Valjala

This article covers the village. For the former rural municipality, see Valjala (rural municipality) .

Coordinates: 58 ° 24 '  N , 22 ° 47'  E

Valjala​

Estonia

Remains of the former castle

Martins Church of Valjala

View of the pulpit and altar

Baptismal font

Valjala (German Wolde ) is a village ( Estonian alevik ) in the rural municipality Saaremaa in the Saare district on the largest Estonian island Saaremaa . Until 2017 Valjala was the capital of a rural community of the same name .

Population

The village has 410 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2011). It is located 27 kilometers northeast of the island's capital Kuressaare . The village lies on the main connecting road that Kuressaare with the Baltic port of departure Kuivastu connects. From there the ferry goes to mainland Estonia.

Valjala now houses a kindergarten, a primary school and a post office.

history

The Gau Waldele was first mentioned in documents around 1200 . A small settlement developed around the church in the Middle Ages. It was recorded in 1634 under the name Pappiallewe .

In the Middle Ages, Valjala became the capital of the parish of the same name .

Castle

A castle of the pagan Estonians was located southwest of today's village center until the 13th century. It is mentioned in Heinrich's Livonian Chronicle as castrum Waldja . The castle was best known for the battle in the winter of 1227, from which the Christian conquerors of the country emerged victorious. As a result, the crusaders under the leadership of the Bishop of Riga and the Teutonic Order consolidated their rule over the entire island of Saaremaa.

The castle was probably one of the largest and most heavily fortified defensive structures of the local population. It lay on a hill and was surrounded by a strong ring wall. The moat fortified with stones can still be seen today. During the excavation, archaeologists have uncovered numerous finds from the 11th to 13th centuries.

church

The Evangelical Lutheran Martins Church is the oldest sacred building on Saaremaa Island and probably the oldest known church building in Estonia. As early as 1227, a chapel was built on the site on a square floor plan , which is still preserved in the walls of the choir . It may have been built on a burial place of the pagan Estonians after the Christianization of Estonia.

Between 1241 and 1265 the church was expanded and a nave with three vaults in the Romanesque style was added. All three portals of the church also have Romanesque round arches. The former chapel with its figural wall paintings of the apostles was transformed into a choir as part of the expansion. After the uprising of the local population in 1261, the church was converted into a fortified church . The upper part of the building then has Gothic pointed arches for the windows and vaults . The main portal on the west side is decorated with an eyelash . It was probably badly affected by the uprising on St. George's Night in the 14th century.

The church was redesigned in the 1360s. Several conversions and extensions followed later. The tower dates from the 17th century; it was built on top of the previous sacristy . Some remains of older, trapezoidal tombstones have been worked into the walls of the tower. The baroque spire was built in the 1770s, but was destroyed after a lightning strike in 1922 and replaced by a new one four years later.

The massive Romanesque font from 1270 is one of the oldest and most elaborate of its kind in Estonia. “Virtuoso he lets the tendril motif snake and roll along the cupa. This grows out of a strong column base, the four smaller pillars of which symbolize the four holy rivers. ”The baptismal font was possibly created for the cathedral church of Haapsalu and only later brought to Saaremaa. It was probably made by a master from Westphalia . The sculptural work is very similar to the decorations on the north portal of Riga Cathedral .

A wall painting from the 13th century has been preserved on the north side of the choir. The altarpiece and the pulpit in Empire style are works by master carpenter Nommen Lorentzon from Kuressaare from the 1820s. The altar painting dates from the second half of the 19th century.

Early baroque epitaphs made of dolomite rock are reminiscent of local pastors such as Andreas Fregius (1664) and Caspar Berg (1667). The church windows from the 1970s are the work of the Estonian glass artist Dolores Hoffmann . The organ from 1888 comes from the Estonian organ builder Gustav Normann . It was renovated in 2004.

After Estonian regained independence, the church was extensively restored between 1992 and 1994. The pastorate is by the church .

literature

• Baltic historical local dictionary. Part 1: Estonia (including Northern Livonia) (= sources and studies on Baltic history. Volume 8/1). Started by Hans Feldmann . Published by Heinz von zur Mühlen . Edited by Gertrud Westermann . Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-412-07183-8 , pp. 684f.

Web links

Commons : Valjala  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)
• Detailed description ( eestigiid.ee )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Estonian Statistical Office
2. ^ Estonian Register of Monuments
3. ↑ Indrek Rohtmets: Kultuurilooline Eestimaa. Tallinn 2004, ISBN 9985-3-0882-4 , p. 34.
4. ↑ Ivar Sakk: Eesti kirikud. Teejuht. Tallinn 2014, p. 353.
5. ^ Thea Karin: Estonia. Cultural and scenic diversity in a historical borderland between east and west. (= DuMont art and landscape guide ). Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-7701-2614-9 , p. 321.