Memorial to the Victims of the Estonia Ferry Disaster

The long-serving professor of the University of Tartu was one of the brightest scientists in 20th century Tartu. Lotman studied the history of Russian literature and culture and general regularities of culture. He laid the foundation of cultural semiotics and was the founder of the Tartu-Moscow school of semiotics. The monument to the world-famous culturologist and semiotician, which consists of pipes, water and light, was opened on 6 October 2007. The idea for the sculpture made of 15 m of steel pipe is based on the self-portrait of Juri Lotman. Authors of the monument: Mati Karmin, architect Andres Lunge.

The new monument to Villem Reiman (1861-1917) was opened in 2004 and its author is Mati Varik.Villem Reiman was a pastor and a cultural persona who fought for the independence of the Estonian people as a figurehead of the Estonian national movement.

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.

The Monument to Dr. Fr. R. Kreutzwald is located in a park on the shore of Lake Tamula. The author of the monument is A. Adamson and it was cast in bronze in Italy. The monument was opened in 1926. It is not known when the park was founded, however the age of most of the species of trees, birches and lindens is estimated at more than one hundred years. The coniferous trees in the park include spruces and firs. Lake Tamula has an oval shape in an east-west direction with an average depth of 4.2 m. The lake is deepest to the northeast of its centre (7.5 m) and has a surface area of 231 ha. There is a swimming area, beach and a beautiful promenade on the shore on the city side.

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.

In 1926, on the initiative of pastor Valter Viks, a memorial to the 200 citizens of Rõuge who were killed in the War of Independence, designed by artist Voldermar Mellik, was erected near the Rõuge Church. The Estonian text engraved in the stone on the front of the memorial reads "1918-1920. Honour the Fallen! Your thankful Rõuge parish". In 1945, the Bolsheviks blew up the memorial, and the bronze soldier and its foundation stones were buried in the ground near the monument. A local artist Aksel Ollmann dug the bronze statue out under the cover of night and hid it on his farm. In 1988, the statue was dug up from its hiding place. The memorial was re-inaugurated on 30 October 1988. The statue was restored by Ars Monumentaal.

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.

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.