No wonder that on some maps, issued in Estonia, Võrumaa is coloured almost dark brown - it is the roof of Estonia, Võrumaa does, indeed, have more hilly landscapes than other Estonian regions. Wooded hillocks with small lakes in between are the symbols of Võrumaa. Suur Munamägi and Vällämägi are the highest hills of the Haanja Upland.

Another important characteristic of Võrumaa is the local dialect, which the people living in the area have started to protect and develop. For a number of years now, Võro children can learn to read from a primer in their own dialect. Estonia is a large country indeed, it even has several languages!

Bordering with Latvia in the south, with Russia in the east, and having the Seto people somewhere in between, Võrumaa, too, is a "border state". Life can be quite uncomfortable when the enemy starts raiding. The ancient fight for freedom started in Võrumaa, which once was at the margin of the old Ugandi County. Germans, who became the new masters, also did not feel safe and started to build casties as they settled there. They erected the powerful stone castles of Kirumpää and Vastseliina.

A stone sculpture of the Seto 'mother of songs' - 'lauluimä' - stands on a high reservoir shore in Obinitsa. The building of the wooden Obinitsa Church coincided with the death of Stalin. And Obinitsa is a strange place in itself, since all mortals, the living men and those who have already passed on, meet at the local churchyard each summer.

Urvaste, Sänna And Tsooru

Urvaste is located in the northwestern corner of Võrumaa; its beautiful landscapes are made even more expressive by a primeval valley that cuts deep into the earth, and by two deep, long lakes - Lakes Uhtjärv and Lõõdla.

Urvaste Church is the only basilica-type country church still standing in Estonia; it was first built in the late 13th century, but due to later pillaging and fires, it has been rebuilt many times. The ground plan of the church has remained the same. It is believed that the altarpiece of the church was made by sculptor August Weizenberg.

Johan Gutsleff was the Pastor at Urvaste from 1642 to 1656. He compiled a Latin-language grammar of the South-Estonian dialect and a German-Latin-Estonian dictionary containing 1,800 entries. Probably, he also translated the Old Testament into the South-Estonian dialect. Being a devoted man of God, he tried to convert heathens to Christianity and even wrote a book to explain why the Võhandu River is not a holy river. Linguists have said that Gutsleff's knowledge of Estonian was better than that of the author of the first Estonian grammar, Heinrich Stahl.

A memorial stone to the founder of an elementary school (sexton school) in Urvaste, Pastor Matthias Uthander (1868-1906) stands in front of the church. An inscription on the other side of the stone commemorates the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first school in Urvaste.

In the 18th century, Urvaste was an important centre of the Herrnhuter or Moravian Church in Estonia. The local Pastor Johann Christian Quandt (1704-1750) had joined the movement and he founded a congregation in Urvaste in 1741. He also published a few books of moralist tales and songs in the Estonian language.

The Moravian Church was founded in Herrnhuth, Germany. This was a movement of religious awakening that preached the liberating of the world through religion. At its peak in the 19th century, the Moravian Church had about 50,000 members and more than 150 prayer houses in Estonia. An interesting fact is that Herrnhuters are active even today, as members of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

A memorial stone to the poet Marie Heiberg (1890-1942) stands in the park behind Urvaste Church. Her verses attracted attention when she was only 16 years old, when she published her first collection of poetry Songs of a Child of Sorrow. She also wrote short stories, mostly about life in Võrumaa. Unfortunately, at the age of 29 years, she became mentally ill, as happened to Juhan Lily.

Urvaste can boast the most powerful tree in Estonia. An oak tree with the girth of 8.25 m that grows on the land of the Tamme-Lauri farm, north of the village, is the thickest tree in Estonia. The tree used to be hollow, and 7 people are said to have fitted into the hollow. In 1960, the hollow was filled with concrete to prevent the tree from breaking apart. The oak is some 20 m tall and it is protected by a lightning rod. The Tamme-Lauri oak is 680 years old, which is more than ten times the average lifespan of Estonian men.

The Urvaste Lauri-Tamme oak is depicted on the back of the Estonian ten-kroon note.

