VIINISTU AND JAAN MANITSKI

(Excerpted from my book Our Summer in Estonia: Amazon.com)

One of the delightful aspects of the lifestyle we espouse, going anywhere in the world each summer and renting for at least three months, in lieu of owning a second home, taking cruises or going on tours, is the accidental, spontaneous, occurrences that lead us to discoveries and people that otherwise are never experienced by the general tourist. Our coming home from Lahemaa National Park and deciding to detour north to the Baltic coast and the village of Viinistu is a classic example. A small guide book obtained at the Estonian national museum KUMU mentioned the location as the site of an unusual development, the creation of a museum exclusively for Estonian art. What makes it so extraordinary was that at the time we stopped, Viinistu could not have had more than 100 residents, and is located "totally nowhere."

Arriving late in the day we rushed to the site of the Viinistu Art Museum, in an abandoned fish processing plant. We were the only patrons. Inside, the building was enormous, twenty five foot ceiling, temporary lighting, walls recently whitewashed, and not all of them at that, and a dampness from sea beginning to set in for the night.Yet the walls were already displaying a large number of comtemprary art pieces.

A picture shows Elysee sitting on concrete suitcases, an outdoors art installation, with the museum building in the background. You can just feel the remoteness of this extraordinary place for a museum. The suitcase exhibit reminded me of photographs in the Estonian Occupation Museum of abandoned suitcases, left behind by Estonians who were being transported in freight cars to labor camps in Russia. Only notified the day before they were ordered to pack up their things, and later finding out only one case would be allowed.

This place, this idea for an Estonian Art Museum, is the vision of an extraordinary Estonian Jaan Manitski.

Jaan had been born in Viinistu during WWII. His father was a fisherman. As the Russian were advancing west, during 1944-45, pushing the Germans out of the Baltics, knowledgeable and capable Estonians, taking advantage of the chaos, tried to flee the country. They knew what was coming. Russian occupation. Jaan's father put the family on his small fishing boat and fled across the Baltic Sea at night to Finland, and later continued west finally settling as a refugee in Sweden. That's where Jaan grew up went into business, and became successful as the business manager of the colossally successful Swedish singing group ABBA.

With Estonian independence Jaan returned to his birthplace and immediately began to make a difference. He was their first Foreign Minister, bought and resuscitated a major Estonian newspaper, is restoring an historic island off the coast, opened a restaurant in his birthplace Viinistu and has a goal of building a major museum dedicated to Estonian art in the former fish factory.

Elysee and I were privileged to spend the late afternoon with Jaan, drinking a few glasses of wine and listening to the story of his remarkable life. Here's to Jaan. I salute you once more.

The pictures are: Inside the museum and Jaan with Elysee on the Baltic coast, and although you cannot make it out Jaan's island is in the background about a three Km away.

LAHEMAA NATIONAL PARK-PART TWO-PALMSE MANOR

From the top: Sagadi Manor, Palmse's greenhouse, the brewery now a guest house, and the Baron's office with his Major General's uniform and the handmade map of 1864.



(Excerpted from my book Our Summer In Estonia, Amazon.com)

The first mention of the location Palmse dates to 1287 when it was mentioned in connection to properties belonging to Tallinn's St. Michael's Nunnery. The Cistercian monks traded their rights to the land to a Swedish family in 1510, and through marriage it devolved to the von der Phalen family in 1676. Palmse would remain in the Phalen family for 250 years, until the new Estonian Republic dissolved the Manor House system immediately following WWI, in 1919.

Palmse (meaning palms) is an excellent example of one of the largest most successful, highly regarded Estonian manor house operations. It was very, very large! A handmade map on display in the Baron's office, dated 1864, shows that their landholdings at 26,736 acres (10820 hectares.) That's forty square miles! The Phalens had over 1,000 peasants working the land, and were reputed to have excellent relations with them, not incurring any rebellion during their long 250 years tenure, although the relationship was clearly master and servant.

The Phalen family history serves as an excellent example of the Baltic German families service to the King or Tsar, their industriousness, and why they were allowed to remain in Estonia by foreign rulers. Carl Magnus von der. Phalen served the Tsar as a cavalry Major General and saw service during the Napoleonic war. His son Alexander built the first railway building in Tallinn and was a founding director of the Baltic Railway Company operating between Tallinn and St. Petersburg. His son Alexis, studied paleontology at the University of Tartu. The family was noted for its brewery, and several generations of Phalen botanists experimented in the family orchards and greenhouses.

The manor house has undergone a complete renovation although none of the furnishings are original. The Phalens removed all their belongings when the left for Germany in 1923. At that time the land was divided among ten families and the manor house was taken over by the Defense League, otherwise the Estonian armed forces.

