Bishop castle is the pride and beauty of the town of Kuressaare. It is the only castle in the Baltic countries, entirely preserved in its medieval form to our times. The castle is a square building, about the size of h, 5 m, 40 m watchtowers and mighty bastions.

It is assumed that the first fortress was built by the Danes in 1222 g, in the center of the courtyard of the fortress was situated watchtower, now the tall Hermann tower. This building served not only as a watchtower, but could still be a last refuge for a small number of defenders in the event of an invasion of the enemy on the territory of the fortress.

It is believed that from the middle of XIV century the castle was the residence of the Saar-Sanamacha Bishop after Haapsalu. The main building of the fortress as we know it today, came in 1345-1365.

In 1430-ies around the castle was built, a bypass wall. It was complemented by semi-circular towers with loopholes for firearms guns. In 1559 the Kuressaare castle was sold by the last Bishop Johann von Münchhausen possession of the Danish king Frederik II. The Danish king, in turn, gave Sharemake the bishopric, together with the Kuressaare castle to his younger brother Duke Magnus.

At the end of the sixteenth century were erected the first fortifications, the corners of them was crowned with a massive corner bastions. All this building was surrounded by water. At the end of the seventeenth century around the castle were erected bastions and ravelins (architects P. von Essen, and E. Dalberg).

During the Livonian war the fortress was not affected. During the great Northern war in 1710 the Ahrensburg possessed General bour, and from now on, the city became part of the Russian Empire. However, the fortress was badly damaged (probably in 1711, during the war, but was rebuilt.

For a long time the existence of the castle appeared legend. One of them is called the legend of the walled-up knight. According to legend, Russian engineer who created the plan of the convent building, in 1785. in the Eastern corner of the courtyard of the castle found bricked up the basement. In the middle of the room stood the table at which in the armchair, upholstered in leather sat men's skeleton. When you touch the skeleton, according to legend, fell to the floor, But the art teacher from a local school, managed to make a sketch of the ruins. It is believed that the remains belong to a knight who was walled up alive by order of the Bishop during the reformation (1st half of the XVI century ). As a Catholic ösel-Wiek Bishop seems to be resigned Protestant vassals, he asked for help to Pope. The Pope sent in behalf of the legislator Inquisitor – the Spaniard by birth, whose persistence and faith vassals decided to try using a blonde girl. And the knight could not resist - fell in love with girl. The mystery was soon revealed – the girl's hair had been shaved away and she was sent to a correction in Carmosky monastery monastic. Love the Spaniard decided to try to save the girl, but the letter that was hidden in the crust of bread he was not in a monastery, as planned, but on the table of the Bishop. As the Inquisitor had finally strayed from the right path, it was decided to bury him alive in the basement of Kuressaare castle. To this day I remember the basement, under the name of the bricked up basement knight.

There is another legend, referred to as "Lion's pit". In the tall Hermann tower walking on the bridge across the insulating shaft depth of 10 meters. From the bridge you can see the toilets or sanitary place. Before the mine was used as well for dumping. According to the legend of ösel-Wiek Bishop visited their possessions on the island of Saaremaa in spring and autumn. His responsibilities included trial. After the verdict in the wall of the courtroom door mine was opened, and there were hungry lions. There and dumped sentenced to death. The lions led the sentence immediately, instantly tearing pieces of the convict. To this day the mine surrounding the tower Long Herman, called the Lion pit. It is believed that the mine will come to an end, the Bishop Henrik III, who was killed during an altercation with members of the Chapter at the castle in 1381.

Nowadays in the building of the castle is a Museum and art gallery, where you can learn about the history of the island of Saaremaa and Kuressaare and to learn about the nature of local places. The fortress territory is typically used as an outdoor stage at various events. The surroundings of a water ditch turned into a green Park area. Since 2006 in a protective room that had once served to defend, opened 3 workshops, a smithy, a ceramic Studio and glass. In these workshops you can watch artists at work and to try their hand at these crafts such as glass blowing.