Rõngu Church, Rõngu, Estonia - SpottingHistory.com

The medieval church of Mihkli (St. Michael) was built probably in the end of 14th century. It was mainly destroyed in several wars until the restoration began in the 19th century. The wooden bell tower was built in 1863 and the church was restored to the neo-Gothic appearance in 1901 using medieval walls.

User Reviews

Sergei (6 months ago)
Rooster on a spire why? It turns out that in Europe the custom of decorating the wind direction indicator with the figure of a rooster dates back to the 9th century, when, according to the decree of the Pope of Rome, the spire of each church temple was to be crowned with the image of this bird - the emblem of the Apostle Peter, who, according to legend, renounced Christ three times before the rooster managed to crow

Oskar Susi (18 months ago)
The first mention of Rõngu Church in written documents was on July 7, 1413, when the infamous so-called The letter of forgiveness of sins - indulgence - was issued to the church of Rõngu parish by Pope John XXIII. The Church of the Ring is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who is an angel of justice and judgment, grace and mercy, and a defender of the soldiers. Uncle Benjamin Hermann Karl Hesse, a German writer and Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse, was a teacher at the Rõngu congregation from 1880-1888.

Rene Meres (2 years ago)
Nice church

Arnold Rutto (2 years ago)
Nice church

Helle Fokina (3 years ago)
Being baptized there, the place is very close to the heart. Very pleasant reception.

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The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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