There are three settlements called Antsla in Estonia - Antsla, Vana-Antsla and Uue-Antsla (Vahtsõ-Antsla). The latter two are former manor centres, which came into being when Antsla Manor was divided into two parts. Antsla village grew around an inn and a horse post station, its life was boosted by the opening of a railway station in 1889. Earlier, the village had first been called Siksälä and was later called Hauka; the name Antsla came into use when the railway station was named after the manor.

The Vana-Antsla Manor has a majestic park with many ancient oaks. The mansion, which now houses a vocational school, is in great need of repair. A 200-year-old door of the mansion can be noticed from afar. Terraces descend from the mansion towards a horseshoe-shaped pond. Among the outbuildings there is a curious rounded tower with a pointed roof that resembles a picture in a fairytale book. The tower is a former gardener's house and it has also been called an apple store.

An ancient avenue of broad-leaved trees leads from Vana-Antsla Manor to the centre of UueAntsla Manor. Uue-Antsla mansion has been destroyed.

When talking about Vana-Antsla Manor, the occasion should be mentioned when a prince was born there. The Duke of Södermanland, the later King Charles IX, stopped over at a castle there in 1601, during the Swedish-Polish war, and his wife gave birth to a son called Charles Philip. The later King is said to have been so happy with his son that he planted two oak trees in the park of the castle, which have now grown into real giants.

Oese village, a few kilometres south of Antsla, is the birthplace of the writer Bernard Kangro (1910-1994). Kangro lived for a long time in Lund, Sweden, where he published a literary journal Tulimuld for 43 years, and led the Estonian Writers' Co-operative Publishing House for almost as long a time. Being a prolific writer, he published more than ten collections of poetry, a number of novels and several volumes of memoirs. He also published long essays about Estonian literature, such as two volumes on the group of poets Arbujad (Soothsayers). A memorial stone marks the writer's birthplace.

Karula National Park was created to protect the local hilly national heritage landscape full of sparsely positioned farms. The area of the park is about 11,000 hectares, two-thirds of which are covered with woods. Lake Ähijärv is the largest among the 40 lakes in the park; the information centre of the park is located on the shore of this lake. An exhibition gives information about local nature.

A charming old wooden church in Kaika village, located in the park, is still standing, but unfortunately, it is in a bad state of repair and may fall down very soon.

The southernmost point of Estonia is located in Mõniste parish, in Karisöödi village near Naha forest keeper's farm. A sign in Naha village says that the southernmost corner of Estonia is nearby, but inaccessible as no roads go there. A unique open-air museum, thought to be the oldest in Estonia, is located 4 km south of Mõniste village, in Kuutsi. The Estonian Open Air Museum in Rocca al Mare was founded in 1957 and its buildings were opened in 1964. Mõniste Open Air Museum was begun by the local enthusiast Alfred Lepp already in 1948. Its visitors can see farms complete with outbuildings and all kinds of household objects and tools from the Tsarist time and the time of the Estonian Republic.

Two writers are associated with Sänna, whose works have sprung from Võrumaa and Võro dialect. The poet Artur Adson (1889-1977) spent his childhood at Kaugu. The boy was brought from Tartu to be raised by his aunt when he was only three months old. His childhood among people speaking the Võro dialect left a strong impression on the soul of the future writer; most of his poems are written in this dialect and Võrumaa is frequently mentioned in them.

Adson and his wife Marie Under, also a poet, left Estonia in 1944. For many years he worked at the archive of the Royal Library in Sweden. In exile he mostly wrote memoirs, but also published some poems.

A memorial plaque to Adson has been put on the wall of the former Kaugu schoolhouse.

Another memorial plaque to another writer from Sänna, Juhan Jaik (1899-1948), is also on the wall of the same schoolhouse. Jaik was born in Sänna Manor centre and went to Kaugu School a few years after Adson. As a young man, he participated in a secret separatist movement and was banished to Russia near the Volga River. Later he was a volunteer in the Estonian War of Independence and worked for some time as a journalist. In 1944, he escaped to Sweden, just like Adson. He is best known for his adventure stories for young people; in some of them, the characters include numerous weird beings familiar from Estonian folklore. His best short stories have been published under the title Stories from Võrumaa (Võrumaa jutud); another collection, Kaarnakivi, collects his best children's stories. In ancient times, a strange stone, called Kaarnakivi (raven's stone), could be found in a raven's nest. The stone had miraculous power; if you rubbed the stone and said a wish, the stone would fulfil your wish.

