The triangular-shaped Valgamaa stretches along the Estonian border, which is, again, losing its original meaning. At many different times, Estonia and Latvia have been ruled by the same central power. On these occasions, the Konnaoja stream, which the Pope's legate, Wilhelm of Modena (1184-1251) - an important peace mediator from Europe - nominated as the border between them, is again simply the Konnaoja (Frog) Stream, which everyone can cross at will. Estonian Valga and Latvian Vodka are separated by a river and have more than once in history been called sister towns.

In ancient times, most of Valgamaa belonged to Ugandi County, the southern part of which was ruled by the strong Otepää hill-fort. Estonians, Russians, Germans and Latvians fought each other at this hill-fort.

Valgamaa stands out for its many-towered manor houses. Those of Taagepera, Holdre and Sangaste Manors are gems in their own right among the buildings that have been preserved until the present day. A special sight is the austere and beautiful mausoleum of Prince Barclay de Tally with a rather worn-out avenue of larches. The motto of the Prince, who had loyally served his Tsar fighting against Napoleon, was 'Loyalty and patience'. We do not know the motto of young Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov, who was mortally wounded in the Paju battle against Russians in the War of Independence. In this battle, the enemy lost his last hold in Estonia; a tall pyramid monument has been erected to commemorate the battle by the Valga-Tartu Road.

Count Friedrich von Berg of Sangaste Manor was one of the most renowned manor owners and innovators in the late 19th century and early 20th century in Estonia, who created a unique monument for himself. When crops are ripening, his modest grave under the ancient trees at the Sangaste cemetery is adorned with the long slender stalks of Sangaste rye, which he had bred.

One of the Estonian writers with the best romantic imagination, August Gailit (1890-1960), was born near Sangaste, in Kuiksilla village. His writing-desk was recently brought to his birthplace from Sweden. Although the desk has never before stood in that house, it seems to be the most natural place for it.

Around Pikasilla And Riidaja

The composer Aleksander Läte (1860-1948) was born in the former inn of Aakre Manor, in Pikasilla village, at the southernmost end of Lake Võrtsjärv. Läte, who at first was a schoolteacher in Puhja village and later a sexton and organist in Nõo village, went to Germany in the 1890s and graduated from the Dresden Conservatoire. He was the chief conductor at the Fourth Song Festival in 1891; in 1900 he founded the first symphony orchestra in Estonia. In the 1930s he had a piano repair shop in Tartu; he made some improvements to the construction of such a complicated instrument as the piano. He wrote symphonic music, but he is still better known as the author of many lyrical choral songs.

The house in Pikasilla village, where he was born, burnt down in WW II; a new house was built on the foundation of the old one. The connection of the place with Läte has not been marked. A memorial stone to Läte has been erected in Koruste village, about twelve kilometres towards Tartu from Pikasilla, where he lived after WW II. Nearby are the memorial stones to the artist Elmar Kits and the writer August Tooming (Kusta Toom), who both lived in Koruste village.

A few kilometres west of Pikasilla, in Purtsi village, Elmar Maasik has organised a private museum. He exhibits a barnful of artefacts from the time of the war until the end of the Soviet period, and he can tell exciting stories about each of them.

The birthplace of the poet Henrik Visnapuu (1890-1951) is located near the county border with Viljandimaa, in the beautiful landscape north of Leebiku village. A road sign in Leebiku village shows the way to the place.

Visnapuu became a primary school teacher when he was 17 years old; soon he started writing for newspapers. At the time when the Estonian Republic was born in 1918, he created a literary group 'Siuru' together with Marie Under, Friedebert Tuglas, August Gailit and Artur Adson. Having initially been a rebellious and defiant poet, he later wrote elegiac nature poetry and during WW I, a number of gloomy ballads.

In 1944, Visnapuu went to Germany and later to the USA, where he lived until his death. His memoirs under the title The Sun and the River (Päike ja jõgi) were published in Sweden, and were reissued in Estonia in 1995.

