Kuressaare is a
townPopulated places in Estonia are settlements or territorial units within a municipality. Populated places have no administrative functions. A group of populated places form a rural municipality with local administration...
and a
municipalityA Municipality is the smallest administrative subdivision of Estonia. Each municipality is a unit of self-government with its representative and executive bodies. The municipalities in Estonia cover the entire territory of the country....
on
SaaremaaSaaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
island in
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
. It is the capital of
Saare CountySaare County , or Saaremaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa , the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it. The county borders Lääne County to the east and Hiiu County to the north...
. The current population is about 15,300.
The town is situated on the coast of
Gulf of Riga300px|thumb|The Gulf of RigaThe Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km². The maximum depth is 67 m....
and is served by
Kuressaare AirportKuressaare Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 3 km from the town of Kuressaare on Saaremaa island.The first runway was built in the last half of the 1930s. The airport was opened officially on 6 March 1945. The air traffic increased during the next years, and between 1949...
.
Its historic name
Arensburg (from
Middle High GermanMiddle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
a(a)r: eagleEagles are large birds of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa...
, raptor) renders the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
denotation
arx aquilae for the town's castle. The fortress and the eagle,
tetramorphA tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements. The term is derived from the Greek tetra, meaning four, and morph, shape....
symbol of Saint
John the EvangelistSaint John the Evangelist , or the Beloved Disciple, is traditionally the name used to refer to the author of the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John. Traditionally he has been identified with John the Apostle...
, are also the depicted on Kuressaare's coat of arms.
The name was replaced by Kuressaare (probably from
EstonianEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
kurg: craneCranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. There are fifteen species. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
) in 1918 after Estonia had
declared its independenceThe Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia , is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day....
from Bolshevist Russia.
Kuressaare is a
townPopulated places in Estonia are settlements or territorial units within a municipality. Populated places have no administrative functions. A group of populated places form a rural municipality with local administration...
and a
municipalityA Municipality is the smallest administrative subdivision of Estonia. Each municipality is a unit of self-government with its representative and executive bodies. The municipalities in Estonia cover the entire territory of the country....
on
SaaremaaSaaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
island in
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
. It is the capital of
Saare CountySaare County , or Saaremaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa , the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it. The county borders Lääne County to the east and Hiiu County to the north...
. The current population is about 15,300.
The town is situated on the coast of
Gulf of Riga300px|thumb|The Gulf of RigaThe Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km². The maximum depth is 67 m....
and is served by
Kuressaare AirportKuressaare Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 3 km from the town of Kuressaare on Saaremaa island.The first runway was built in the last half of the 1930s. The airport was opened officially on 6 March 1945. The air traffic increased during the next years, and between 1949...
.
Etymology
Its historic name
Arensburg (from
Middle High GermanMiddle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
a(a)r: eagleEagles are large birds of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa...
, raptor) renders the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
denotation
arx aquilae for the town's castle. The fortress and the eagle,
tetramorphA tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements. The term is derived from the Greek tetra, meaning four, and morph, shape....
symbol of Saint
John the EvangelistSaint John the Evangelist , or the Beloved Disciple, is traditionally the name used to refer to the author of the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John. Traditionally he has been identified with John the Apostle...
, are also the depicted on Kuressaare's coat of arms.
The name was replaced by Kuressaare (probably from
EstonianEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
kurg: craneCranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. There are fifteen species. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
) in 1918 after Estonia had
declared its independenceThe Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia , is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day....
from Bolshevist Russia. Under
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
rule the town from 1952 to 1988 was called
Kingissepa after the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
Kuressaare-native
Viktor KingisseppViktor Kingissepp was an Estonian Communist politician, leader of the Estonian Communist Party....
killed in 1922 (not to be confused with the
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n town
KingiseppKingisepp , formerly Yamburg and Jama , is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies along the Luga River, 137 km west of St. Petersburg, 20 km east of Narva, and 49 km south of the Gulf of Finland...
, formerly
Jamburg).
History
Kuressaare first appeared on maps around 1154. The island of Saaremaa (
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
, ) was conquered by the
Livonian Brothers of the SwordBishop Albert of Riga founded the military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202; Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German "warrior monks"...
under Volkwin of Naumburg in 1227, who merged with the
Teutonic KnightsThe Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order , is a German Roman Catholic religious order. It was formed to aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and injured...
shortly afterwards. The first documentation about the castle (
arx aquilae) has been found in Latin texts written in 1381 and 1422. The town around the fortress flourished and developed after it became the see of the
Bishopric of Ösel-WiekThe Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek was a semi-independent Roman Catholic prince-bishopric in what is now Saare and Lääne counties of Estonia....
established by Albert of Riga in 1228, part of the Terra Mariana.
Johann von Münchhausen, bishop since 1542, had turned
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
. With the advancement of the troops of Tsar
Ivan IV of RussiaIvan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533. The epithet "Grozny" is associated with might, power and strictness, rather than poor performance, horror or cruelty...
in the course of the
Livonian WarThe Livonian War of 1558–1583 was a lengthy series of wars between the Tsardom of Russia and a variable coalition of Denmark–Norway, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland , and Sweden for control of medieval Livonia, the territory of the present-day Estonia and Latvia.By the late 1550s,...