A monument to Juhan Jaik (sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu) stands in Rouge Park, featuring Kaarnakivi (belemnite, thunderstone, a small black stone supposedly having magical powers). A bird's nest with Kaarnakivi is on the top of a tall column. A memorial stone marks the writer's birthplace some 50 m off the dilapidated wooden mansion of Sänna Manor.

Sänna landscapes have been shaped by the Pärlijõgi River that sends its clear waters down the Haanja Upland. A few centuries ago, large numbers of freshwater pearl mussels were caught in the river. Precious pearls found in them were sold even in St Petersburg. Today, freshwater pearl mussels are among the rarest and most endangered species in Estonia and they have disappeared from South Estonia. The last of them are hidden in a small stream in Lahemaa.

In Kangsti village by the Võru-Valga Road stands Sänna Post Station, which was used from the early 18th century up to the War of Independence. The post station was built at least 200 years ago and it is one of the oldest post stations in Võrumaa, which has also preserved its original outbuilding. According to legend, Empress Catherine II stopped overnight there. The building is in good repair.

Around Võru

The upper reaches of the Võhandu River have from times immemorial been known as the Pühajõgi River (Holy River) and the home of water spirits. For many centuries after the arrival of Christianity people brought offerings to sacred groves on riverbanks. Pastors barked from their pulpits on their still-heathen congregations, but nothing helped. One of the most enthusiastic fighters against such heresy was the Urvaste Pastor Johan Gutsleff.

The Pühajõgi flowed lazily in its bed until Sõmerpalu Manor owner built a mill there, which the local peasants hated. Rains did not stop in 1642 and all crops failed. Everybody knew that the river revenged such "desecration" and a warring group of 60 peasants went and demolished the mill. Only the soldiers, summoned by the manor owner, were finally able to pacify the angry peasants. Today, this event, known as the "Pühajõgi War" is commemorated by a stone erected in Osula near the Võru-Viljandi Road.

Väimela Manor centre stands north of Võru, beside the Põlva Road; a farming school has been working there since 1920. Today it bears the name of Võrumaa Vocational Training Centre.

The mansion of the Manor was built and rebuilt in the 19th century; about a dozen outbuildings are also intact, including a distillery, a granary and a dairy. A large park with two beautiful lakes - Lakes Alajärv and Mäejärv - belongs to the Manor. The ruins of the manor owners' burial chapel are near Alajärv Lake. There is a legend about a clever valet of the manor, who had won back the manor that its owner had lost in a card game. The grateful manor owner gave him free keep and a place in his own burial chapel.

The ruins of Kirumpää Bishop's Castle stand north-east of Võru, beside the Võru-Põlva Road - a few wall fragments on a high hill from where the visitor can see the Võru Church tower and some buildings of the town. The Tartu Bishop built Kirumpää Castle to defend the land against Russians from Pskov. The castle was already standing there in 1322, when, according to chroniclers, Lithuanian Prince Gediminas besieged and conquered Kirumpää.

The Bishop and the Livonian Order started their raids on the eastern areas from this castle. The Russians, naturally, did not like it and several times they attacked and burnt this enemy's nest. By the beginning of the Livonian War, the castle was surrounded by a large settlement of merchants and craftsmen, which was swept from the earth during the invasion by a Russian army in 1558. Kirumpää Castle was completely destroyed during the Swedish-Russian War in the mid-17th century. Later, people used the stones from the ruins to build houses in Võru town.

The birthplace of the accordion-maker August Teppo (1875-1959) stands north of Võru, in Loosu. A memorial stone has been erected in the corner of the garden of the famous master's home. The wife of his grandson is now living in this farm.

