Kambja

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kambja is a neighbourhood within Tartu County, Estonia.

Kambja Church has also very interesting history: burned down several times, but always rebuilt in bigger form. The first mention of Kambja in Estonia and the church at its present location date back to as early as 1330 A.D. Since then the church has been burnt several times: After the first fire in 1558 it took 84 years to rebuilt it. Again was it destroyed in 1704 during the Great Northern War. Renovation was finished in 1721 and these walls are the basis for the present building. In 1874 an extension was built – there were ten thousand members in the parish around that time. In 1937 a new northern tower with staircases was built.

During the World War II, on August 19, 1944, the church was bombed by the invading Russian troops. The new Soviet regime did not allow the church to be rebuilt and the congregation was forced to close.

The church remained in ruins until 1987 when the times started to change and on the initiative of Ivar Tedrema, the state farm director at that time, and with the help of school principal Madis Linnamägi, Toivo Traksmaa and many others, the renovation begun.

The congregation was re-established in 1994.