History
Church of St. Bartholomew in Palamuse is one of the oldest temples in southern Estonia, because it was probably completed around 1234. In the second half of the sixteenth century, it was severely damaged during the Livonian War, and then rebuilt, unfortunately in the baroque style. In 1929, the vaults inside the building were reconstructed.
Architecture
The church has the form of a three-aisle structure, orientated towards the sides of the world, consisting of a rectangular, three-bay nave and an older chancel, wider than the central nave, ended with a straight wall. The side walls of the aisles and the corners of the chancel were reinforced with buttresses, but at a later date. Originally, the vault in the two bays of the presbytery had to distribute its weight only on quite massive perimeter walls. It received a cross-rib form.
