A Bishop's Castle

 



 

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,  one finds men in leadership with the title of "Bishop".   Bishops are worthy LDS men, called and set apart by priesthood leaders to take care of a "congregation" of people.  His love and devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ help keep the church running smoothly.  He oversees tithing funds, classes, programs, welfare needs, activities, and interviews his "flock" to make sure their temporal and spiritual needs are being met.  He spends countless hours of devotion to that work and undoubtedly receives blessings from heaven for his selfless service but receives no money for it.  In other words,  Bishops have day jobs.  They do all this church work in their "spare time", after working a full day and spending time with their family. A Bishops work is a labor of love. 

So it was rather interesting to get a tour, while on Saaremaa Island, of a  "Bishop's Castle".  This castle, located in the town of  Kuressaare, is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in the Baltic and was once the home of several Bishops.

 

 

The castle is built of local dolomite and  you get a feeling of awe when you first get a glimpse of the outside.  We crossed the "draw" bridge, over the moat that surrounds three sides of the castle. 

 

 

The back of the Castle faces the Baltic Sea.

You can almost imagine a royal coach rattling over the cobblestones as it approaches this impressive place. But we have to wonder...what did the Bishop travel in?


Most Bishops we know, travel in well used minivans...or the occasional SUV.  Since they usually volunteer to take boys to Scout camp,  young women to Girls Camp and youth to temple trips, they need a car with plenty of seats.

And this tower must be where the ward clerk spends his solitary days trying to decipher the ward membership records.  The ward clerk has a low profile calling in our church.  He spends a lot of time keeping up with who moved into the  ward, who moved out of the ward, who needs ordinations,  and other clerical duties....he deals with lists, lots of lists. With Internet,  a computer and printer, this tower would make an excellent spot for the ward clerk.

 

 

 



 Visitors Welcome...

 Now lets find out... where the Bishop hangs out:

In 1228, the first Roman Catholic Bishop, under the stewardship of Albert of Riga, was sent to oversee Saaremaa island.  He was called the Bishop of  Ösel-Weik  but he was also given the title of  "prince".  As Bishop he was the spiritual advisor for the people and as Prince, he had governmental duties.   Hmmm, we have seen many LDS Bishops who were "princes" to their congregations.  

 
In 1542 another Catholic guy was appointed bishop, Johann von Münchhausen from Germany. And since Bishops always have their agency, Bishop Münchhausen gave up his Catholicism and became a protestant, which probably caused quite a stir in the area.   

Rudolfs, Maksims, Marta, Sister Davis, Qi, Sister Bonner, Tina

 

When Tsar Ivan IV of Russia started advancing his troops at the beginning of the Livonian War (1559), Bishop Münchhausen was smart enough to sell the castle and surrounding area to the King of Denmark, Frederick II, and left the island. Frederick II sent his brother Prince Magnus to Kuressaare where he was elected Bishop of Ösel-Weik, even though he was a Lutheran. Quite a story, isn't it?

 

It was the Danes who built the moat around the castle.

 

We were told this is a convent-type castle with a square building around an inner courtyard.

Just for fun....Marta and Qi

Tina and Rudolfs

The castle has a labyrinth-like interior with hallways and small doorways leading you to all three levels.  It was fun to explore the many rooms each with a variety of exhibits.  We did not have enough time to see everything.

Rudolfs demonstrating what Bishops do to those members who come late to church.

Hanging on the walls of the beautifully restored basement, are paintings by Estonian artists.

To continue with the history of the castle....
 

In 1645, the Swedes took control after the Danish lost the Torstenson War.  Queen Christina of Sweden gave the land and castle to a guy named Magnus but he was no bishop. He became the Count of Arensburg.

The poor city of Kuressaare was burnt to the ground by Russian troops in 1710 during the Great Northern War and afterwards suffered heavily from the plague. Abandoned by the Swedish it was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1721.

During the 19th century Kuressaare became a popular seaside resort on the Baltic coast.  During World War I, German naval forces occupied Saaremaa island. During World War II, the Battle of Tehumardi took place here.

In October 1990, Kuressaare was the first town in Estonia to regain its self-governing status. Yeah!

And now, the Bishop's castle, is owned by the Regional Museum of Saaremaa and housed inside the well-restored interior are exhibits about the history of the castle and island.  We are grateful for the way this castle has been preserved, it was beautiful, inside and out.

This is the arched Refectory room, one of the main areas on the bottom floor.

This wooden carving showing the Coronation of Mary, located on the wall, was made between 1491-1515 for St. Mary's Chapel in Estonia. In 1910 it was brought to the castle for safe keeping.

Beautiful and old stained glass windows.

This is the Bishops chapel...

On the walls of another large room,  hang the coats-of-arms carved out of dolomite, once belonging to the Saaremaa noblemen and dating from the early 1800's.  They looked very fragile.

 



 

A model of the entire castle compound:

Genealogical records....

The castle is three stories high and has two towers, the defense tower and the taller watch tower.

  

One wing was a history museum of  "life in Estonia".

We thought this was a fire extinguisher until we read the label....it's an Electrolux vacuum cleaner:

 

An early pumper fire engine.

 

Marta showing off a model ship. 

 The Bishop probably made this in his spare time.

And then we got to the part of the museum that covers the occupation of Saaremaa.

These are dictators of the former Soviet Union and Germany.

 

Various military helmets...

 (Sister Davis wasn't interested enough in them to read the labels but obviously Elder Davis was interested enough to take the photo.)

 

Now this was an interesting gun. It is very BIG...Marta and Sister Davis saw it first and waited nearby to see Elder Davis's reaction when he saw it.

And finally, something that attracts the attention of Sister Davis... native Estonian costumes.

Inside the next wing of the castle was the Natural History museum. While Sister Davis doesn't usually like to see stuffed animals (preferring live ones) she couldn't help but take a picture of this cute hedgehog.  We see a lot of hedgehog souvenir items in the Baltic so they must be common around the countryside but we have never seen a live one in our many travels.

And here is another example of how the Baltic people love their mushrooms. They are constantly getting trained on what mushrooms are edible and which ones aren't.

 

And this must have been the Bishop that kept waiting for every one in his ward  to sign up for tithing settlement. Sorry Bishop, that will never happen.

The stables are built into the embankment of the moat.

 

And just across the bridge from the castle is a darling place but we didn't know if it was a private residence or a guest house.

The bright yellow, Kuursaal Guesthouse is located across the moat from the castle...a nice place for the Bishops friends to stay.

 

And, while we are pretty sure, no LDS Bishop has ever lived in "Bishops Castle",  you can usually find one in any LDS Chapel around the world....just look for this sign and ask if the Bishop is there.

 

Visitors are ALWAYS welcome!