'The Kissing Students' sculpture and fountain is one of the most recognised symbols of Tartu. The fountain has stood in the same place since 1948, when newlyweds and their guests would visit it for luck, and people would also take a dip in it. The sculpture was created by Mati Karmin and completed in 1998. Since 2006 the fountain has been surrounded by tiles bearing the names of Tartu's sister cities – Bærum, Deventer, Ferrara, Fredriksberg, Hafnarfjörður, Hämeenlinna, Kaunas, Lüneburg, Pihkva, Riia, Salisbury, Tampere, Turu, Uppsala, Veszprem and Zutphen. Each of these is situated in the direction that the cities lie from Tartu, with the distances marked.
The memorial column erected in 1928 to commemorate those who fell in the War of Independence stands in the park next to Tõrva Upper Secondary School. The author of the monument is Aleksander Eller. The monument was taken down by local communist authorities during the Second World War in 1940 and it was reopened on Victory Day, 23 June 1990.Interesting facts: Schoolboys gave the monument the friendly name Juku.
The Kaarnakivi Stone by the sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu is a memorial to the writer Juhan Jaik erected on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Fantasy author Juhan Jaik (1899-1948), born in Sänna in Võru County, wrote captivating and enchanting stories and poems for both adults and children. "Kaarnakivi", a collection of ghost and animal stories, is an Estonian children's literature classic that continues to excite readers today.The "kaarnakivi", as many Estonians already know, is a stone that gives its finder whatever he or she wants, if a person knows how to use it prudently.
You can feel touched by the divine when walking on the beach or swimming in Lake Pühajärv.Namely, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935), the leader of the Tibetan people, visited Estonia and Otepää on 3 October, 1991. He blessed Lake Pühajärv on the same day. The historical visit is commemorated with a wooden sculpture near the beach in Pühajärv Park.
Otepää irradiates good energy! The monument that celebrates the existence of positive energy fields was opened in Mäe Street on 1 October 1992.The entire field is surrounded by benches and the location of these as well as the column itself was selected by psychics. The energy column is the symbol which reminds us that in this rapidly changing world, humans are a part of nature and everything is based on the rules of nature that rely on balance and co-dependency.
‘Countrywomen’ is a group of sculptures by sculptor Mare Mikofi, completed in 1974, which has been on display at the Town Hall Square in front of the Tartu Art Museum since 2013.It depicts two women, the older one sitting and being content and exhausted, and the other, the younger, standing beside her, empathetically holding her arm around the older woman’s shoulder. The difference between the generations is strongly reflected in their clothing – the younger is wearing trousers, a light vest and platform shoes, and the older one is wearing a dress and an apron, leaving her feet bare.The installation of ‘Countrywomen’ celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Tartu Art Museum in the Leaning House.
The sculpture of Russian Empress Catherine II (sculptor Jaak Soans) was installed on the renovated Catherine Alley in 2014.The city of Võru was established as the centre of the newly created county under the new Provincial Governance Law of 1784. Catherine II personally gave a number of orders for the founding of a new city and affirmed the coat of arms of the city. The avenue from the first house of Võru town, the main building of the manor belonging to von Mengdens (Võru upper secondary school) to Lake Tamula, is shown on very early maps of Võru city. Catherine Alley connects the city's central square with Kreutzwald Park and Tamula Lake's promenade.
Standing in the landcaped area opposite the former main entrance of the Räpina Paper Factory is the Tree Garden Warrior, a monument to the historical Tree Garden War designed by Riho Kuld in 1984. The locals refer to the warrior as the Iron Man.In 1784 a peasant uprising took place in Räpina following the levying of a bounty tax. In the tree garden of the local manor a battle erupted between the soldiers and the local farmhands, who were armed with poles - ending in the deaths of five local men.