Welcome to Estonia

In Pihla village there is the Reigi parish church. That, oficially named the Church of Jesus, has in the past been called Pihla church as well. The present church is the third for the local congregation. As is speculative the location of the first church, so has its building date been lost in the merky waters of history. It did exist in 1627 however – that has been verified by the visitation documents of Johannes Rudbeckius, the visitator of Estonia, Livonia and Ingria.
The present 370-seater stone church was built under the orders of baron Otto Reinhold Ludwig von Ungern-Sternberg in 1800-1802 in memory of his son Gustav Dietrich Otto von Ungern-Strenberg (1773-1800). Exceptionally the rooster that usually marks the top of wind flags in Estonia has in this case been substituted for a lily that derives from the Ungern-Sternberg coat of arms.
The more interesting pieces of art in Reigi are 17th century paintings that have been painted on wood and were originally in the first church – “Püha õhtusöömaaeg” (“Holy Communion”), another “Püha õhtusöömaaeg”, “Kolgata” and “Risti mahavõtmine” (“Taking down the cross”). There is also a painting from the 19th century donated to the church by madame Ungern-Sternberg. It is called “Kristus Ketsemanni aias” (“Christ in the garden of Gethsemane”).

The Eiffel Tower (2008) in Reigi village

Hiiumaa (Finnish: Hiidenmaa, German: Dagö, Swedish: Dagö, Danish: Dagø) is the second largest island (989 km²) belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the West Estonian archipelago. Its largest town is Kärdla.

 Name

Hiiumaa is the main island of Hiiu County, called Hiiumaa or Hiiu maakond in Estonian. The Swedish and German name of the island is Dagö (day island), Dagø in Danish — a calque of its old Finnish name Päivänsalo (day island); compare Ösel (Yösalo – night island) for Saaremaa. In modern Finnish it is called Hiidenmaa, literally hiisi's land. In Old Gutnish it was Dagaiþ (day isthmus), from which the local North Germanic name "Daë" is derived.

History

Archaeological evidence of the first human settlement in Hiiumaa dates to as early as the 4th century BC. The first documented record of the island of Dageida was made by contemporary chroniclers in 1228, at the time when Hiiumaa, along with the rest of Estonia, had been conquered by Germanic crusaders. In 1254, Hiiumaa was divided between the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek and the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, who were also partly acting on behalf of the Hanseatic League.

The island was part of Swedish Estonia from 1563–1720, after which it passed to the Russian Empire as part of the Governorate of Estonia, although Dagö's Swedish population kept most of their privileges. Most of the island's previously numerous Swedish-speaking population emigrated or were "Estonianised" during the period of Imperial Russian rule, although a small minority remains to this day. Estonian Swedes are also known as "aibofolke" (meaning island people in Swedish) or "rannarootslased" (meaning coastal Swedes in Estonian).

Hiiumaa was occupied during World War I by the Imperial German Army, in Operation Albion. After the war, it became a part of independent Estonia. It was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, by Nazi Germany in 1941, and by the Soviets again in 1944. It was then a part of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic until the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Since then, the island has been a part of independent Estonia.

 Transport

Road transport from Estonian mainland to Hiiumaa involves a 90-minute (28 km) ferry crossing from Rohuküla to Heltermaa, which is 25 km by road from Kärdla. There are about 10 ferry departures a day.^[1] In the summer weekends, getting car space on the ferry usually requires advance booking. There are about 2 scheduled buses a day between Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) and Kärdla.^[2] In winter, the island can sometimes be reached via an "ice street" of 26 km across the frozen Baltic Sea.^[3]

Hiiumaa is served by Kärdla Airport, with regular flights to Tallinn.

Bicycle rental is available in Kärdla and there is a good bicycle path built from Kärdla towards Kõrgessaare.

Gallery

• Tahkuna lighthouse

• Church of Kassari

• Old house in Tammela

• Sõru museum

 See also

• List of islands of Estonia
• List of islands in the Baltic Sea
• Estonian Swedes

 References

External links

• Hiiumaa County government Official site
• Hiiumaa at the Open Directory Project
• www.mil.hiiumaa.ee Pictures of Coastal batteries WWI and WWII in Hiiumaa