Martna
Coordinates: 58 ° 51 ' N , 23 ° 48' E
Martna ( Martna küla ) is a village in the rural municipality of Lääne-Nigula in Lääne County in the northwest of the Republic of Estonia . Until 2017, it was the capital of a rural community of the same name . Its historical German name is St. Martens .
Population and location
The place has 155 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2011). Its area is 2.0 square kilometers. It is located on the central reaches of the Rannamõisa River ( Rannamõisa jõgi ), which flows into the Matsalu Bay . The distance to the county capital Haapsalu is seventeen kilometers.
church
The original name of the place was Ummern . The church of Martna was mentioned in a document at the end of the 13th century. The church with its cemetery and the pastorate became the center of the parish . The current name of the village is derived from the patronage of St. Martin . Today's village emerged as a compact settlement only after the First World War .
The first church in Martna was destroyed as early as 1298 in the fighting between the Teutonic Order and the Archbishop of Riga. The current church was built around 1500 under the aegis of Bishop Johann III. Orgies , who headed the Diocese of Ösel-Wiek until 1515. Its coat of arms stone inserted into the wall decorates the north portal.
Characteristic of the church are the nave and the small square west tower, which was added at the end of the 17th century. The current appearance of the church comes from extensive renovations in the 1860s. The oldest object in the church is the Gotland baptismal font, and the altar wall and pulpit in Empire style are also valuable. The collection of the 17th-18th centuries The coat of arms epitaphs dating from the 19th century are considered to be the third largest after Tallinn Cathedral and St. Nicholas Church.
In 2004, medieval wall paintings were uncovered in the church. The font from Gotland from the 14th century has been preserved. The altarpiece , carved around 1700, comes from the master Christian Ackermann, who was born in Königsberg . The pulpit from the first half of the 19th century is in the Empire style. The organ is a work by the Estonian organ builder Carl August Tanton from the 1820s.
The church is now subordinate to the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK).
Personalities
- Ferdinand Dietrich Nikolai Hoerschelmann (1834–1902), German-Baltic Protestant pastor and university professor
- Hannes Oja (1919–2012), journalist and poet
literature
- Baltic historical local dictionary. Part 1: Estonia (including Northern Livonia). Started by Hans Feldmann . Published by Heinz von zur Mühlen . Edited by Gertrud Westermann . Cologne, Vienna 1985 (= sources and studies on Baltic history. Volume 8/1), ISBN 3-412-07183-8 , p. 341.
Web links
- Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)
- Description and history
- Martna Church (Estonian)