St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haapsalu

Visited May 11, 2013

I first saw this church when I was in Haapsalu a few months ago. But we were in a hurry to catch a ferry to Hiiumaa, so I wasn't able to get a shot then.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in the 1500s and is first mentioned in 1524. It was rebuilt from a 15th century warehouse and differs from other churches in that it has a north-south orientation. The doors were locked, so I couldn't get in. Apprently the clock in the tower of the church is one of the oldest in Estonia and the oldest in the west of Estonia.

Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene in Haapsalu

Visited May 11, 2013

We found the Estonian Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene while walking along the prominade after lunch in Haapsalu. It was built in 1852 and is really beautiful on the outside. Of course...I didn't get to go inside. I have the worst luck with locked churches!!

St Nicholas’ Lutheran Church in Lääne-Nigula

Visited May 11, 2013

I woke up this morning to a beautiful blue sky and warm weather, and thought the day would be better used with a trip to Haapsalu. I found this church along the way.

St Nicholas’ Lutheran Church in Lääne-Nigula was orignally built around the 13th century, but has been rebuilt to a considerable extent and has a Baroque west tower. A plaque over the door reads 1760.

I couldn't get inside, but the door was open with a locked iron gate-type door in front. So I was able to reach through and take a picture.

St Mary Magdalene´s Lutheran Church in Kärla

Visited May 8, 2013

I spoke to a school in Kärla as part of my Regional Outreach on Saaremaa this past week. My outreach partner humors me every time we go down there and finds me another church to photograph. So this time, I got to shoot St. Mary Magdalene´s Lutheran Church in Kärla.

This church was built in 1843, though it has been remodeled a bit. The plaque reading 1906 on the bell tower made me worried that it wouldn't fit my parameters, especially with how boxy this church is. Glad I did anyway...it is older than it looks (but not by much).

St Charles’ Lutheran Church in Tuhala

Visited April 20, 2013

Today I mixed a little witchcraft with my church visits.

Okay, not really. But my trip today wasn't actually to see St Charles’ Lutheran Church in Tuhala. The church was built in 1777 and is located about 30 minutes outside of Tallinn on the road to Tartu. I was lucky enough to find this one open today, and a nice little old lady inside greeted me and the other people who were out there today.

I was glad to be able to get inside, because the altar was beautiful!

I was one of several to stop by this lonely little church in the middle of nowhere today, but that is because the witches well was boiling.

Estonia says it has five seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Flooding. We are in the latter, the 5th season, where all the snow is melting and all the rivers and streams are flooded.

When that happens, a well practically across the street from the church, known as the "Witches’ Well", occassionally begins to "boil" over (the last time was spring of 2008). Local legend holds that the well boils over when the witches of Tuhala make a sauna below the ground and beat each other with birch branches, causing a commotion on the surface.

The real reason is that well is near the Tuhala River, a 26 km long branch of the Pirita River. Some 6 km of its length runs underground. Water starts to spout up from the well and flood the area when excess water from the Mahtra swamp fills up the underground river and the overflowing river water seeks an escape through the well. The quantity of water flowing through the Tuhala River must be at least 5000 liters per second in order for the river to overflow, which only happens during the early part of the thaw.

Of course, it is possible that the thaw that causes the boiling is the result of the heat from the underground witches' sauna...

Kaarli Lutheran Church in Tallinn

Visited March 30, 2013

Charles XI Lutheran Church, or Kaarli Kirik, is Tallinn's grandest 19th-century church, and the only one in Tallinn with twin steeples.

It is a neo-Roman style church built over twenty years from 1862 to 1882 as a long overdue replacement for the original Kaarli Church. That church was founded in 1670 on the order of Sweden's King Charles XI, but like many wooden structures outside the city wall, the first Kaarli Church burned down during the Great Northern War in the early 1700s.

The present limestone church was built by architect Otto Pius Hippius from St. Petersburg using a special arch technique that gives it have a vast, open interior. It can seat 1,500, and I can attest to its wonderful acoustics...I once sat (hid) in the back and could hear perfectly.

According to Tallinn's tourism website, Kaarli Church is home to the first Estonian fresco, “Come to Me,” painted in 1879 by famed Tallinn artist Johann Köler. The church also boasts the country's largest church organ, installed in 1924. Services are still held at Kaarli Church on Sundays at 10am, and in fact, this is actually the only church I have attended services in since coming to Estonia. Well, that is sort of true. I did attend a concert in Niguliste Kirik, but it wasn't a church service and the church is actually a museum now.

But I have been to a Thanksgiving service at Kaarli. All in Estonian. It was beautiful, but challenging.

Sadly, I couldn't get inside Saturday. So I was only able to get exterior pictures.

Orthodox Cathedral of St Simeon and the Prophetess Hanna in Tallinn

Visited March 30, 2013

This is a church I have never noticed. It is on a street I have been down, but if I ever saw it, it just didn't jump out.

The Orthodox Cathedral of St Simeon and the Prophetess Hanna was begun in 1752 and completed in 1755.

It is located down near the harbor on the route I usually take to catch the ferry to Helsinki. It is a pretty little wooden church that looks like it came out of a fairy tale. It was build on the initiative of Russian sailors, and it the second Orthodox church to have sprung up as part of the suburban building boom that followed the Great Northern War. The first, as you know, was the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (Kazan Icon) that I wrote about yesterday.

The coastline in this area was considerably closer to the city then than it is now, owing to the land being filled it, so this church was practically on the edge of the water, and legend has it that rubble from shipwrecks was used for landfill for the church.

Like most churches in Estonia, the building was seriously damaged during Soviet times, when it was turned into a sports hall. During that time, it lost its bell tower and onion dome, but the church was fortunatley restored after Estonia re-independence. Since 2001, an Estonian Orthodox congregation has been active there, and they have services on Sundays at 10am.

Luckily for me, this church was open, so I was able to get some shots of the beautiful interior as well.