Location: Paide, Järva County Map
Constructed: 30 September 1291 by Halt, master of the Livonian Order
Info: Parnu 6, 385 0400
Jarvamaa Museum
Lembitu 5
Tel. 385 1867
Open: Apr- Oct: 11am- 6pm Wed- Sun
Nov- Mar: 10am- 5pm Wed- Sun
Paide Order Fortress (Weissenstein in German; Wittenstein in Low
German) was a fortress built by the Livonian Order in Paide in Järva
County.
On Paide Vallimäe, the order fort was built in 1265.
The ancient fortress of Estonians could have been located in the
same place before. In the 14th century, the castle was expanded and
became an important military stronghold due to its central location.
The last major insurance works were done at the end of the 16th
century. The town and the fortress were badly damaged in the
Swedish-Polish war, after which the fortress was left in ruins.
Vallimägi was repaired and the main tower of the fortress (Pikk
Hermann or Paide Vallitorn) was restored at the end of the 19th
century. From 1862 to the spring of 1993, there was an Orthodox
church on Vallimäe (it operated until 1965). However, the retreating
Soviet troops blew up Vallitorn in 1941. Today, the main tower of
the fortress has been restored and the Wittenstein Time Center
operates there.
The ruins of the Paide order castle and
fortress are located in the city of Paide - in the area between
Tallinna street, Veski street, Parkali street and Valli street.
Building a fortress
The castle of the order built on Paide
Vallimäe was completed in its original form in 1265 during the reign of
Konrad von Mandern, the Land Master of the Livonian Order. Since
according to the Stensby Treaty, the Livonian Order could not build
fortresses on Järva County, which belongs to the Danish King Valdemar
II, a limestone fortress was built on the territory of Alempois,
directly opposite the border of Järva County. The first fortress
building on Vallimäe could have been a mighty fortress tower, which
today is known as Paide Vallitorn (formerly Pikk Hermann), but the
results of recent archaeological investigations have strongly questioned
this.
The Paide fortress became the residence of the Järva
bailiff of the Livonian Order and the Paide comtour. The settlement
around the fortress received city rights in 1291.
In the 14th
century, major construction works were undertaken at the fortress, a
chapel and a chapter hall were built. In 1343, the Jüriöö Uprising broke
out, and on May 4, Master of the Order Burchard von Dreileben, the
Bishop of Tallinn and the leaders of the uprisings: four kings and three
servants accompanying them, gathered in the Paide fortress to negotiate.
Representatives of the Estonian insurgents were executed in the
fortress. The bishop was spared.
According to the description of
the Järva chess badge of the Defense Association, the names of the kings
were Vootele, Murdja, Hundipea and Meeme. Murdja's last words are said
to have been: "For you, Estonian freedom...".
At the end of the
14th century, the castle was again thoroughly rebuilt.
The period
of wars and the decline of the Paide fortress
During the Livonian
War, Paide suffered heavily in the war. In 1558, Paide was besieged by
Russian troops under the command of Alexei Basmanov, but could not
capture the fortress. After the siege, Bernd von Smerten, the last
bailiff of Järva, left Paide.
Russian troops besieged Paide again
in 1560, but Caspar von Oldenbockum, the ruler of the fortress, managed
to repulse the attack.
In 1562, Paide, together with other
remaining possessions of the Livonian Order, came under Polish rule. In
the same year, the Swedish troops under the command of Klas Kristersson
Horn besieged the fortress and forced Johann Groll, the star governor of
the fortress appointed there by the Polish king, to capitulate.
In 1571, the Russians besieged the city again, but could not conquer it.
In 1573, the troops of the Moscow tsar under the command of Ivan IV
himself conquered Paide. Almost all the inhabitants of the city and
those in the fortress were killed. The viceroy of Paide, Hans Boy, was
tied to a thorn and cooked to death over a fire.
In 1581, Swedish
troops led by Göran Boije, Johann von Koskull and Caspar von
Tiesenhausen recaptured Paide.
Around 1585, the castle was
surrounded by an earthen rampart and bastions were built in its corners,
under the direction of master builder M. Petern from Narva, on the same
foundations as in Narva. Bastions were built in only three corners. It
was the last attempt to modernize the Paide fortress.
In 1599,
there were riots in the fortress garrison, the reason for which was
unpaid wages and poor provision of clothing. A new fortress commander,
salary and clothing for the soldiers were hurriedly sent to Paide. The
latter were collected from the residents of Tallinn.
Paide
fortress also played an important role in the Polish-Swedish war that
started in 1600. In the fall of 1600, Paides was the headquarters of
Duke Charles (later King Charles IX of Sweden). Karl's wife Kristina was
still in Paide at the beginning of 1601.
In 1602, Paide was
besieged by Polish troops under the command of Crown Grand Hetman Jan
Zamoyski and forced the defenders of the fortress to capitulate. In
1604, the Battle of Paide took place under the walls of the Order Castle
of Paide, in which Polish forces defeated Swedish forces under the
command of Lithuanian Field Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. The battle was
considered so important that Chodkiewicz was promoted to Grand Hetman of
Lithuania after the battle, and Arvid Eriksson Stålarm, who led the
Swedish forces, was sentenced to death (although the death sentence was
not carried out).
In 1608, the Paide fortress fell into the hands
of the Swedes again.
In 1636, the war-damaged and old-fashioned
Paide fortress was deleted from the list of fortresses, and some of its
defensive structures were destroyed. The castle ruins and the town
surrounding them were donated to Mäo landowner Lennart Torstenson, and
Paide lost its previous town rights.
Later history
In
1895-1897, the main tower of the Paide fortress Pikk Hermann and the
gate building on the west side were restored according to the project of
architect Wilhelm Neumann, and Vallimägi was renovated.
In 1941,
retreating Soviet troops blew up Vallitorn. The tower was restored and
opened to visitors on April 23, 1993. In the years 1862-1993, the wooden
building of the Church of the Dormition of the Russian Orthodox Church
of Paide Jumalaema Uinumise was located on the rampart facing Tallinna
Street and Valli Street.
Open-air events are organized on
Vallimäe and in the castle ruins, including the Arvamusfestival.
In 2009, the reconstruction works of Vallimäe and Vallitorn began.