Not far from Palmse is their neighbors the von Fock's. They occupied Sagadi manor house (1793) built in the French country style, operating 11,735 acres with about 750 peasants. I mention this second example because it so impressed me that there were over a thousand such estates, some larger some smaller, mostly continuing their German lineage. Most of these estates have long been divided and the houses left to deteriorate. There are a few cases where the former family has won a claim with the new government, and their property confiscated in 1919 returned.

LAHEMAA NATIONAL PARK-PART I-PALMSE MANOR

PALMSE MANOR 17TH CENTUARY
(Excerpted from my book Our Summer in Estonia available at Amazon.com)

Mid-week and mid-summer, a perfect time, with few tourists around and most people at work, to leave Tallinn for a day in the country. We decided on a day trip to Lahemma National Park and Land of Bays, which lies about 70 miles (100km) east of Tallinn and halfway to Narva, a major Estonian city that borders Russia. The park spreads about 40 miles along the northern coast and was designated a national park in 1971. It remains mostly unspoiled , very forested, with a few small villages and the site of some of the most extraordinary manor houses/estates from the bygone era when the Baltic-German barons were the landed gentry.

The main reason the park even today is so well-preserved and in a state of nature is due to the Soviet system's paranoia should anyone escape their "workers Paradise." Very few Estonians and no foreigners were allowed near the coast, for fear they might have been tempted to make a break for it and swim the 50 miles across the open sea to Finland! While on the subject of Soviet madness, I might as well mention at this point, that the former fishing villages along the coast remain depopulated, and the fishing industry disappeared during Soviet occupation out of concern for border security.

Thus, mid-week, late-July we set out with a light breeze and mild temperatures for an almost traffic less one hour drive to Palmse Manor. But before introducing Palmse Manor, I need to explain a little about the Baltic Germans for those who are unfamiliar with Estonian history. Without going back too far, suffice to say, that during the 15th and 16th centuries, and the rule of the Livonian order, Estonia became widely populated with landed barons, mostly of Germanic origin. These Baltic Germans pretty much ruled the land, even during later centuries when Sweden and Russia ruled the country. The barons were talented, good administrators, kept order, sent their sons to Stockholm or St. Petersburg for education as the case may be, were industrious farmers and businessman, served the King or Tsar in many capacities, and "captained" their armed forces. By the mid-nineteenth century there were 1000 such manor house estates in Estonia. Considering that a medium sized estate would have about 750 peasants working the land, and perhaps another 100 artisans and servants engaged in Manor industries and household services, it is easy to see the importance of this system, which engaged a third or more of Estonia's population.

Palmse Manor, our destination, tells the tale of this unique centuries-long period of Estonian history, reminding us of the servitude it represents, and keeping in mind that this was one, although a large one, of over a thousand such enterprises.

ESTONIA-THE SINGING NATION-PART THREE

excerpted from
my book Our Summer
in Estonia,Amazon.com



Elysee with father figure Gustav Ernesak's statue






As Communist Party control began to unravel when Gorbachev loosened the reins, Estonians tested their strength, timidly at first, and then with growing courage. It was a s though the jailor left the door open, but prisoners were unsure of their next move. Should they take a step out and see what happens, then another? Then run, run, run.


The Estonian people turned to song to begin testing their new limits. In September 1988, not a festival year and a year before the Berlin Wall came down, some 300,000 people, a quarter of the adult population, gathered at the song festival grounds to sing Estonian national songs, show the formerly forbidden Estonian flag and listen, for the first time, for calls for independence.

1988 gathering. Note illegal Estonian flag,

almost reverent yearning in peoples faces.

Just two years later, in 1990, and still part of the USSR, up to 500,000 Estonians, one-third of the nation's population, came to the first non-Communist Party controlled Estonian Song Festival. The choir from the Russian Language School came dressed in the colors of the Estonian flag. And the performance by the Soviet Choir, from the Friendship Society, met with deafening silence.

Gustav Ernesaks (1908-1994) an aged revered conductor who had performed during the Estonian Republics inter-World War years came by horse and carriage. As a youthful twenty-nine years of age he first rose to the conductors platform in 1938 and led the chorus in singing his composition, "Let's Get Going Men."

BTW, The Estonian Literature Museum contains more that 1,300,000 pages of folk songs. It is said that only Ireland has more folk music than Estonia. In July, 2004 the festival had 21,325 singers, 796 choruses, and 51 orchestras. How inspiring to hear 19,000 choristers, the largest in the world, singing in unison, with precision and clarity, and leading the proudly standing 100,000 plus attendees, in singing Lydia Koidula's, My Fatherland, You Are My Love.