The famous accordion-maker and player August Teppo made his first instrument when he was 15 years old. Four years earlier, he had mended his brother Aleksander's accordion. He taught himself the craft and made all his tools. He made his last accordion when he was 84 years old; he died in the same year. During his life, Teppo made about 150 instruments, which are now highly valued. The oldest among them has been used for music-making for already 107 years.

Teppo's accordions are remarkable for their clear and pleasant timbre and exceptionally good tuning. When still young, Teppo was a much sought-after musician at parties; he also wrote music for his instruments.

Võru, the capital of Võrumaa lies almost in the centre of its county on the edge of the large and wide Võru Vale, on the shore of Tamula Lake. The town was named after the Veeru Stream, which first gave the name to the local manor. Today, it is called the Koreli Stream.

A 4,000 years old site of an ancient settlement has been found on the shore of Tamula Lake. Arrow points, stone axes, amber beads and a large amount of bone scraps of the game, including those of big-horned aurochs, caught by ancient hunters, were found when the site was excavated.

The Mediaeval predecessor of Võru was the stone castle of Kirumpää, from where the townspeople harvested building stones for their houses. The seed for the town was sown on 27 August 1784, when Empress Catherine II decreed that a new county was created, covering most of the present Võrumaa; Võru Manor, standing beside the Tartu-Pskov post road, was bought to become the centre of the new county. At first, it was planned to locate the county centre at Vana-Koiola, but the present location proved to be much more suitable. The newly appointed county officials moved from Vana-Koiola to Võru Manor just on this date.

The brand-new county centre developed at a snail's pace, its population was small and its enterprises were still smaller. By the mid-19th century, Võru had gathered fame as an educational centre - there were several schools of different types there and the local Germans readily sent their children to attend them. The most famous school of the time was H. Krümmer's boarding school for boys.

The older cultural history of Võru is very closely connected with the physician and man of letters, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882), who was born in Virumaa, but moved to Võru after having graduated from Tartu University in 1833. He lived in Võru for the next 44 years and worked as a town physician.

After moving to Võru, Kreutzwald married Marie Elisabeth Saedler, the daughter of a Tartu tinsmith of German descent, and had three children with her. His wife arranged her household in such a meticulous petty bourgeois order that to escape from it, he often found refuge in the attic. In that very attic, he wrote most of his voluminous literary work. In the 1840s, he was a prolific contributor to a German newspaper Inland, published in Tartu, and offered its readers quite truthful descriptions of peasants' lives, earning the wrath of the nobility and endless persecution by the authorities.

Kreutzwald was constantly haunted by a lack of money, since he had borrowed to buy his house and publishing his works was often very costly. Once he even had to sell his horse and carriage to make both ends meet. He jokingly wrote about it, "then we had to eat horse meat".

Being known, foremost, as the author of Kalevipoeg, he actually wrote in almost all genres - he published poems, and didactic stories to educate the public, and translated stories and poems from German. He wrote a play The Plague of Vodka (Wina-katk) promoting temperance, memoirs titled A Couple of Steps in the Road of Travels, a satirical story about simpletons who did everything in their own way, a popular scientific The World and What Can Be found in It (Maailm ja mõnda, mis seal sees leida on) and a health handbook Home Doctor (Kodutohter). This list is far from being exhaustive and Kreutzwald is rightly taken as the founder of Estonian national literature.

His correspondence with Baltic-German Estophiles, German, Finnish and Russian scientists and young Estonian intellectuals is of immense cultural and historical value. Corresponding with friends and fellow scientists with similar intellectual interests enabled him to withdraw from the dull everyday routine of a provincial town.

Kreutzwald is called the "Father of Songs" and the "Viru Singer"; there are more monuments to him than to any other person in Estonia. The monuments stand in Võru, Tartu, Rakvere and Tallinn and memorial stones in Jõepere, Virumaa, and Kaarli, near Rakvere. The most impressive monument stands in Võru, on the shore of Lake Tamula. This bronze sculpture and several bas-reliefs, made by sculptor Amandus Adamson, were cast in Italy and erected in Võru in 1926. The sculpture was paid for by public donations.

