Keila (Keila linn)
Keila (Kegel) is a town and an urban municipality in Harju County in north-western Estonia, 25 km southwest of Tallinn. Keila is also the location of administrative buildings of the surrounding Keila Parish, a rural municipality separate from the town itself.
The oldest traces of human settlement in Keila trace back 2000 to 3000 years BC. Around 1000 years ago the village of Keila was established along the Keila river. In 1219 the Danish conquered Northern-Estonia and chose Keila as the site on which the Vomentakæ parochial Revala county church was to be built. The first church was a small wooden structure dedicated primarily to St. Michael which was replaced with a stone church at the end of the 13th century. Subsequently, the first written mention of Keila (Keikŋl) comes from Danish evaluation book writings in 1241.
In the 15th-16th century, a settlement comprising some tens of buildings and a hundred people formed around the church. At the same time the Livonian Order built a small fort south-east of the church on jõesaare (Known today as Jõepark). Ruins of the fort were first excavated in 1976 with continued finds up to 2007.
During the Livonian War of 1558-1583 the settlement, including the church (Later restored in 1596), was destroyed. Further hampered by the plague and starvation in 1601-1602 the population decline reduced the community to a small church village. This was to be the case for three centuries. An upturn began in the second half of the 20th century. One of the first notable cultural events was the erection of a statue of Martin Luther in 1862 near the kirikumõis (Church manor). However the statue was completely destroyed in 1949. In 1885 the first song festival was held in Keila. The festival was composed of 19 choirs and supervised by Konstantin Türnpu from Klooga. In 1867 the first school was opened in Väljaotsa farm celebrating the start of education in Keila.
The development of Keila took a turn with the establishment of the Tallinn-Paldiski railway in 1870.
Keila officially became a town on 1 May 1938.
After the railway to Keila was built, the place became known — as a pun — as Kegelbahn. Keila has a station on the Elron rail line.
The oldest traces of human settlement in Keila trace back 2000 to 3000 years BC. Around 1000 years ago the village of Keila was established along the Keila river. In 1219 the Danish conquered Northern-Estonia and chose Keila as the site on which the Vomentakæ parochial Revala county church was to be built. The first church was a small wooden structure dedicated primarily to St. Michael which was replaced with a stone church at the end of the 13th century. Subsequently, the first written mention of Keila (Keikŋl) comes from Danish evaluation book writings in 1241.
In the 15th-16th century, a settlement comprising some tens of buildings and a hundred people formed around the church. At the same time the Livonian Order built a small fort south-east of the church on jõesaare (Known today as Jõepark). Ruins of the fort were first excavated in 1976 with continued finds up to 2007.
During the Livonian War of 1558-1583 the settlement, including the church (Later restored in 1596), was destroyed. Further hampered by the plague and starvation in 1601-1602 the population decline reduced the community to a small church village. This was to be the case for three centuries. An upturn began in the second half of the 20th century. One of the first notable cultural events was the erection of a statue of Martin Luther in 1862 near the kirikumõis (Church manor). However the statue was completely destroyed in 1949. In 1885 the first song festival was held in Keila. The festival was composed of 19 choirs and supervised by Konstantin Türnpu from Klooga. In 1867 the first school was opened in Väljaotsa farm celebrating the start of education in Keila.
The development of Keila took a turn with the establishment of the Tallinn-Paldiski railway in 1870.
Keila officially became a town on 1 May 1938.
After the railway to Keila was built, the place became known — as a pun — as Kegelbahn. Keila has a station on the Elron rail line.
Map - Keila (Keila linn)
Map
Country - Estonia
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| Flag of Estonia | |
The land of what is now modern Estonia has been inhabited by Homo sapiens since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Papal-sanctioned Livonian Crusade in the 13th century. After centuries of successive rule by the Teutonic Order, Denmark, Sweden, and the Russian Empire, a distinct Estonian national identity began to emerge in the mid-19th century. This culminated in the 24 February 1918 Estonian Declaration of Independence from the then warring Russian and German Empires. Democratic throughout most of the interwar period, Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but the country was repeatedly contested, invaded and occupied, first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and was ultimately reoccupied in 1944 by, and annexed into, the USSR as an administrative subunit (Estonian SSR). Throughout the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. Following the bloodless Estonian "Singing Revolution" of 1988–1990, the nation's de facto independence from the Soviet Union was restored on 20 August 1991.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| ET | Estonian language |
| RU | Russian language |