Long Live Free Estonia.

ESTONIA-THE SINGING NATION- PART TWO

A festival during the Soviet era. Note the portriat of Lenin at the right, general red tone of color in the audience, and the red festooned platform for Party officials at the left.

(Excerpted from Our Summer in Estonia Amazon.com)

Estonia's association as a singing nation began in the city of Tartu, home of Tartu University, in June, 1869. The inspiration for a national song festival came from Johann Voldemar Jannsen, a leader of a movement known as the National Awakening a mid-19th century period, when Estonia's long suppressed people set about discovering and creating a national identity. Jannsen founded the first Estonian newspaper. His name sounds German, because when serfdom was abolished, many Estonians took their Baltic German master's name. who, in Jannsen's case, was Voldemar. Jannsen became inspired by seeing music festivals in Germany and Switzerland, and German choirs in Tallinn. He knew of the Estonian peasant's rich store of folk music. Why not an All-Estonian song festival?

At the very first festival, Jannsen's daughter, Lydia Koidula, who would go on to become famous as an Estonian poet and playwright, penned the lyrics of the song My Fatherland, You Are My Love, that has become the unofficial national anthem. There were continuous festivals up to WWI, and one every five years between world wars. During the Soviet years following WWII, the festival was tightly controlled and programmed not to celebrate Estonia but the glories of socialism.

Reading a history of the song festival, published in 1985 during the Soviet occupation, is revealing. The author notes that there was a "popular revolution" in 1940 when Estonia "joined the Soviet Union," and following WWII, Estonia was "liberated." No Estonian today would agree with that interpretation of history. (more to follow)

all-Estonian song festiva?

ESTONIA- THE SINGING NATION-PART ONE

The festival grounds. The stage can hold 25,000 performers, the grounds 500,00. More photos in future posts.

(excerpted from Our Summer in Estonia see my profile for more information)

Worldwide there are many well known and highly regarded musical festivals. They take different forms. Some, for example, celebrate a prolific and renowned composer, such as Wagner or Mozart. Others represent a style of music such as opera at Spoleto and jazz at Monterey. What's more, these festivals endure as commercial successes, filling hotels and cafes with tourists. But I don't know of another festival as unique as the Estonian Song Festival, unique for several reasons. The first reason is its frequency, being held only once every five years. Compared to most festivals, that's a long interval between meetings. A second factor is its dimension. Usually lasting only three or four days, it nevertheless, has been attended by as much as one-third if the population. That's an enormous out poring of national support. Third is its longevity. This festival can trace its lineage to 1869. I don't know what other festival compares. Last, is its patriotic fervor. The festival primarily celebrates being Estonian. It has provided a means at critical times in Estonia's history, for people to express their desire for freedom and, at other times, as a means to express an awakening of Estonian self-identity. While other people express political disaffection by marching in protest, camping out in public places refusing to move, wearing masks to seek anonymity as they destroy property, take school children hostage, or simply go on strike, Estonians sing.

There are many names attached to the revolutionary change Eastern European nations have experienced in their breakaway from the Soviet Union. The Czech Republic's experience, for example is referred to the Velvet Revolution. For Estonia, it is the singing revolution. More to follow on this wonderful, inspiring story of a nation's rise to freedom.

ESTONIA---RENT A USED CAR AND SAVE $$$

'92 Ford Mondeo outside my apartment in Tallinn with Elysee looking on.

Hannes and I closing the three month deal for cash.

Continuing my story about spending the summer in Estonia (see my profile and web site) I want to discuss how I address the need for a rental car during our entire summer. For our first summer abroad, in Kinsale Ireland, I rented a car from a well known US auto agency. Was I naive? With all the added fees I ended up paying over $4,000 for three months rental on a Korean four-banger. I learned my lesson. I begin looking for an alternative as soon as I have confirmed where I am going to stay or the summer. Often the rental agent or the person I am leasing from is very helpful in tracking down a used car rental agency, garage, or a separate individual looking to rent a used car for three months.

In Estonia the rental agent put me in touch with Hannes Kree who was in the used car rental business. We agreed on $17.50 a day for a 1992 Ford Mondeo station wagon with a full tank of gas, insurance, all taxes and unlimited mileage. That was about half what he normally gets for a short term rental and about five times less than I would have paid had I simply picked up a car at the airport.

Renting a used car for the long term and paying up front in cash really makes a difference. A mid-size Toyota from a front line agency would have been $90 a day, compared to my $17.50. When I had one minor mechanical problem with the Ford, Hannas picked it up, gave me a driver for the meantime, and fixed the problem in a day.

To paraphrase what George Forman says in his ad about mufflers, "I ain't gonna pay a lot for that car rental."