Estonia · 13th century
Paide Castle (in German Weissenstein; in Low German Wittenstein) was a castle built by the Livonian Order in Paide, in the Estonian county of Järvamaa. Construction of the castle on the hill of Vallimägi began in 1265. It is possible that an older stronghold of the Estonians had previously existed on the same site. In the 4th century the enlargement of the fortification began, which became a key military stronghold because of its central location. The last major fortification works were carried out at the end of the 16th century. The town and the castle suffered severe damage during the Polish-Swedish War (1600-1611), after which the castle was left in ruins.
Vallimägi was landscaped and the castle's main tower (known as Pikk Hermann or Paide Vallitorn) was restored at the end of the 19th century. From 1862 until the spring of 1993 there was an Orthodox church on Vallimägi (active until 1965). However, the retreating troops of the Soviet Union blew up the Vallitorn tower in 1941. Today the castle's main tower has been rebuilt and houses the Ajakeskus Wittenstein museum.
Machine-translated from “Castillo de Paide” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Paide Castle ranks #4,453 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #24 of the 36 mapped in Estonia. Founded 1265, it is older than 66% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 1090 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. The nearest day-trip guide is Tallinn, 77 km away. See how Estonia compares in the castle statistics.
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