On 1 May 1990, the 70th anniversary of the state farm was celebrated in Luunja. As horse breeding and horseback riding are traditional in the Luunja rural municipality and horses are still bred in the manor, a monument was erected there to celebrate man’s best friend in agriculture – the horse. The author of the bronze horse monument is Endel Taniloo.On the night of 19 June 2017, the sculpture was painted purple. It is not known who did it. According to folk tradition, the horse became so angry it turned purple because in the course of the administrative reform, Luunja rural municipality almost had to join the city of Tartu. Fortunately, the rural municipality was able to maintain its independence.
In 1562, Walk (the old name of present-day Valga) along with the rest of Livonia was handed over to Poland as part of the ceasefire agreement of the Livonian War. The city rights of Valga were signed by Polish King Stefan Batory on June 11, 1584, based on his colonization policy. The king believed that land should be granted as hereditary property to new Catholic settlers (peasants, craftsmen, merchants) in Livonia and thereby strengthen Catholicism in Livonia.Therefore, there is a monument dedicated to Stefan Batory on Kesk Avenue in Valga, which was completed in 2002 as a joint effort of the city of Valga, and the Hungarian and Polish embassies.
The Monument to the Estonian Mother was inaugurated in Rõuge on 26 June 2010. The monument is meant to demonstrate appreciation for the Estonian woman as a mother, to express gratitute, and to value the survival of our people. Hans Sissas (1933 - 2012), who has recounted the stories of Estonian deportees and authored many memoirs, initiated the idea of a monument to the Estonian mother, and lead the efforts to have the monument completed.The monument is made from stone brought from Udmurtia, and is 3.6 high, weighing nearly 6 tonnes.The monument was designed by the artists/sculptors Ilme and Riho Kuld, and was made by the sculptors/stone masons Margus Kurvits and Kristjan Kittus.
A monument to cold weather has been erected on the Piibe road on the outskirts of Jõgeva, where the lowest ever temperature in Estonia (-43.5*C) was recorded in 1940. The monument also highlights the most recent record of -37.6*C from 2003, also recorded in Jõgeva.
The Monument of Nation is the oldest monument in Tartu. The bones buried under the floor and in the cemetery of St Mary’s Church were found when the main building of the University of Tartu was built on the former site of the church. In 1806 they were reburied in Toomeorg near Vallikraavi Street and the small square Monument to People, which was created according to the drawings of J W Krause and resembles the tomb monuments of Asia Minor (Lykia), was erected there in 1811. The human bones found in the course of archaeological work in the cellars of the main building of the University of Tartu were buried by the monument’s side that faces street on 20 September 1985. A case with information was also buried in the grave.
The monument to the physician who studied and became a professor in Tartu was completed in 1952. The authors of the monument are J Raudsepp, A Mölder, P Tarvas, A Volberg.Nikolai Pirogov was the founder of experimental surgery, topographic anatomy and field surgery. His work made the surgeries performed in Tartu famous all over Russia and also abroad.
The monument to Friedrich Robert Faehlmann – a bronze bust on a pillar of local grey granite – was opened in front of the Old Anatomical Theatre at Toomemägi, Tartu, on 18 May 1930. Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (1798 - 1850) was one of the founders of Estonian national literature, a physician and a democrat. He studied in Rakvere District School, Tartu Upper Secondary School and the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Tartu. Faehlmann worked as a physician in Tartu from 1824. He worked in the Old Anatomical Theatre. He was a lector of the Estonian language in the university and sometimes also gave lectures in pharmacology and prescriptions.
One of the most important battles of the War of Independence took place near the Paju Manor on 31 January 1919. The Northern Sons Regiment that consisted of Finnish volunteers also fought for the independence of Estonia over here. The most legendary commander in the War of Independence, Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov, was fatally injured in the battle. The battle memorial is a granite pillar on a three-level pyramid, which was reopened on the 75th anniversary of the battle on 30 January 1994.Interesting facts: * the memorial was opened by President of the Republic of Estonia Lennart Meri; * a memorial tablet to the Northern Sons who fell in the battle can be found on the wall of the Valga Jaani (St John’s) Church.