interior. I didn't actually get to go inside, but apparently it also has an altarpiece called “Christ on the cross” (by Carl Andrea, 1866) that comes from Dresden, the restored huge chandelier from Nuremberg, and Estonia’s largest mechanical tracker action organ (Guido Knauf, 1866).

You can also see the memorial stone below, dedicated to those perished in the shipwreck of the ferry "Estonia." As small as this country is and as much as theyuse ferries, I can see why this tragedy, which killed more than 800 people and had bodies washing up on the shores, continues to haunt people here.