This lush area contains the ruins of the 13th-century Viljandi Teutonic Order Castle , founded by the German Knights of the Sword in 1224 (on the site of a 9th-century Estonian hill fort) and open for all to muck about in. The park sprawls out from behind the tourist office, and has sweeping views over the primeval valley and the lake directly below. Also in the park is a suspension footbridge built in 1931. The ravines surrounding the ruins are what remain of the castle moat; trenches from WWII came later. A small cemetery to the rear of the castle area is the final resting place of the Germans killed in the fighting.
Housing vibrantly colourful works by local painter Paul Kondas (1900–85) and other self-taught artists working outside the mainstream, this is Estonia’s only gallery dedicated to naïve and outsider art. It’s not hard to find – in a marvellously oblique reference to the artist’s 1965 work Strawberry Eaters, the stalks of all the giant strawberries scattered around town point here.
Facing the old market square stands this modest two-storey museum, which has displays tracing Viljandi’s history from the Stone Age to the mid-20th century. There are folk costumes, stuffed animals, black-and-white photos of the city, and a mock-up of what the original castle probably looked like. English translations are limited.
