Monument to Kristjan Jaak Peterson

Jakob Hurt (22.07.1839-13.01.1907) was an Estonian folklorist and linguist. He studied theology in the University of Tartu and gained his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Helsinki in 1886. He played the leading role in many major events of the Estonian national movements.The monument to Jakob Hurt (1839-1907) was completed in 1994. Its authors are J Soans and R Tomingas.

The monument to Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882), founder of the Estonian national literature, was built in 1952. The authors of the monument were sculptors Johannes Hirv and Martin Saks, and architects Heiki Karro, Ants Mellik, and Mart Port.

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.

Kalevipoeg is the Estonian national epic about the adventures of the hero called Kalevipoeg.In 1950, the memorial Kalevipoeg, which was dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the War of Independence, was taken down by the occupying power. The monument was built by Amandus Adamson. In 1952, the monument to Kreutzwald, the Father of Song, was erected at the same location. Discussions over restoring the memorial Kalevipoeg were held since 1988, but in 2002, when the exhibition ‘Kalevipoeg in Sculpture’ took place, the restoration proptly started. Sculptor Ekke Väli modelled the momorial on the basis of photos, and he was consulted by Endel Taniloo, a senior sculptor, during the restoration of Kalevipoeg.

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.

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.

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.

Karl Ernst von Baer was a biologist, the founder of descriptive and comparative embryology and an academician of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He studied medicine in Tartu from 1810 to 1811 and obtained the degree of doctor of medicine here. He was a professor of zoology and anatomy in Königsberg from 1817. He studied anthropology, geography and ichthyology during his time in St Petersburg. He spent the last years of his life (1867-1876) in Tartu where he wrote his 3-volume collection of articles and speeches and participated in the activities of the Estonian Naturalists Society and was elected its president in 1869.The statue of Karl Ernst von Baer was completed in 1886, its author is M. Opeku.