Tall steeples are visible from many miles away - particularly in flat countryside. St. Katariina's steeple is no exception, rising clearly above the copse of trees that now surround this 17C church. The steeple is visible from the three main access routes - Tapa (from the south), Viitna (to the west) and Rakvere (to the north).
Minimalist exterior - all white. The facade is symmetrical with the tower base of the steeple acting as the central feature.
Minimalist interior. Christmas Eve eucharist services in 2005-2008 are memorable for the sacramental wine, from a thermos flask, bringing a moment of warmth to the candle-lit congregation sitting in an unheated church with temperatures as cold outside, -15C, as inside!
Of the 4 monuments, the three within close proximity to the church are:
(i) WAR of INDEPENDENCE 1918-1920
Located opposite the church facade and entrance. The vast size of this monument indicates how important the War of Independence was to the inhabitants of the local community, which is true for every community in Estonia.
(ii) 1994 'Estonia' FERRY DISASTER.
Located some 50m to the west of the church. The size of the monument reflects more the worth of the loss than the number lost in the community when the ferry sank. Few are the communities in Estonia that were wholly untouched by the catastrophe of the sinking. Kadrina's 'mayor' was aboard the ferry.
(iii) THE LOST and those who did not return from either war service or deportations to Siberia. This slab of slate is set into the wall of the cemetery at the entrance (directly opposite Konsum supermarket). This is an unnamed, generic, monument. Few are the communities in Estonia untouched by the horror of both World War II, which pitted Estonian conscripts in Soviet Russia's Red Army against Estonian conscripts in Germany's Wehrmacht, and the Communist deportations of Estonians to Siberia.

The 4th and furthest is the Emakeel (mother language) [Estonian Language] Monument, which has its own review in TripAdvisor