There are 9606 inhabitants in Paide (01.01.2005)
Paide's territory is10,036 km²
Is located practically in the middle od Estonia in Järva county,
about 100km away from every larger City in Estonia
Received its townrights in 1291 |
Paide's flag |
Paide's coat of arms |
The town of Paide, one of the oldest in the country, situated
93km southeast of the capital, offers a good glimpse of small-town Estonia.
For the 10 000 residents, life is centered around the town square; a town hall
stands on one side, and a steepled church on the other. Just as important to
the town's identity is their 13th-century castle tower, a reminder of the area's
complex and often violent history. Its original name was Wittenstein, which
means white stone - limestone. Limestone was used to build the castle towers
and walls in Paide. Later the town was renamed Weissenstein (The
Weissenstein union). The town's Estonian name also comes from limestone:
Paede -> Paide (paas or paekivi is the Estonian for limestone)
Modern Paide is alot different from Weissenstein. On the 1970nties
during soviet occupation the old-town was almost completely demolished. Some
of it has remained however and a lot has been restored. But Paide isn't all
about history, there has been alot of evolvment during the past decade in almost
every area of life and in infrastructure. Much of this can be credited to the
town's good location. Paide happens to be roughly in the geographic middle of
the nation, so it's not surprising that locals have dubbed it 'The Heart of
Estonia.' The heart shape is now the symbol of the town.
Today Paide is trying to reconnect with its roots and bring
back its historic building and artmaterial - limestone. That is why the local
'Paepäevad' - limestone
days are held annually since 1996.
Links on Paide:
www.paide.ee -Paide's homesite
www.weissenstein.ee -The Weissenstein
union
www.jarva.ee - Information portal of Järva
County | 
