Haapsalu Castle — Attraction in Haapsalu linn

Very ancient and historic castle. Some info from the original website: Haapsalu Castle used to be the residence of the medieval Prince-Bishops of a small state called Saare-Lääne (Ösel-Wiek) Bishopric. The castle was founded in the middle of the 13th century and was in use until the end of the 17th century. The castle consists of an inner bailey flanked by two outer baileys. Haapsalu Castle can boast of its medieval curtain wall with seven towers and four gates which still surround the castle grounds. The heart of the castle, the inner bailey, enclosed living and administrative quarters as well as a cathedral, which was the main church of the region. These days the inner bailey hosts a museum, and the cathedral is still used by the local congregation. The historic castle grounds have, over the course of time, been turned into a park. This is a unique symbiosis of architecture and nature that provides the joy of discovery for both adults and children. In one of the outer baileys the young at heart can find a playground inspired by the...

This Castel is pretty cool! They are on the right track to be sure. You can see it's a work on progress, and so are all museums and historical buildings. Much effort went into curating what is there. The displays are terrific! There are so many great written descriptions of what you're looking at, but they are very hard to read because they are on thick see through glass. The words are in different languages, (awesome!) but they are very hard to read because they are written in white letters and back lit with white light. I got a little dizzy reading all of it having to move around to focus on seeing the letters and words on the glass. I think possibly experimenting with different back loght might solve this.

Othe areas on the grounds need to be updated and fixed. There were stairs in disrepair that went up a stone tower overlook. There was a wooden step that was actually broken. Kinda sketchy.

Hopefully they can continue to make repairs and updates and get some investors to see the value of this special...

I recommend going inside the castle museum and not just the free area (if you can). You will learn so much more about the history of the castle and how Haapsalu was shaped by both the various conquering forces and geographic changes. Also, the views from the tower and museum walls are more impressive.

They have artifacts on display- as expected. The interactive exhibits (such as Build-your-own-arch, sword and spear replicas, and the water clock) exceeded my expectations. It’s always more fun when you can be an active learner.

Staff was very helpful and recommended how to plan our walk through the exhibits. The guide who explained the water clock was very informative and enthusiastic.

A really great experience. The only question I had left was with the church. Although the castle was controlled by Catholic forces for many centuries, there is now a Protestant congregation in the church. It would be interesting to know how the change came about? Also did the Tsar make it Russian orthodox...