The Memorial Museum to F. R. Kreutzwald, located in the house where the writer once lived (31, F. R. Kreutzwaldi Street) gives an excellent overview of his life and work. The wooden building from the year of 1793 has by now been carefully restored and the museum is open to visitors.

Võrumaa Museum (11, Katariina Street) gives an overview of Võrumaa history from the ancient times up to the present day, although it focuses on the battles of the War of Independence.

The Võru Lutheran Church was built in the final years of the 18th century. Empress Catherine II again played her role here, donating 28,000 silver roubles, a remarkable sum of money for that time, for the building of the church in the county centre. Naturally, the church was dedicated to St. Catherine. The Classicist church building can boast a handsome spire.

In the park next to the church stands a monument to the Võrumaa people who perished on the ferry Estonia in 1994. The ferry sunk in the stormy Baltic Sea, and over 700 people died a horrible death. The author of this deeply emotional sculpture is Mati Karmin.

When in Võru, the visitor should certainly find time to walk along the shores of Lake Tamula and cross the suspension bridge leading to Roosisaar. This is the longest suspension footbridge in Estonia; its length is almost a cable - 180 m.

Rõuge

The neighbourhood of Rouge is not as hilly as Haanjamaa, but it offers breathtaking views from the high verge of the primeval valley. The area is slashed by a 10 km long and 45 m deep primeval valley and its numerous side gullies. A number of lakes lie on the valley floor; among them is the deepest inland body of water in Estonia. Lake Rouge Suurjärv is 38 m deep. A legend tells us about a magnificent church with silver bells, which was drowned in the lake. Now, after each St. Michael's day, a bridge is said to appear over the lake, a black monk steps on the bridge and cries that the time will soon come when the church would surface again.

The best-known side gully has been given the romantic name of Ööbikuorg (Valley of Nightingales); this steep-sloped gully is a couple of hundreds of metres long and full of the song of nightingales in spring. A wonderful view opens on the high edge of a neighbouring gully, Tindiorg, towards Lake Liinjärv in the bottom of the gully. A low sightseeing tower, which is also a swing, has been built on the edge of the gully.

An ancient Rouge hill-fort stands between Ööbikuorg and Lake Liinjärv. The fort was permanently settled up to the 8th-11th centuries.

Remains of different buildings have been found in the fort. There were 5-6 simple dwelling houses with hearths and clay floors and a smithy. The fort was surrounded by a log wall; it has been burnt down six times. The fires refer to battles. Animal bones indicate that the inhabitants of the fort hunted elk, beaver, wild boar and bear, and ate beef, pork, lamb, goat and horsemeat. All this was revealed by thorough excavations which took place in 1950. The whole cultural layer of the fort, extending to a half metre, was excavated then.

Traces of an ancient settlement were found near the fort, where people lived in the 5th-11th centuries.

A nature path, starting at the sightseeing tower, follows the bottom of Tindiorg, taking the visitors past a rare bubbling piece of machinery with the funny name of 'water-ram'. Water-ram is an extremely environment-friendly hydraulic pump, able to lift water to the height of 24 metres. It is activated by hydraulic energy produced by a clever system of valves. Forcefully opening and closing valves take water uphill and one water-ram can meet the daily water needs of a farm. The first water-ram in Rouge was built by a local farmer Friedrich Johanson.

Rouge Church, built in the early 18th century, is exquisite in its simple and laconic way. The organ of the church was made by local masters, the brothers Kriisa, and it was fitted into the church in 1930. Across the road, opposite the church, a bronze soldier holding a sword stands on a tall pedestal - a monument to the War of Independence.

In 1945, the Soviets destroyed the monument and buried the bronze soldier in the ground. A local man Aksel Ollmann happened to see this; he dug the sculpture out and hid it somewhere else. Restoration of the monument was discussed in 1988, and then Ollmann's widow revealed the hiding place of the solder. It rose from the ground, where it had lain for 40 years and is now again standing on its pedestal.

