Lahemaa National Park is a park in northern Estonia , 70 kilometers east from the capital Tallinn . The Gulf of Finland is to the north of the park and the Tallinn-Narva highway (E20) to the south. Its area covers 747 km (including 274.9 km of sea). It was the first area to be designated a national park of the former Soviet Union . It is the largest park in Estonia and one of Europe's biggest national parks. Its charter calls for the preservation, research and promotion of North-Estonian landscapes, ecosystems, biodiversity and national heritage.
6-649: The name Lahemaa originates from the most thoroughly studied and visited part of the North Estonian coast, where four large peninsulas ( Juminda , Pärispea , Käsmu and Vergi ) are separated from each other by four bays ( Kolga , Hara , Eru and Käsmu ). Lahemaa translates roughly as "Land of Bays". The national park, established in 1971, is one of the main tourist draws in Estonia. Several companies offer day tour packages from Tallinn, while many people drive themselves. With forests covering more than 70 percent of Lahemaa,
12-623: Is now located entirely in Lahemaa near the Lahemaa lighthouse. Juminda Juminda is a village in Kuusalu Parish , Harju County in northern Estonia . It is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland , on top of the Juminda Peninsula , on the territory of Lahemaa National Park . Juminda has a population of 35 (as of 1 January 2012). Juminda was first mentioned in 1290 as Jumentake . In
18-737: The Middle Ages Juminda was inhabited by the Swedes . There's a 25 m lighthouse which was built in 1937. In August 1941, one of the deadliest naval battles in the world took place near the Juminda peninsula. It was part of the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn when the Soviets planned to evacuate parts of the Baltic Fleet from Tallinn to Leningrad but were stopped by a 32 km long strip of mines placed by
24-455: The Germans and Finns. The convoys consisted of a few hundred ships, some of them being passenger ships carrying Estonian and Latvian citizens. According to historian Mati Õun, 52 ships were sunk with up to 25,000 people on board. In 1972 a memorial stone was established in Juminda. Estonian-Swedish politician Enn Kokk (1937-2019) was born in Juminda. This Harju County location article
30-467: The area is rich in flora and fauna. The landscape has many raised bogs , including the 7,000-year-old Laukasoo Reserve. The park, marked by several trails, teems with wildlife, including a population of boar , red deer , wolves , bear and lynx . The coast is covered with rocks and boulders, used each year by cranes as a stopover on their way to the Bosphorus and Egypt. There are four manors situated in
36-548: The national park: Palmse manor, the picturesque Vihula manor, Kolga manor, and the baroque Sagadi Manor, Estonia's most visited manor which together with the other three comprise one of the most unusual group of manors in the country. Prior to 1991, the Soviet Union operated a large secret submarine base at Hara. The base was built in the 1950s during the height of the Cold War . The ruins of this former Soviet submarine base
#497502