Driving west from Leebiku towards Kärstna, we arrive in Riidaja village, the centre of Põdrala parish. The mansion of Riidaja Manor is one of the few preserved wooden Baroque buildings in Estonia. The manor was constructed in the mid-18th century; for a long time it served as a schoolhouse, and in Soviet times as a collective farm. Today it houses a library and the local handicraft circle. 0.7 km from the mansion (indicated by a sign) stands a beautiful red brick chapel, which was restored in 2001. The family members of the former manor owners, the von Stryks, are buried next to the chapel. The grave markings have been destroyed, just as has happened in hundreds of country cemeteries all over Estonia. Those who want to see the interior of the chapel have to get the key from the farm standing on the left-hand side of the road opposite the chapel.

Andres Dido (1855-1921), a prominent figure of the Estonian National Awakening Movement in the second half of the 19th century, was born in Riidaja village. He was an active collaborator of C. R. Jakobson and published articles in his newspaper Sakala; later he was given a prison sentence for his links to Russian exile democrats. After being released from prison, he was not allowed to live in the Baltic region and he went to Paris, where he published a few issues of an Estonian-language legal journal Oigus and translated our folklore into French.

General Jaan Soots's (1880-1942) home lies south of Riidaja, about 1.5 km west of Linna village. It is marked with a memorial stone. Soots, the son of the owner of the Kati farm, studied at Helme parish school and as a boy, participated in Jakob Hurt's folklore-gathering campaign. In 1900 he volunteered for the Russian Army, graduated from the Vilnius Military School and the St Petersburg Military Academy. He fought in WWI, but returned to his homeland in November 1917. On 6 December the same year, he was appointed the Chief of Staff of the newly formed First Estonian Infantry Division, and until Johan Laidoner assumed the post, he also acted as the temporary cornmander of the Division. For the greater part of the War of Independence, Soots was Chief Commander Laidoner's main assistant; after the end of the war he was promoted to major-general and decorated by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Poland. Estonia also awarded him a sum of money and the Karula manor near Viljandi. In 1920, Soots left active service and became a politician. He participated in the Tartu Peace Conference, was the Minister of War, a member of Parliament and the Mayor of Tallinn. In September 1940 he was arrested in his home in Tallinn and taken to Russia. Major-general Jaan Soots was shot in the Ussolje prison camp in Perm District, Russia, on 6 February 1942.

Around Tõrva

Ala village is located by the Pärnu-Valga Road, 16 km from Tõrva. The owners of the Taagepera Manor, the von Stackelbergs, had a small stone church with a wooden tower built in Ala village in the 18th century. The family burial place of Mats Erdell, an Estonian farmer, is worth noting in Ala graveyard.

Mats Erdell (1792-1847) was the owner of Sõnni farm in Taagepera. One of his descendants, Hans Erdell, bought the Roobe Manor in 1868. It was one of the earliest purchases of the kind in the history of Livonia, since the Riga Landtag had, only two years earlier, given common people the right to purchase manors.

The Finnish writer of Estonian descent, Hella Wuolijoki (1886-1954), was born in the former Ala inn, her maiden name was Ella Marie Murrik; her mother Kadri Murrik was the inn-keeper at that time.

Wuolijoki started writing in Estonian, but later continued her literary work in Finnish. She moved to Finland in 1904. Her series of plays, depicting the life in the large Niskamäe farm, brought her international renown. She participated in political life and was elected to the Finnish Parliament. Her five books of memoirs are full of interesting cultural historical information and have been translated into Estonian.

About 2 km south of Ala stands the art nouveau mansion of Taagepera Manor with national romantic elements. The manor had already been established by the first half of the 16th century; its name was derived from the name of the von Stackelbergs (local peasantry found the name Stackelberg too difficult to pronounce and thus it gradually turned into Takelberg, Taagelberg, Taagepera), who owned it in 1674-1796. In the 19th century, the manor belonged to the von Stryks. Hugo von Stryk built the wonderful palace that has been preserved up to our days on the site of the old mansion, which was burnt down in 1904. The mansion, built after the designs of the Riga architect Otto Wildau, was completed in 1912. We can notice the weather wane featuring a half-moon and stars at the top of the tower. The weather wane was inspired by the lady of the manor, who was a Turk by nationality.

