History
Padise is a historical place in Harju County, in the ancient parish of Vomenta, Rävala County, the importance of which was emphasized by a fortress from the Middle Iron Age (7th-8th centuries), which was built on a high promontory.
Monks from Dünamünde (near the mouth of the Daugava River) built their chapel in Padise in 1254. After the forced sale of the Dünamünde monastery to the German Order in 1305, the fraternity settled in Padise in 1310. The beginning of the construction of the independent Padise monastery can be considered to be the year 1317, although the building permit was obtained from King Erik Menved of Denmark already in 1305. The monastery reached its greatest prosperity around 1400, when in addition to extensive estates in Estonia, the monastery had also acquired estates in southern Finland around present-day Helsinki, in Porvoo, Sipo and Pernaja. The activities of the monastery ended at the end of 1558, when the master of the order Gotthard Kettler took possession of the monastery fortress and disbanded the fraternity. During the Livonian War (1558-1583), several fierce battles were fought over the monastery, and the war also caused significant damage to the buildings.
The insurance was owned by the Swedish state until 1622, when King Gustav II Adolf donated a large part of the nearby estates of the former Padise monastery to Riga Thomas Thomas Ramm as a legacy. In 1621, when the Swedes besieged the city of Riga, Thomas Ramm led the city’s defense and surrender negotiations with King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden. The king then marched into Riga with his forces, and Thomas Ram became the first mayor of Riga under Swedish rule. The king thanked Thomas Ramm for his services to the Swedish krona and donated to him the Padise-Kloostri manor together with the Vasalemma auxiliary manor. The king also wanted a gift to compensate for the damage suffered by Thomas Ramm in connection with the looting of Poles in his manors near Riga during the Polish-Swedish war. As a result of the gift, the Ramm family moved to Estonia.
The new owner adapted the monastery into a large comfortable residential building. The Ramms lived in the monastery room until 1766, when the monastery burned to ruins when ignited by lightning. Then the construction of the adjacent manor house was started. The material needed for the construction was obtained from the collapsing parts of the monastery. The new main building of Padise manor was initially a baroque one-storey stone building. Since then, the monastery buildings in the manor have remained economic premises.
In 1860, a stone manor house was built as a two-storey building and a glass veranda was added to the facade. Several other outbuildings of the manor date from the 19th century, located south of the main building and the monastery. At the same time, the Ramms also owned the manors of Vihterpalu, Hatu and Vasalemma. The most notable buildings in Padise include the neo-Gothic barn and the slightly rebuilt cattle castle. There was a watermill and a distillery by the river (in ruins as a result of a fire since 2001). The park with the former fish ponds is located on the other side of the Keila – Haapsalu highway.
The manor was nationalized in 1920 and the Padise school operated there until 1982. After the transfer of the school to the new building, the auxiliary production of the Koidula collective farm operated here. From 1993 to 1998, the manor house belonged to Padise municipality.
In 1998, the main building of the manor was bought back by Olaf Thomas von Ramm and Clas Marten von Ramm. The Ramms tidied up the manor house of the former main manor of their family, restored the servants’ house as a wing building (demolished in 1956) and tidied up the surroundings – the driveways and the pond and park behind the house.
The coat of arms of the von Ramm family next to it depicts an arrow pierced by an arrow. The coat of arms was given to von Ramm by King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden on August 28, 1624. The coat of arms can also be seen as original in the lobby of the main entrance of the old building, it was placed there when the building was first built.
On November 3, 2020, Padise manor was sold to Arno Hirtentreu, and the family coat of arms of the Family Hirtentreu was added to the reception wall of the hotel next to the coat of arms of Von Ramm.
The coat of arms of Arno Hirtentreu has been entered in the coat of arms of the Heraldry College of the Estonian Heritage Society on November 19, A.D. 2020
Padise Manor has a boutique hotel and restaurant
We wish all our guests a pleasant stay in the historic manor of Padise and we will do our best to make you feel welcome with us!
Arno Hirtentreu