, he sold his lands to King
Frederick II of DenmarkFrederick II , King of Denmark-Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death. He was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg....
in 1559 and returned to Germany. Frederick sent his younger brother Prince Magnus to Kuressaare where he was elected as bishop in the following year. From him the town obtained its
civic charterGerman town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
, modeled after that of
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
in 1563. The bishopric was finally
secularisedSecularization or secularisation generally refers to the transformation by which a society migrates from close identification with religious institutions to a more separated relationship...
in 1572 and Kuressaare fell to the Danish crown.
In 1645 it passed to
SwedishSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
control by the
Treaty of BrömsebroThe Second Treaty of Brömsebro was signed on 13 August 1645, and ended the Torstenson War between Sweden and Denmark-Norway...
after the Danish defeat in the Torstenson War. Queen
Christina of SwedenChristina , later known as Christina Alexandra and sometimes Countess Dohna, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg...
granted to her favourite
Magnus Gabriel de la GardieCount Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was a Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three of the five offices counted as the Great Officers of the Realm, namely Lord High Treasurer, Lord High Chancellor and Lord High...
the title of a Count of Arensburg, the
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
and
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
name by which Kuressaare was known at that time. The town was burnt to the ground by Russian troops in 1710 during the
Great Northern WarThe Great Northern War was a war in which the so-called Northern Alliance composed of Russia, Denmark-Norway, Poland-Lithuania and Saxony engaged Sweden for the supremacy in the Baltic Sea. The war ended with a defeat for Sweden in 1721, leaving Russia as the new major power in the Baltic Sea and...
and suffered heavily from the plague. Abandoned by the Swedish it was incorporated into the Governorate of Livonia of the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
with the 1721
Treaty of NystadThe Treaty of Nystad was signed in 1721 in the then Swedish town of Nystad . It ended the Great Northern War, in which Russia received the territories of Estonia, Livonia and Ingria, as well as much of Karelia and number of islands in the Baltic Sea from Sweden and Tsar Peter I of Russia replaced...
.
During the 19th century Kuressaare became a popular
seaside resortA seaside resort is a resort located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- History of the seaside resort :...
on the
Baltic coastThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
. In October 1990, Kuressaare was the first town in Estonia to regain its self-governing status.
Culture
The medieval episcopal castle today houses the Saaremaa Regional Museum. Annual
chamber musicChamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
recitals are held in summer.
Kuressaare is a safe and healthy town, open for international cooperation and communication. It also hosts the
FC KuressaareFC Kuressaare is an Estonian football club based in Kuressaare. The club was founded in 1990, and plays at the Kuressaare linnastaadion. Due to their numerous promotions and relegations, they are considered as a yo-yo club...
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
club.
Born in Kuressaare
- Richard Maack
Richard Karlovich Maack was a 19th century Russian naturalist, geographer, and anthropologist. He is most known for his exploration of the Russian Far East and Siberia, particularly the Ussuri and Amur River valleys...
(1825-1886), naturalist
- Eugen Dücker
Eugen Dücker or Eugène Gustav Dücker was a romanticist Baltic German painter.He was born in Kuressaare, Estonia, on 29 January 1841 in the Julian calendar and died on 6 December 1916 in Düsseldorf, where he developed almost all his career....
(1841-1916), romantic painter
- Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn was a world-renowned architect of Estonian Jewish origin, based in Philadelphia, United States. After working in various capacities for several companies in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...
(1901-1974), Estonian-American architect
- Voldemar Väli
Voldemar Väli was a two time Olympic medalist for Estonia in Greco-Roman wrestling.-External links:***...
(1903-1997), two-time Olympic medalist for Estonia in the sport of Men's Greco-Roman Featherweight Wrestling.
- Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven (1914-2007), Bundeswehr Chief of Staff
- Ivar Karl Ugi
Ivar Karl Ugi was a German chemist who made major contributions to organic chemistry. He is known for the research on multicomponent reactions, yielding the Ugi reaction.-Biography:...
(1930-2005), chemist
Twin towns
EkenäsEkenäs is a town and former municipality of Finland comprising the former municipalities Snappertuna and Tenala together with the town of Ekenäs. It was merged with Pohja and Karis to form the new municipality of Raseborg on January 1, 2009....
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
since 21 November 1988
RønneRønne is a town with a population of 14,031 and a former municipality in Denmark on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Rønne is the largest town and the municipal seat on the island....
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
since 3 October 1991
MariehamnMariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
since 24 October 1991
SkövdeSkövde is a locality and the seat of Skövde Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 33,119 inhabitants in 2005.Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Göteborg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It sits on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge Billingen...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
since 23 June 1993
VammalaVammala is a former town and municipality of Finland. It became part of Sastamala in 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality had a population of 16,640 and covered an area of 656.25 km² of which 57.53 km² is water...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
since 30 June 1994
TurkuTurku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
since 30 May 1996
TalsiTalsi is a town in Latvia. It is the center of Talsu county.- Talsi: town of nine hills :Talsi - known as 'The Town of Nine Hills' - perches above two lakes...
,
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
since 27 May 1998
KuurneKuurne is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises only the town of Kuurne proper. On January 1 2006 Kuurne had a total population of 12,591. The total area is 10.01 km² which gives a population density of 1258 inhabitants per km².Inhabitants from...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
since 9 August 1998
External links