The mansion is surrounded by a park rich in different tree species; the park is surrounded by a granite wall. During the first years of the Estonian Republic, the mansion housed the first sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis; now the mansion is privately owned and it is operating as a hotel and a conference centre. A neighbouring Functionalist building once belonged to the sanatorium; now it houses a home for the elderly. Holdre Manor lies about 7 km south-east of Taagepera. The first reports about the manor date back to the 16th century. The manor has had many different owners, the last of them, Woldemar Dimitri von Ditmar, built the mansion in 1910 that has been preserved up to now. The art nouveau building resembles the Taagepera mansion, as it was built by the same architect, Otto Wildau but it is much smaller. During the Soviet time, a Young Pioneer summer camp worked in the mansion; now, the sadly rather dilapidated building is privately owned.

Helme is located by the Pärnu-Valga Road, 3 km before Tõrva. The best-known local sight are the ruins of an ancient Order Castle. The crumbling fragments of castle walls stand like stone teeth on a high hill that is difficult to climb - a natural place for a castle. The castle was large, about the size of a football field, built of granite stones probably at the beginning of the 14th century. An interesting aspect of the castle is that all of its buildings had been erected along the inner side of its wall. Another exceptional feature was that the fortified gate was located on the other side of the moat, which was crossed by a stone bridge.

A legend goes that a virgin was walled into the Helme Castle when it was built. This was not a punishment to the girl, as it was with the prototype of the White Lady of the Haapsalu Castle Church. A simple farm girl was asked whether she wanted to be the keeper of castle keys. The girl had thought that the idea was attractive and had agreed, not guessing that she would have to do it inside a wall. The same legend also tells us that the castle was invincible until the enemy found out the name of the girl who had been walled in. Eventually, an enemy soldier had persuaded an old washerwoman to tell him the girl's name - Anne - and the castle fell into the hands of the attackers. Lehte Hainsalu has used the legend in her ballad Ohver (A Victim), written in 1974.

Helme Castle was ruled by Germans, Russians, Lithuanians and finally, Swedes, who destroyed it in 1658. A settlement of craftsmen emerged in the vicinity of the castle in the Middle Ages. The castle was destroyed, but the settlement remained.

The Helme caves, located north of the castle ruins, have suffered from serious collapses. Once the cave system contained seven larger rooms connected with tunnels, which were several hundred metres long. The caves were located in the park of the nearby manor, the owner of which had them widened. The caves are of natural origin, hollowed into soft sandstone by spring waters. The largest of them, called Vanakuradi vats (the Old Devils belly), was 3 m high. According to the legends, one could go from Helme to the local church and even further, to Viljandi, along the underground tunnels. One of the tunnels was said to go straight to the Old Devil - to Hell. None of the brave men who entered the tunnel to Hell ever returned. Three cave mouths can be explored today, but it is not advisable to go further underground.

Two springs near the castle ruins: Ohvriallikas (Sacrificial spring) at the foot of the castle hill and Arstiallikas (Healing spring) on the bank of the Õhne River. Young girls are said to have offered beads to the springs to help them to preserve their beauty.

The Helme Manor ensemble, which is among the most representative manors of its time in South Estonia, was raised near the Order Castle at the end of the 18th century. The Baroque mansion with an attic was built by Jakob Gustav von Rennekampff in 1760-1770. He created an English-style park with numerous pavilions; bridges crossing the moat connected the park with the castle floor. The park has not been fully preserved, but the remaining parts are kept in good order. Some reports mention that the earliest monument to the famous German writer Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was erected in Helme manor park already in 1805, but it has not survived.

The Helme Agricultural School started to work at the manor in 1924; now it is still working under the name of the Valgamaa Vocational Schooling Centre. One of the rooms in the building is used as a classroom.

Helme Church is located 3 km south of the town in Kirikuküla village. The church was probably built in the 14th century and it was seriously damaged in the wars of the 17th century (its vaulting was destroyed), as well as in the Northern War, but it was rebuilt again and again. Now, the church has been in ruins since 1944. The Helme Corpus Christi Chapel, which was probably built in the 15th century, is in ruins too.

The former parsonage now houses the Helme Local Lore Museum, displaying various objects and documents describing the local history and everyday life in the past.

About 50 m north of Helme cemetery, on the bank of the beautiful primeval valley of the Keisripalu stream, stands a stone with two large hollows called Orjakivi (Slave's stone). According to a legend, an orphan was running from pursuers and climbed the stone to rest for a while. He very pitiably asked the stone for a soft resting-place. When the pursuers reached him, he was lying dead on the stone. The place where he had sat can still be seen on the stone. Only 150 years ago, an ancient coniferous forest was whispering in the winds on the site of the present-day Tõrva, and the only building standing there was an inn with stone walls. The settlement that emerged there later was named after a tar-maker called Tõnis, whose tar pits had all the time been belching smoke behind the inn.