Haanjamaa

Turning off from the Võru-Luhamaa Road at Verijärve towards Noodasküla, we arrive in the northern corner of Kütiorg valley. The Küti Mäeveski mill has been working there since 1868. The mill is in working order. 5 km long and up to 70 m deep Kütiorg is the deepest valley in Estonia. Such deep slopes have attracted skiers, who have made the once wild natural area a winter resort.

Before the arrival of the skiers, the painter Valdur Õhakas (1925-1998) lived there during the warmer half of the year, as long as the weather permitted, and painted numerous wonderful pictures of the valley. This bohemian artist also kept a donkey at Kütiorg. The Open Studio is working at Kütiorg now, initiated by the photographer Peeter Laurits and his wife Leelo.

The birthplace of organ makers, the Kriisas, is west of Haanja, at Kokõmäe. A large memorial stone, dedicated to three generations of organ makers, stands at the roadside.

The organ-making was started by three brothers - Juhan (1858-1942), Jakob (1861-1949) and Tannil (1866-1940) Kriisa - in the 19th century. Tannil was the designer and he did the finest work, Jakob made the pipes and Juhan worked on the bellows and bodies of the organs.

The first organ was made in 1886; it was installed at Misso church. Later, the brothers Kriisa provided organs for many churches all over Estonia including on Saaremaa Island. The enterprise of the three brothers made altogether 20 organs.

Tannil's son Eduard (1902-1968) represents the second generation of organ-makers; he studied the craft with his father and continued the work after his death. He made only two organs, but repaired many of them.

Today, the work is continued by Eduard's son Hardo (b. 1940).

Haanja is the roof of Estonia. Our highest peak, the hill of Suur Munamägi, reaching 317 m above the sea level, stands there; at the same time, the height of the hill from its foot to its top is only 62 m. The absolute height of a neighbouring two-peaked Vällamägi hill is 304 m, but its relative height is 88 m, making it the record-holder among natural relief forms in Estonia. The hill of the highest relative height has been amassed by man: the Kiviõli semi-coke heap rises up to the height of 115 m. As the mean relative height of Estonia above the sea level is about 50 m, Haanjamaa is about 4-5 times higher than the mean level.

Haanjamaa has been put together by hillocks, valleys, lakes and bogs and by rivers and streams coursing between them. There are 170 lakes and thousands of smaller swampy hollows. The Haanja Nature Park with its area of 17,000 hectares and headquarters in Haanja village protects local landscapes.

One of the best-known buildings in Estonia - the sightseeing tower on Suur Munamägi - is located at Haanja. The beautiful Functionalist construction was built on the site of an earlier and lower wooden tower in 1939. At first, the height of the new tower was 26 m, but in 1969, another storey was added and now the visitor, who has climbed the tower, stands at a height of 29 m. With good weather, the view from the tower extends to about 50 km.

At the foot of the hill stands a stone to commemorate the brave fighting of the 1st Cavalry Regiment in the War of Independence. The architecturally outstanding mansion of Rogosi Manor stands about 10 km south of Haanja, in Ruusmäe village. The mansion was built on the site of a mediaeval castle and with its closed courtyard, it also resembles a castle. The name of the manor comes from its first owner, a Pole Stanislaus Rogosinsky. The mansion acquired its present shape in the 19th century, but the original layout of the building has been little changed. A small lake and a park with a band-shell lie behind the mansion, which is now housing an elementary school and a small museum.

After the nationalisation of land in 1919 the Rogosi manor owner's son, Guido von Glasenapp, was given a farm in the centre of the manor, called Uus-Rogosinsky, for his participation in the War of Independence. He built a new house for himself and lived there, and the mansion remained empty and fell to the prey of vandals. Fortunately, the local parish decided to open a school in the mansion and it was repaired. Later, it has been maintained and restored. Otto von Glasenapp, the son of the former owner, visited Rogosi in 1990 and was delighted to see the home of his fathers in such a good order. He was especially happy to see that the former mansion was being used as a schoolhouse. A relative of his, Patrick von Glasenapp, initiated a campaign in Germany to help to restore the Stone Bridge in Tartu. The Plaani Orthodox Church was built beside the Haanja-Ruusmäe Road in 1873 to acquaint more Estonians with the official faith of the Russian tsars. The church, built of red bricks and stones, has been snugly fitted into the beautiful Haanjamaa landscape. The roof of a relatively small church accommodates even five onion domes, which have recently been covered with new tin roofs. The church was used for storage during the Soviet time and its renovation was time and effort-consuming. In the long term, the Orthodox Church plans to establish a monastery at Plaani Church.

