Porkuni () is a village in

Tapa Parish Tapa Parish () is a Municipalities of Estonia, rural municipality in Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Tapa, Estonia, Tapa. It is located 70 km east of Estonia's Capital ( ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

, in northern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. The settlement is located around the

Lake Porkuni Lake Porkuni is a lake in Porkuni, in northern Estonia. It's the source of the Valgejõgi River. See also *Battle of Porkuni Battle of Porkuni () was the largest engagement between Estonians serving in the Red Army and Estonian pro-indepe ...

, which is the source of the

Valgejõgi Valgejõgi (lit. ''White River'') is a river in Northern Estonia. Its source is in Lake Porkuni in Pandivere (Lääne-Viru County) and it drains into Hara Bay (part of Finnish Gulf) at Loksa (Harju County). Geography Valgejõgi lacks any major ...

River. In 1944, the

Battle of Porkuni Battle of Porkuni () was the largest engagement between Estonians serving in the Red Army and Estonian pro-independence and Waffen-SS units. It took place on 21 September 1944 between Lake Porkuni and the Sauvälja village about seven kilometre ...

was fought in the area.

Porkuni castle

In 1479, a castle was built on an island in the lake by the bishop of Tallinn Simon von der Borch. Porkuni castle () was a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard, where a small church stood. In each corner of the castle stood a cannon-tower, and there was also a gate tower which is still preserved, albeit with a few later alterations. Judging from the remains, the castle was built in different stages and the walls were gradually made higher. The castle was destroyed during the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

. In 1870–1874, a new manor house was built at the site by the landowner at the time, Otto Ludwig von Rennenkampff. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is built in a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style, with turrets and other details inspired by a romantic perception of the Middle Ages. The ceremonial rooms of the manor, on the first floor, have been restored. The interior also houses a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

staircase and a noteworthy

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

cocklestove A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature fo ...

. The manor house and grounds is now owned by UK telecommunications operator aql.

References

External links

Porkuni castle
at Estonian Manors Portal {{Authority control Villages in Lääne-Viru County Castles in Estonia Manor houses in Estonia Kreis Wierland Tourist attractions in Lääne-Viru County