Kirumpejas Pils

Kirumpää, Estonia, Estonia

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Kirumpejas Pils (also known as Kirumpää piiskopilinnus in Estonian and Schloss Kirrumpäh in German) is a medieval bishop's castle located in the village of Kirumpää in Võru Parish, Võru County, in southeastern Estonia, at coordinates 57°51′48″N 26°59′22″E.

Built sometime during the late 13th to early 14th century on a strategic mound beside the Võhandu River to control an important road between Tartu and Pskov, the castle was first mentioned in written sources in 1322 when it was pillaged by Gediminas, the famous Grand Duke of Lithuania, during the Livonian Civil War.

Originally a simple fortified manor house with a 14x10 meter guard tower, it was later expanded in phases and by circa 1500 housed a chapel, a round tower in the southwest corner, and a forecourt measuring 42x45 meters with its entrance on the western side.

The castle was damaged by Russian troops during the early years of the Livonian War in 1558, reported in use again in 1627 after becoming the center of the Kirumpää starostwo (district) under Polish rule, but was ultimately ruined in the Second Northern War in 1656 and never rebuilt.

Today only few visible ruins remain, as most of the castle's stones were used as a quarry for construction in the nearby town of Võru during the 18th and 19th centuries after the castle fell into disrepair at the end of the 17th century, though the ruins sit on a small scenic hill and are protected as Estonia's cultural heritage monument number 14142.