The Seto Region In Võrumaa

The ruins of an ancient Bishop's Castle, located 6 km off VastseIiina, at Vana-Vastseliina, are the symbol of the area. In the Middle Ages, there was only one settlement called Vastseliina, which stood near the stone castle and was destroyed together with it.

The initial castle was built by the Livonian Order and by the Tartu Bishop in the mid-14th century. The original powerful defence tower was rebuilt into a strong stone castle, and more towers were added. Massive artillery towers were built at the corners of the castle in the 16th century. Unique ornamentation, resembling that of the Tartu Dome, can still be seen on the walls of the eastern tower. In the Middle Ages, the chapel of the Vastseliina Castle was the pilgrims' destination wellknown all over Europe. A holy cross that had been kept in the chapel gave a 40-day pardon from sins, confirmed by Pope Innocentius VI in 1354.

Vastseliina Castle was situated on the border between the East and the West, on the trade and military road between the former Old-Livonia and Pskov. This is the reason why the castle has changed hands on so many occasions. It has been ruled by Germans, Russians, Poles, and Swedes. Under the rule of the King of Poland in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, it was even an administrative centre and was called Novogrodek.

Russian Tsar Peter I visited Vastseliina in 1697 and found that the local Swedish garrison did not show enough respect towards him. The revenge taken in the Northern War that followed was severe. The castle was erased from the earth together with the settlement that had grown around it.

The settlement of Vastseliina was rebuilt several kilometres away from its former site. The castle proved to be a useful mine for building stones. Today, only some tall wall fragments and thick lower parts of two artillery towers are still standing.

Vastseliina Castle is remarkable for still another aspect. The white stork, which today is a very common bird species in Estonia, is actually quite a recent arrival. It has been recorded that the first pair of white storks, who had arrived in Estonia, built their nest in the Vastseliina Castle ruins in 1841.

The Piiri Inn, which has been open at one and the same place ever since 1695, stands in the neighbourhood of the castle next to the road and is another reminder of the border between the East and the West. The heyday of the inn was in the 19th century, when it started to sell the production of the distillery of the local manor.

After the destruction of the castle and its chapel, the local population was left without a church. The new church was built about 10 km west of the castle ruins, in Külaoru village, but for some reason, no village grew around the church, as it would have been customary. Vastseliina emerged a couple of kilometres away from the church. The local manor owner, Gotthard Lionel von Liphart, was much respected and very friendly and understanding towards his peasants. He lies at rest at the cemetery near the church.

Almost the same story as in Rouge happened to the monument to the War of Independence in Vastseliina. As usual, the Soviets dynamited the monument and cast the bronze sculpture of a soldier into the bushes. The local farmers picked it up and buried it. It was dug out in 1988, and now it again stands in the middle of Vastseliina.

A monument to the local Forest Brothers was erected in the wood near Puutli village, east of the Vastseliina-Loosi Road, in 1989. Five men and two women, who had managed to hide from the Soviet authorities, were killed in an armed conflict there in 1965. The stone monument bears the names of five people, but the names of the other two are still unknown.

The charming wooden Orthodox Church in Puutli village is worth a visit. It was built by nine families who had settled here from Russia in 1935.

Although Õbinitsa is located in Võrumaa, it is actually an important centre of Setomaa. Since 1983 a powerful sculpture of the Seto Lauluema (Mother of Songs) - one of the symbols of Setomaa - has stood on the high shore of the reservoir on the Tuhkvitsa stream. Memorial stones to other much-loved folk singers have been placed around the sculpture.

