Kalevipoeg – War of Independence Monument

The year 1886 when the plan to build the Pihkva-Riga railway with a branch from Valga to Tartu became a crucial year in the development of the little town.The steam engine monument erected near the Valga railway station in 1998 celebrates the 110th anniversary of the Pihkva-Valga-Riga rail connection. Engine SU 251-98 was built in the Sormovo Shipyard in 1949. Interesting facts: * the engine weighs 87 tons and its output is 12 tons of steam per hour; * Riga-Pihkva railway was officially opened on 22 July 1889 in Pihkva.

Those who fought and were killed in the Estonian War of Independence are buried here. The War of Independence started in November 1918 when Soviet Russia invaded the Republic of Estonia and ended on 2 February 1920 with the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty. The monument was destroyed during the Soviet occupation. In 1987 the society Vaba Sõltumatu Noorte Kolonn Nr 1 (Free Independent Youth Fleet No. 1) started to clean up the graves of those who were killed in the War of Independence and the monument was reopened on 23 June 1988. In 2002 the city government of Võru started to renovate the burial ground. The monument erected by the Youth Fleet was torn down, but the slab and cross made by the fleet were used on the new monument.

A monument to those, who fell in the War of Independence, was opened in Misso on 26 May 1935, and the activities of the 1st cavalry regiment in the battles of the War of Independence were immortalised. The monument was demolished in 1945.The reconstructed monument was reopened on 27 August 1989. The granite pillar placed on a base of quarry-stones is 2.5 m tall. Its main side has the symbol of the cavalry unit along with the text “Here, the 1st cavalry regiment fought in the War of Independence on 19 April 1919”. In front of the monument, there are six granite plates with the names of those that fell.A monument to World War II is erected only a few steps from the Monument to the War of Independence.

The monument to the most renowned Estonian symphonist of all times Eduard Tubin stands on the slope by the Vanemuine Theatre (authors A Vahtrapuu, V Valk, sound installations created by Louis Dandrel). Come and see how the well-known Estonian conductor and composer conducts an imaginary orchestra and listen to sound installations of the works of Eduard Tubin.

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.

Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (1761–1818) was a Russian military commander and a field marshal general. Barclay de Tolly (Russian: Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly) was descended from a family of Baltic nobility. As a Russian military commander, Barclay de Tolly displayed talent and courage in several battles for which he was awarded 14 decorations. Barclay de Tolly has been awarded the Order of St. George (1st class), the title of a Count, the rank of a Field Marshal General, and the title of a Prince.The monument was erected in 1849. The authors are V. Demut-Malinovski and A. Stsedrin. Barclay de Tolly is buried in his family tomb in Jõgeveste.

The Cornflower (or Broken Cornflower) memorial to the victims of Stalinism was established in 1990 and its author is P. Saar.On top of the granite boulders is a broken cornflower (Estonian national flower). Black stripes run through the grey stone parquet of the square. They depict the railway tracks that symbolise deportation to Siberia. The waterworks of the monument make it possible for water to drip off the petals of the cornflower, like tears.The monument, which was initially erected on the corner of Riia and Pepleri streets in Tartu by the association of freedom fighters Memento, was reopened in its new spot at Pepleri 27. The monument is located next to the grey building. During the Soviet era, a KGB remand prison was located there, where the deportation of many Estonians to Siberia began.

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.