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St Peter's Church (Püha Peetri kirik in
Estonian) is at the village of Randvere, to the immediate east of
Viimsi. The church was built between 1848-1852 as a chapel of ease,
although the cemetery alongside it had existed since 1803. It is of
simple whitewashed brick with a red slate rood and small bell turret.
The church gained its independence within the Estonian Evangelical
Lutheran Congregation in 1932. Its 'teacher' or pastor in 2009 was
Aare Kimmel.
The Chapel of the Seafarers Centre at the Port
of Muuga (Sadama meremeeste misjon kabel) is at Lasti tee 4, at
the entrance to the port. It was built in 2000 in a building donated
by the ITF. Newly renovated in 2009-2010 it now contains a new
limestone altar which weighs over two tons and which was taken from
the seabed. The building also contains stained glass windows by
Dolores Hoffmann and icons by Tiina Veisserik, plus a ceiling
painting depicting the starry sky.
The Russian Orthodox Church of the Archangel
Michael is in Kallavere in the 'city' of Maardu, within the parish
of Jõelahtme, immediately to the east of Tallinn itself (and Muuga).
The first historical mention of Maardu is as a minor village in 1241.
It was recorded for tax purposes by the new Danish conquerors of North
Estonia not long after their first arrival. The village was part of
the manor of Maarthe, along with nearby Kallavere.
The modern city of Maardu was built during the
period of Soviet occupation after the Second World War (1944-1991).
Both villages, Maardu and Kallavere, were incorporated into the new
city by the Soviet authorities, who wanted to make use of important
local phosphorate deposits and required a workforce for the resulting
chemical research facility. However, Maardu and Kallavere remained
without any kind of church until 1992 and independence from the
Soviets.
The church was built for the Archangel Michael in
the period in which Archbishop Cornelius of the Orthodox Patriarch
was in office in Tallinn. The site was blessed on 10 May 1992, and
the first stone was laid on 13 September 1992. Designed by architect
Alexander Victorovich Vlassov, the completed church building was
blessed on 3 September 1994 for the Russian population of Maardu,
which still forms a high percentage of the total number of
residents.
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses (Jehoova
tunnistajad) is Maardu's second new religious building. The deportation
of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Soviet Estonia took place in 1951, the last
of several such episodes, when the members of forbidden religious
sects were deported from the Baltic States, Moldavia, West Ukraine
and Belarus. Estonia lost 259 persons. In 2000, membership was back
up to 151, revealing the success of the organisation's recovery.
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