The Haapsalu Cathedral (first mentioned in 1279) is one of the largest single-nave churches in the Nordic and Baltic countries. It was the main church of the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek.
During the full moon in August, you could see the eternal lover – the White Lady – in the church window.

The cathedral is also a wonderful concert venue thanks to its good acoustics.

The cathedral is the church of the St. John’s congregation of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haapsalu.
The services are free for visitors and the church can be entered from the main entrance. At other times, you can enter the church through the Haapsalu Castle Museum with a museum ticket.

Haapsalu City Gallery showcases and promotes the artistic life not only of Haapsalu itself, but of Estonia as a whole. Located in newly refurbished premises in the Haapsalu Cultural Centre, the gallery is spacious and full of light, making it the perfect place to exhibit paintings and graphic art or even photography or ceramics.

Ungru Manor is one of the most impressive neo-baroque buildings in Estonia, although the castle was never fully completed. It is an imposing building, which is an almost exact copy of the Merseburg Castle in Germany. Behind the construction of the manor was a sad love story:

Count Ungern-Sternberg fell in love with the daughter of the lord of Merseburg Castle, who had promised to spend her entire life in Merseburg Castle. The count promised to build an exact replica of the building and she agreed to move there. However, the construction stopped when the count’s lover suddenly fell ill and died.
These are mystical ruins in a beautiful place, making it a wonderful place for taking pictures!

The timber-laced Kuursaal resort hall and the bandstand on the seaside promenade were built at the end of the 19th century and are the only ones of the kind that have survived in their original shape. From the first half of the 20th century until present day, the resort hall has been the centre of summer activities in Haapsalu.
Interesting to know: in 1898, the house was practically under water; later, the small coves of the bay on both sides of the building were filled and the embankment got its present shape. The resort hall with the bandstand was a favourite place of the Russian emperor’s court and the aristocracy from St. Petersburg. During the Soviet time, the resort hall was used as a storehouse.
National Register of Cultural Monuments

The Estonian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene is located on the Haapsalu Promenade. The family of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I attended the opening of the church in 1852. The church was restored to its present state and it is open as an Othodox place of worship in 2001. The church is open on Sundays from 9am to noon. To visit at other times, please contact us in advance. The church windows are decorated with stained glass by artist Dolores Hoffmann. The illustrator Ilon Wikland lived with her grandmother and grandfather in the church house during 1938-1944 at Linda 2.

Marker towers, which are normally found on the shore close to the waterline or within low water itself, were originally designed to ensure safe sailing and simplify navigation. The towers at Telise were constructed from local stone in 1910. The lower tower rises 7 metres above sea level; the upper tower 11.9 metres above sea level. The distance between them is 416 metres.
Did you know…? *Marker towers have fallen out of use and are no longer constructed. Those that remain in Estonia have been placed under national protection.