Suuremõisa castle

The baroque Suuremõisa castle was constructed between 1755 and 1760, commissioned by Countess Ebba-Margaretha von Stenbock (née De la Gardie).

Count Jacob Pontus Stenbock, who inherited the estate from his mother the Countess, exchanged it in 1796 for Uuemõisa manor due to his debts. The new owner of Suuremõisa was Otto Reinhold Ludvig von Ungern-Sternberg.
The castle has a museum room introducing the history of the manor, as well as a souvenir and book counter. In addition to beautiful interior and history, the surrounding area of the manor features a flower garden created by Hiiumaa Vocational School, an English park, and various ancillary buildings of the manor complex.

At the manor after the manor era 

The functioning of manors as privately owned agricultural facilities ended by the year 1920. The nationalised buildings needed to be cared for and used; the lands had to be maintained. The grand building complex belonging to the Suuremõisa Manor managed to survive thanks to schools being accommodated in the main building. The first one was a small private school; the second was a parish school; and the third was Suuremõisa 8-form School, which is still run in the northern wing of the manor, now under the name Suuremõisa Basic School. In 1977, Putkaste Agricultural Technical School was opened in the main building of the manor. The latter evolved into the present-day Hiiumaa Vocational School. The fate of the various outbuildings has been very different. Several of them, such as the stable and the ice cellar of the manor, are in ruins or biding their time. The house of the stable master was renovated in the 1980s. It was first taken into use by the vocational school and later by private entrepreneurs. The big granary has been rebuilt and converted into a sports building. Several different craft workshops have been opened in the former manor servants’ house. A number of roadside outbuildings, including the cheese dairy, have housed shops, a bar, a hairdresser’s salon, a youth centre, a post office, etc. The courtyard between the buildings is used for open-air performances of plays. Concerts, weddings, birthday parties, and other events take place in the festive halls of the manor, in the park, and on the stairs of the main building. The first Suuremõisa Palace Days took place in 1993. In the middle of the 1990s, the filming of the Hiiumaa Song Day of 1931 for the movie Burning Love (by K. Petäjäniemi) took place here. In 1997, President Lennart Meri and Mrs. Helle Meri gave a reception for the Hiiumaa people in the mansion. About 100 members of the Ungern-Sternberg family gathered here in 2001. The Suuremõisa Manor is also an active participant of the game “Forgotten Manors”, which was launched in 2005.