Sarema ir Hyjuma - Estijos jūros sienos forpostas

This 30-metre, cast-iron lighthouse was assembled in 1874 from components manufactured in France. The lighthouse was badly damaged during World War I and was reinforced with a concrete outer structure in 1921.

The lighthouse itself is 29.5 metres high, while its light towers 37 metres above sea level. The light can be seen from 31.5 km away.

The lighthouse was also tasked with warning vessels about the ice conditions in the Baltic Sea, alerting them with a blinking red light if the nautical channels were blocked by ice.

This lighthouse is connected to events of the First World War: On 12 August 1914 at 4 AM the German cruiser Magdeburg fired at the Ristna lighthouse and the communications outpost on Cape Ristna. This marked the arrival of the First World War on Estonian territory. Ristna lighthouse was used for communication between patrolling British and Russian submarines and the naval base in Tallinn. Radio communication was avoided. The submarines surfaced at the agreed-upon location and sent their communication officers to the base by the lighthouse to make contact with Tallinn on the phone to receive further instructions. On the same day the Russian Navy used a fairly rare contraption of that time, a hydrophone, to record any noise generated by ship propellers on Cape Ristna. The coastal outpost and cables were destroyed while the Russians retreated, the remains of the hydrophone are still deep on the sea floor to this day, its location unknown. It is worth mentioning that the fog siren building erected in the early 20th century is one of the few surviving fog siren buildings of Estonian lighthouses.

The museum is located in the former Tahkuna border guard cordon. In order to assemble a team of enthusiasts, in 2005 the non-profit Hiiumaa Association of Military History was established and went to work.  

When it turned out that in the summer 2005, the Estonian border guard unit was going to move out of Tahkuna Station and the buildings would become redundant, the ambitious idea of setting up an exhibition introducing the military history of Hiiumaa in its old quarters came true. Hiiumaa Military Museum was opened on 9 August 2007. The exhibition focuses on the 20th century military issues of Hiiumaa, primarily on the coastal defence batteries and the border guard units. The museum includes smaller structures – a gate house, a weapon checkpoint, kurilka (a smoking pavillion), a dott (a machine gun bunker), a metal shelter, a watchtower. There are also some Soviet monuments and memorial plaques.

The museum is open from 15 May to 15 September.

The 130-mm battery at Tahkuna is architecturally similar to the battery at Tohvri. The ferroconcrete surfaces in the gun emplacements bear the inscripted date 20/IV 1941. In 1941 the battery had four 130-mm  B-13 guns (weight of gun including shield 12.8 tons, crew 11, shooting range up to 25 km). The crew included 151 seamen and 9 officers. The guns were installed right before the battles of October 1941.

The ferroconcrete gun blocks remained intact in the war and the crew arrived as early as October 1944. First the battery had three 130-mm B-13 guns. The last shots were fired in Tahkuna in January 1960 when there were 4 guns. When the battery was operating, the last kilometre of the road leading to the lighthouse was closed by a barrier and a gate house and this part of the road is still missing on the military topograhic map published in 1959.

The buildings of Tahkuna battery have survived in a fairly good state. In the ammunition depots next to the gun blocks occasional shell shelves have survived, they can also be found in the ammunition depots in the rear of the emplacements. The shelter-power station (the gas shelter) still has bunk beds. Between the boiler house and the diesel power station there is a particular water line hidden in a high parapet with a concrete reservoir at both ends. A fire control tower was built next to the command post in the 1950s and after the battery was closed down, it was used as an observation post of the naval radio technology unit. As the forest kept growing and the seaview got worse, the tower gained another floor. This new addition demonstrates a notably poorer building quality in comparison with the rest. The added floor includes a stove, whereas originally the tower had central heating. On the whole territory of the battery there are cable ditches that have been dug open – dating from the 1960s when the collective farms were permitted to take electric gear from the abandoned batteries, as well as from the early 1990s when all the cables that had been meanwhile installed and could be spotted, were taken. With the territory being completely neglected and heavily overgrown, finding and studying the objects could be complicated.

On the territory of the battery, next to the parking lot, there is a monument from 1968 in memory of the Baltic Navy soldiers who perished in 1941. The author of the monument is Vitali Navoznyhh, originally from Leningrad. He participated in the battles of 1941 in Hiiumaa and settled on the island after the war, working as a stonecarver. Next to the monument there is a tombstone to two unknown soldiers who were buried there in 1973. 

The idea for this memorial came from Otto Mägi, who was assisted in realising it by his comrade Heino Kerde. In 2001, Mägi petitioned Kärdla City Council for a monument to be erected in memory of Hiiumaa's fallen World War II soldiers. The monument was designed by sculptor Elo Liiv and architects Maris Kerge and Kadri Kerge. The model for the sculpture was Marek Vainumäe from Kärdla. 

In total, 685 names are engraved in the granite, all of them Hiiumaa’s fallen, regardless of whose uniform they wore. The uniform on the bronze sculpture, on the other hand, is instantly recognisable – the young man is wearing an Estonian uniform and has taken off his German helmet. This is the only monument in Estonia dedicated to all those who fell during the war, not limited to one side. The project came to fruition thanks to government grants from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Defence and donations from private individuals and companies. Construction work was coordinated by Kärdla City Council and the Union of Freedom Fighters and the Repressed of Hiiumaa. The monument was unveiled on 25 May 2012.

The restaurant of the Roograhu Port is located right by the sea and open all year round. In addition to excellent pizzas, the selection comprises tasty soups, salads, and mains. The menu of the Roograhu port restaurant also includes seasonal fish. The restaurant at the Roograhu Port is perfect for families with children and it is a lovely place for celebrating a birthday or having a nice family meal. A place where food makes you happy.

In the port building, there is a guesthouse and a sauna with a view of the sea that can be rented by the hour.

All roads lead to Roograhu and you can get here in several ways – by plane, your own boat, bicycle, or car.

Restaurant Ungru is a seaside restaurant on the northern shore of Hiiumaa, where the atmosphere is created by a former customhouse, the environment of Suursadam and most importantly, the excellent food and service.
Combining the traditional flavours and ingredients of Hiiumaa with the methods of modern cooking, we are able to offer something special, yet simple and homely - just like life on the island.

Come and try how the soul-food of Ungru tastes.

The possibility of sailing to the restaurant adds a certain flare to the restaurant - guests are able to dock their yachts right in front on the restaurant.

Kala ja Võrk is a fish and fishing tackle shop/café in Kärdla, Hiiumaa.

Our story began in 2000, when a coastal fisherman with a small fish business in the Kärdla market found that the premises were too small for his grand ideas.

The fish are fresh and caught from the sea surrounding the island. We also sell smoked fish, dried fish, and other fish products which you can taste on the spot or buy to go.

In addition to fresh fish, we also serve light snacks on the spot – fish soup and salads, sandwiches, and coffee and soft drinks. We also sell quality food products of other small producers on Hiiumaa.