Padise Abbey

Cistercians from Gotland founded a house at Padise in the thirteenth century and built the monastery in stone through the fourteenth, a fortified complex with church, cloister, refectory, cellars and defensive walls, since this was a frontier and the community had been attacked. It was dissolved at the Reformation, converted into a manor, and burned in the eighteenth century, after which it stood as a ruin. Consolidation and partial restoration through the twentieth century and again in the 2010s made the structure safe and accessible, with walkways, the vaulted cellars, the church shell and the tower open. A river runs beside it and a manor and park stand nearby.

What you actually see

• The church shell - the roofless nave and its walls.
• Vaulted cellars - the surviving undercrofts beneath the complex.
• Defensive walls - the fortification of the monastery precinct.
• The tower - the climbable part of the structure.

When to go

May to September when the site is staffed and open; winter access is restricted. Concerts and events are held in the ruins in summer. Mornings are quietest.

Honest expectations

Opening hours are seasonal and the site closes for much of the winter. Interpretation is limited. The interior is roofless and exposed to weather. It takes about an hour.

Nearby

Tallinn lies northeast; Haapsalu is southwest.