The settlement started to grow after the local manor owner von Stryk started to sell construction plots there. A tailor came to settle; a mill, a post station and a fire station were built. Around the turn of the 19th century, a school was founded and a house was built as the parish centre.

Tõrva can be proud of its beautiful nature - the town lies on the high slopes of the Õhne River primeval valley. Lake Vanamõisa and an ancient hill-fort, known as Tantsumägi (Dance Hill), also belong to the town. An open-air stage and a festival field are located on Tantsumägi. The fact that Tantsumägi is, actually, a site of a hill-fort was discovered only in 1930.

One of the most characteristic features of Tõrva is its concert hall, fitted into an old stone church building, situated by the Valga Road that passes through the town.

Driving south-east of Tõrva, turning to the left at Roobe crossroads, we reach Jõgeveste village. There stands the mausoleum of the Russian army commander Prince Michel Andreas Barclay de Tolly (Mikhail Bogdanovich) (1761-1818). M. A. Barclay de Tolly was born in what is today Northern Lithuania , but his family originates from Scotland. He served in the cavalry and his gallantry was noted in the Russian-Turkish War (1787-1791) and in the Russian-Swedish War (1788-1790). In 1810-1812, he was the Russian Minister of War and at the beginning of the Russian-French War, the Commanderin-chief of the 1st Western Army. In the famous Battle of Borodino, he was the commander of the right wing and the centre of the Russian army. He was awarded the title of Count when Russia won the Battle of Nations at Leipzig. When Napoleon was finally defeated and the Russians and their allies reached Paris, Barclay de Tolly led the attack on Paris. For this battle, the Tsar promoted him General Field Marshal and made him Prince.

Hard campaigns had ruined his health; he retired from active service and lived for some time at the Jõgeveste Manor, which he had inherited. He died when he was on his way to a spa in Bohemia. His body was embalmed and buried in the beautiful mausoleum in his manor. The Classicist mausoleum was built in 1823 on the order of Princess Barclay de Tolly (architect Apollon Schtschedrin). The 4 m tall monument inside the mausoleum was made by the renowned Russian sculptor Vasili Demut-Malinovski. The sarcophagi of the Prince and Princess are inside the mausoleum; their son Ernst Magnus, together with his wife, is buried at the cemetery next to it. A 100 m long avenue of Siberian larches leads to the mausoleum. The centre of the former estate is a couple of kilometres off from the mausoleum; the house has been destroyed.

Around Valga

Hummuli is located by the Valga-Pärnu Road. Here, a visitor should see the red brick mansion with a tall corner tower of Hummuli Manor that resembles a castle. It was built in the 19th century. The exterior of the building has already been restored, the work is continuing on the inside. Since 1930, the manor has housed a school. The park with its several ponds is in good order.

A monument in front of the school commemorates the fierce Battle of Hummuli, fought here in July 1702 during the Northern War. In this battle, the Swedish field army, led by Woldemar von Sclippenbach, was three times outnumbered and defeated by the Russian corps, led by Boris Scheremetjev. The Russians lost 1,500 men in the battle, the Swedes 3,500.

The birthplace of the poet Friedrich Kuhlbars (1841-1924) is in Uniküla, north-east of Hummuli, across the Väike-Emajõgi River. Kuhlbars has written lyrics to several well-known and much loved popular songs. A grey stone marks the site of the former schoolhouse, where the poet was born. Paju Manor is located by the Valga-Elva Road some 5 km northeast of Valga. The bloodiest battle of the War of Independence was fought here on 31 January 1919. Paju Manor, the last defensive position of the Red Army in Estonia, was defended by 1,200 Latvian Red Rifles and an armoured train. The Estonian unit of 683 men consisted of Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov's Partisans and Finnish volunteers. After a day-long battle, Estonian troops managed to take the manor in a fierce combat in the arriving dusk. On the Estonian side, 156 men were dead or wounded; the Russians lost twice as much.

