Osmussaar

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Osmussaare ( German Odinsholm; Swedish Odensholm ) is an Estonian island in the Baltic Sea Gulf of Finland.

Location and History

Osmussaare administratively belongs to the municipality as a village Osmussaare Noarootsi in Lääne. The island is located about 7.5 km from the Estonian mainland and 62 km from Hanko, Finland removed. The area is 4.69 km ² of Osmussaare. The coastline is 14 km long.

The waters around the island are dangerous. On 26 August 1914, the German cruiser SMS Magdeburg ran at Osmussaare aground and had to be blown up. A lighthouse on Osmussaare was first built in 1765. The present lighthouse is made 35 m high and made of reinforced concrete.

Osmussaare in summer is a popular destination for nature tourists and bird watchers.

Osmussaare was first mentioned in 1250 as Hothensholm documented. A first settlement has been handed down for the year 1436. By 1940, there were on the island, the village of Bien coast Sweden ( seven farms with about 120 inhabitants ), but they were evacuated in 1944 during the Second World War to Sweden. Today, only an Estonian family lives permanently on the island.

In the southern part of the island an Evangelical Lutheran chapel was built for sailors, which is documented since 1642. 1766 a new building was constructed of stone.