Vastseliina Castle Ruins

Vastseliina, Estonia

The Vastseliina Castle was a castle of the Livonian Order, Bishopric of Dorpat. It was constructed in 1342 by the Landmeister Burkhard von Dreileben as part of the border fortifications of Old Livonia against Novgorod, Pskov and later Moscow. In the Middle Ages, Vastseliina Castle was well known in the Catholic world as a popular destination for pilgrims. They worshipped the holy cross in the castle chapel and a visit to the chapel gave them sanctification for 40 days – it was first validated by Pope Innocentius VI in 1354.

The castle met its end during the Great Northern War when it was demolished by Russian troops (1702). Today the ruins are open to the public.

Reference: Wikipedia, VisitEstonia

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1342
Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Estonia
Historical period: Danish and Livonian Order (Estonia)

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Janis Jukonis (4 years ago)
Interesting walk around old castle walls, towers
Artemi Ollin (4 years ago)
Interesting spot to visit with a mixture of modern architecture and medieval ruins.
Eero Ringmäe (4 years ago)
Impressive ruins, but the museum has a pretty limited exposition, so I recommend just going for the ruins area ticket (3EUR) and avoiding the museum ticket (9EUR). You can spend the 6EUR you saved in the local pub situated in the same building. Watch out with kids - the parking lot is across the road (so kids can run in front of a car) and the ruins area can be a bit tricky to navigate for kids under 6-7 years old - some very steep stairs, some edges to potentially fall off.
Anang Widhi Nirwansyah (5 years ago)
This place is very beautiful and offers marvelous views on the medieval castle and surrounding nature. Pope of Rome gave indulgence to all visitors of the castle chapel where once a miracle tool place. Since that Vastseliina Episcopal Castle is destination of pilgrimage. Nowadays a newly built Pilgrims House with remarkable exposition gives an overview of pilgrimage and offers possibilities to experience of pilgrims life. This building has also great arcchitecture and got annual architecture reward of Estonia in 2018 (TripAdvisor)
Dāvids Brics (5 years ago)
The ruins are beautiful, with nice landscape around and views from towers. Near by there is hiking trails and two small rivers with dozens of turns. Worth time to look at this 14th century castle ruins. There is pretty big parking lot and a museum too.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Clementinum

The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.

Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.