Lieutenant Kuperjanov, who later was hailed as the greatest hero of the War of Independence, was mortally wounded in this battle. He died three days later in Tartu and was buried at the Raadi Cemetery. During the Soviet time, students, defying the KGB, brought flowers and candles to his grave on 24 February, Estonian National Day. One of the best units of the current Estonian Defence Forces - Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion - proudly carries his name. A monument has been erected by the Tartu-Valga Road to commemorate the battle, and an information board stands near the monument. A memorial stone to the unit of Finnish Volunteers - Põhja Pojad (Sons of the North) - was set up in the manor park.

The border town of Valga is the southernmost Estonian town, separated from the town of Valka - the northernmost town of Latvia, only by the narrow Konnaoja Stream. When talking about Valga and the Konnaoja, we should recall the Pope's Legate, Modena Bishop Wilhelm, who was sent here to sort out the quarrels between the Order of the Brothers of the Sword and the local land owners of the neighbourhood in 1226. In the South, the dispute over the border was held with the Tartu Bishop, and the Pope's legate drew the border on the bed of Konnaoja. The border remained there during the Livonian War; and also after the War of Independence, when Estonia and Latvia had a serious disagreement about the border at Valga. To settle the dispute, the British Colonel Stephen George Tallents was asked to act as an arbitrator between them. On 1 July 1920 he fixed the border between Valga and Valka.

St John's Church and an early Classicist chapel in the centre of Valga were both built after the designs of the architect Christoph Haberlandt who was also active in Riga at the end of the 18th century. Valga Church is remarkable as the only oval-shaped church in Estonia. Its mansard hip-roof is also rare in Estonia.

The late-Classicist wooden town hall, built in 1866, is a sight worth seeing. The former Säde club hall in Vabaduse Street was built in 1911. This building has been burnt to the ground and then rebuilt several times; it was renovated to house a museum in 1999. The permanent exhibition of the museum shows the history of Valga and Valgamaa from ancient times up to now, displaying artefacts found at archaeological excavations, introducing the course of the famous Paju Battle, presenting prominent people from Valgamaa, showing the building of railway, etc. One of the wax figures shown at the museum represents Johan Märtson, the first mayor of Estonian origin in Valga and in the whole Estonia. The life-size model of the railway carriages in which Estonians were taken to Siberia is very moving.

In 1999, a monument was erected in Jaama Avenue to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Estonian-Pskov railway connection. The monument depicts a green locomotive that forms a symbolic background for the present-day rails.

The Church of St Issidor the Priest Martyr, built in the Classicist style at the end of the 19th century, is located near the locomotive monument, in the corner of Ernst Enno and Pargi Streets.

The first Estonian winner at the Olympic Games, Alfred Neuland (1895-1966), was born in Valga. He won a Gold Medal in weight lifting at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. Four years later, at the Paris Olympics, he won the Silver medal. He managed to set 12 world records during his sports career. In 1995, his bronze bust was unveiled in the corner of Vabaduse and Kuperjanovi Streets. A memorial stone to the victims of Soviet repressions at Valgamaa was opened in the Säde Park in 1990.

About 20 km west of Valga, near the road to Lüllemäe village, stands the village of Karula. Of the former manor ensemble, only an interesting stone house resembling a castle, where the estate manager lived, and another house about 50 m north-west of the former, where the manor hands lived, have been preserved. The large and beautiful Karula Manor was destroyed in a fire in 1919. The stone outbuildings of the manor (now privately owned) are all standing and they are being restored. A shady avenue of broad-leaved trees leads about 500 m to the west from the manor, to the cemetery of the manor owners, the von Grotes, where a brick chapel is standing on the Krootimägi hill.

Karula village is known already from history books, because of the peasants' rebellion in 1784 and the subsequent events. The manor lord had decided to punish the peasants, who had rebelled against the establishment of a new tax and summoned a group of soldiers. All local peasants had to watch the trial of the leaders. They did not watch quietly when their brothers were flogged, but attacked the soldiers with everything they could lay their hands on. For some time it even seemed that they could win, but a new and larger group of soldiers arrived and all whom the manor lord named, were punished. Some of the rebels were deported to the Siberia, from where they were not allowed to return.

