Statue of Oskar Luts

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.

The sculpture was created by Mati Karmin and unveiled in front of the Tartu Market on 17 January 2008.The steel barrel rests on a granite base and the numbers and letters cut into the base inform the viewer that the date when the sculpture was opened, 17 January, is St Anthony’s Day when old Estonians used to turn their attention to the pig.

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.

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.

The sculpture "Father and Son" is a symbol of the relationship between different generations, where children are increasingly growing apart from their parents. The bronze work by sculptor Ülo Õun (1944-1988) was unveiled on Children's Day, June 1, 2004, on Küüni Street. The work represents the sculptor himself and his son Kristjan when the son was one and a half years old.

The emotional and powerful memorial (2016) was erected to honour the harsh fate of the people deported from Võru and Võru County from 1941 to 1952. The sculptor is Jaak Soans.The memorial depicts two rows of bronze animal wagons placed on a concrete block 1.6 metres high, with human figures visible between them. A ramp made of original railway sleepers and dolomite gravel, which is 4 metres wide and 16 metres long, takes to the memorial. The total length of the memorial complex is almost 24 meters.

A sculpture created in Tartu's Old Town in 1999 depicts a fun speculation about the history of literature. Sitting on a bench are contemporaries and namesakes, or the two Wildes: Irish-born writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and Estonian writer Eduard Vilde (1865-1933). Sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu, who modeled the figures of the writers based on photographs, has noted that when creating the twin figures, she had in mind the year 1890, when the two Wildes could have really met each other and had a few witty words. The sculpture symbolizes friendship and intercultural dialogue. The sculpture of the two writers is located in front of the former Mattiesen printing house, one of Tartu's architectural monuments, which now houses the wine and art restaurant Vilde ja Vine. The statue is a beloved landmark among both locals and visitors. Sitting on the bench next to the writers allows you to take nice pictures as a souvenir of your visit to Tartu. In 2004, a copy of the sculpture was also donated to the city of Galway in Ireland, where the paternal family of literary classic Oscar Wilde came from.

‘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.