Viljandi Castle

Castle in Estonia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Viljandi Castle" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Estonian. (August 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

*   * Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing Estonian Wikipedia article at [[:et:Viljandi ordulinnus]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|et|Viljandi ordulinnus}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

A reconstruction of the castle Drone footage of the castle. July 2021 A wall of the former convent house of Viljandi Castle

Viljandi Castle (Estonian: Viljandi ordulinnus, German: Ordensburg Fellin) is 13th Century castle in a Viljandi, Estonia. It was built by the Livonian Order, and construction started in 1224 in place of a former hillfort, which was one of the strongest castles in Livonia. Finally destroyed in the Polish-Swedish wars during the early 17th century, its ruins still stand near the town centre.

## History

[edit]

After initial setback in the battle of Viljandi in 1223, the crusaders of Sword Brethren conquered the hillfort at the place where the main castle was later built. Construction of stone fortifications started in 1224. Viljandi was chosen as the high seat of the order.

The convent house, a typical form of castle of Teutonic Knights, was erected in the late 13th to the early 14th century. In the following centuries the castle was extended and fortified further. It was badly damaged in the Polish-Swedish wars in the early 17th century and not repaired any more. In the 18th century, the ruins were used for quarrying stones for construction work in Viljandi.

The first excavations in the castle were performed in 1878–1879. In recent decades, these have turned to almost yearly events.

Currently the ruins form a popular resort area just outside central Viljandi. An open-air stage is located in the former central courtyard.

Ruins of Viljandi castle

## See also

[edit]

* List of castles in Estonia

## References

[edit]

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Viljandi Castle.

* v
* t
* e

Castles in Estonia

* Alatskivi Castle
* Glehn Castle
* Haapsalu Castle
* Hermann Castle
* Koluvere Castle
* Kuressaare Castle
* Laiuse Castle
* Pärnu Castle
* Põltsamaa Castle
* Purtse Castle
* Tarvastu Castle
* Toompea Castle
* Vastseliina Castle
* Viljandi Castle

Also See: Castles in Estonia

58°21′33″N 25°35′42″E﻿ / ﻿58.35917°N 25.59500°E﻿ / 58.35917; 25.59500

This article about a castle in Estonia is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This Viljandi County location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template