Ruins of St. Mary's chapel
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The ruins of St. Mary's Chapel, first constructed in the 13th century, are located in Viru-Nigula. It is thought that the chapel was built to celebrate victory over the Russians by the Livonian Order in the battle of 1268. After the Lutheran reformation the chapel fell into disuse and became a focal point for folk superstition, which led to its partial demolition in the mid-17th century and its later collapse. The ruins that remain today remind us how unique the chapel was in terms of the differences in its construction from the other chapels of the time influenced by the East.
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*The chapel is thought to be the oldest stone sacral structure in this region of Estonia