The song (leelo) has been an inseparable part of the Seto way of life; the mother of songs was the most important singer. The singing choir consists of 5-6 singers, the most skilful of whom are the lead singers. The lead singer first says the verses and the choir repeats them with two voices. One high voice gives additional colouring to the song.

The experienced lead singers were called the mothers of song; some of them knew more than 30,000 verses by heart. Songs accompanied almost all activities of life in Setomaa, but best-known among them are the wedding and work songs and laments. Laments were sung when the bride left her father's house and naturally, at the funerals.

Singing and remembering songs was more woman's business in Setomaa. Mothers taught their daughters, and sung for the collectors of folklore. This does not mean that the Seto men were mute; they have many songs, but their repertoire is more humorous and suitable for singing when walking in a village street in high spirits.

The most celebrated Mother of Song of the Obinitsa region was Hilane Taarka (1856-1933). When the Setos were given family names by the Estonian State in 1921, her name was Darja Pisumaa. She came from Hilane village and could not marry, because the parents of her groom did not allow him to wed so poor a girl. Hilane Taarka's fame grew also as a result of her visit to Finland, where she sang to the President. Later, the state of Finland presented her with a nice farmhouse with a chimney, as she had formerly lived in a house without one, and the state of Estonia paid a small pension to her. Hilane Taarka is buried at the Obinitsa cemetery. Another famous singer, Miko Õde (1864-1924), knew 20,000 verses by heart and could sing them all whenever there was a patient listener.

The Seto dialect resembles the Võro dialect, but there are differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. The Seto dialect is thought to be more ancient and it has many Russian loans, which is no surprise, Russia being the large neighbour of this small border region.

The Seto Museum Hut was opened in Obinitsa in 1995. One room of the museum is furnished with antiquarian Seto objects. Among other things, the visitors can see two life-sized mannequins clothed in traditional Seto folk costume. The museum offers a good selection of literature on Setomaa and Võrumaa. The road turning into the yard of the house in front of the museum passes through a beautifully carved log gate.

Obinitsa Church also has a story of its own. At the beginning of the last century, a quite unique school and church was built, complete with a tower, as a church should be. Children studied on the ground floor, and on the first floor, services were held. When the Soviets came, the tower was dismantled and the house was turned into a school. The local people did not like it; the local priest Vileomon Talomees was the least content among them.

In 1950, the congregation acquired a piece of land and, led by the priest, the construction was started. Despite all difficulties, the two-towered Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was completed in two years. The most populous festive event in Setomaa - the celebration of Passover on 19 August is held at Obinitsa church. A festive service is held and a procession led by a cross walks around the church, watched by about 3,000-5,000 people. After the service, people go to the cemetery and eat and drink on the graves of their relatives. Food and drink are left there for the deceased as well; the Setos are well aware of the contacts between generations. Our ancestors have given us the gift of life and it would be a great sin to forget them. Meeksi Church, southeast of Vastseliina, was built by the local population during the Stalinist time. 7 July is the holy day at Meeksi Church.

Several ancient burial mounds have been found in the vicinity of Obinitsa Church. The 600-700 hundred years old burial places, walled with stones, are right in the cemetery.

Across the Obinitsa reservoir, on its farther shore, towers a sandstone cliff with a large cave. The cave is called Juudatarõ (Devil's house) and a legend goes that some sort of devils live in the cave. People had once wanted to build a church on the stream bank near Obinitsa, but the devils had come at night and destroyed everything that had been built during the day. The church builders had plucked up their courage and went to see, what was there in the cave. They found a table covered with a red cloth and dishes, but not a soul could be seen. Later, the church was built farther off from the stream.

Each Setomaa village has a small wooden chapel or tsässon - a simple building with a cross on its roof, built by the local people. The name tsässon originates from Russian, meaning an hour, since one-hour-long services were held there. 11 such chapels have been preserved in Meremäe parish, where Obinitsa belongs. These small chapels are adorned with icons, candles and holy scarves that are used to cover the icons. The old Obinitsa chapel was destroyed in 1950. One of the best-known chapels of the area is the Tobrova stone chapel, located on the 6th kilometre from Tobrova on the Obinitsa-Meremäe Road.

Calvin Stark

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