Top Historic Sights in Kärdla, Estonia
Explore the historic highlights of Kärdla
Hiiumaa Museum
The head office of the Hiiumaa Museum has been based in Kärdla since 1998, located in the building known as Pikk Maja (Long House). Pikk Maja was built in the 1830s as a residence for the directors of the Hiiu-Kärdla textile factory. It was since then home to several generations of the Ungern-Sternberg and Peltzer families. During the period of Soviet occupation, different establishments and offices used the bui ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre
Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.
Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.
Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.