Palmse is an estate in the eastern part of the Lahemaa National Park,
located about 80km east of Tallinn and 150km west of Narva at the Russian border, some 7km north of the E20 highway linking these two towns. Several buses a day ply the E20 between Tallinn and Rakvere and stop at the Palmse turnoff near the village of Viitna. From here you could hike, take a taxi, hitch a ride, bring your own transport or take one of the few local buses per week.
The oldest still standing building on the estate is the beautiful 18th century baroque manor house, but history goes back much further. When Northern Estonia was part of Denmark during the 13th century, these grounds were donated by the Catholic King of Denmark to the nuns of the Cistercian order of St. Michael in Tallinn. The Roman Catholic order constructed a brick Romanesque-style convent, but it was abandoned 300 years later when most locals adopted the
protestant Lutheran faith during the Reformation that changed the face of Europe greatly in that period. During the 17th century the former convent's lands were sold to the rich Baltic German merchant family of Von Pahlen. They ordered the construction of a Swedish-style mansion, an example soon to be followed by other rich families in this area. The current form of the building, a reconstruction in the popular Baltic Baroque style, was ordered by the family about a century later. Around 1850 there were several additions to the estate, including a distillery, horse stables and the chapel at Ilumäe, a few km northwest of Palmse. After WWI the independent Estonian Republic nationalized the nobility's properties. The Von Pahlen's left the country for Germany, their lands were re-distributed among ethnic Estonians and the buildings were abandoned and were soon decaying. After WWII the Soviets had a training camp on site, but after the establishment of Lahemaa National Park in 1971, the manor and the surrounding buildings were beautifully restored. With the Estonian independence more and more western tourists discover it.
Entrance fee to the Palmse complex is about 4€ pp, to be paid at the booth near the gates. The first thing you will notice is of course the beautiful baroque manor house
(Palmse Mois) itself. Its orange and white façade is almost perfectly symmetrical. Its sober and light interior is decorated with lush paintings, old furniture and large vases full of (plastic!) flowers. Don't miss the huge 18th century mechanical music box in the room left of the entrance. If you ask, the guard will give a deafening demonstration of the cacophonic sounds emitted from this device. On the right of the manor is the family's carriage house. Now it has different historical vehicles on display, including gold-painted horse carriages, WWI motorbikes, 19th century bicycles and old-timer cars like a 1935 BMW and a Russian
ZiL-111A which belonged to Soviet leader Khrushchev. Behind the manor house are its beautiful gardens, complete with summer pavilions, a swan pond and an artificial creek with waterfall. At the other side of the pond, outside the Palmse domain, is a second lake, on which shores you will find the whitewashed building of the old distillery, now housing the excellent
Parkhotel Palmse. Apart from Palmse, there are a few similar Baltic German manors inside Lahemaa National Park, Sagadi, Vihula Kolga
From journal The Pearl in the Baltic Crown