During WW II and after, the forests around Karula offered good hiding places for the Forest Brothers; several sites of their bunkers have been identified. Best-known among them are the brothers Maus, who hid in the Karula forests for 23 years. Their bodies were recently reburied in LüIlemäe cemetery.

In the village of LüIlemäe, the former centre of Karula parish, stand the ruins of Karula St Mary's Church. The church was built probably in the 14th century; it was bombed in 1944 and was never restored. Beside the ruins of the old church stands the new church, built in 1997.

In the Northern War, a battle between the Swedes and the Russians took place near Karula church on 2 January 1708, where the Swedes were defeated. The water of a nearby stream is said to have been red with Swedish blood, giving it the name of Verioja (Blood Stream). Several streams in Estonia have been given the name of Verioja for the same reason. One of them, although it has dried up by now, is near the ruins of the St. Mary's Chapel in the neighbourhood of Viru-Nigula, in Lääne-Virumaa. There is another legend, telling us that the two large oaks, growing on the hillside, were originally two oaken sticks, stuck into the ground by Peter I. The king of Sweden is said to have hidden under the bridge called Kuningasild (King's bridge).

The writer and politician Jaan Lattik (1878-1967) was born in Mäkiste village by the Lüllemäe-Hargla Road. A large monument has been erected by the road; an avenue of oaks leads to the house, where the future politician was born. In 1920-1930, Lattik was the leader of the Christian People's Party; he was a member of Parliament and a minister in the government, and a representative of Estonia in Lithuania. After 1944, he lived in exile in Sweden, working mostly as a pastor. Lattik has published numerous short stories and books of memoirs in his homeland and abroad.

The present-day Hargla Church was built in 1821 on the site of a former wooden church. A church had been in Hargla already in the 17th century, but it was destroyed in the Northern War. The church was rebuilt in the Historicist style in 1873. The western tower and choir were added, the latter is separated from the body of the church by a wide triumphal arch. The gem of the otherwise simply furnished church is a painting "Deposition" by the German artist E. Jacobs, which dates from 1859.

The pine forests that lie right on the Estonian-Latvian border offer unforgettable sights for city people. The whole area was covered with such woods when our ancestors started to make their homes here many hundreds of years ago. The Koiva Pine Forests Reserve was created in 1975 to protect the forest on the right bank of the Koiva River. The age of the oldest trees in the forest is about 120 years.

Around Sangaste And Otepää

Driving from Paju village through Tsirguliina and Laatre to the northwest, a kilometre before Lossiküla village, we reach Kuiksilla village, the birth place of the writer August Gailit (1891-1960). A memorial plaque is on the wall of the building where he was born (a long white house by the road); one room of the house has been furnished as a memorial room to the writer, displaying his works and his writing desk, which was donated by his daughter. The desk was brought here from Sweden a few years ago.

Gailit is one of the most singularly talented Estonian writers. His imaginative novels Toomas Nipernaadi, Ekke Moor and Do You remember, Dearest? (Kas mäetad, mu arm?), written in exile, are full of interesting characters, romance and unique, sometimes sad humour. When talking about Estonian literature, Gailit and Tammsaare are positioned on opposite ends of the scale. Both are unsurpassable masters of their genres - Gailit in his playfulness, Tammsaare in his monumentality.

Two of Gailit's books, Toomas Nipernaadi and The Cool Sea (Karge meri) have been made into films; Toomas Nipernaadi is, undoubtedly, one of the best Estonian films.

The Sangaste Manor is located in Lossiküla village. During the Middle Ages, a manor belonging to the Tartu Bishop stood on the same site. In the 17th century, it went into private hands and in 1808, the von Bergs became its owners. The new luxurious mansion was built by Count Friedrich von Berg, probably, on the example of palaces he had seen in England. It was designed by the architect Otto Pius Hippius; in 1879-1883, the building was erected at a site 100 m away from the previous 18th-century mansion. It has been said that Berg built such a magnificent palace to avenge an insult he had had to swallow in England, when an English nobleman had not given him his daughter in marriage, calling him a savage from Russia.

The building is the best example of Estonian Historicist architecture, it has towers and attics and spacious rooms. Originally, there was 99 rooms (only the Tsar was allowed more than 100 rooms in his palaces), but later rebuilding has much reduced the number. Among the more interesting outbuildings there are a water tower and the stables, built in the same style as the palace. A rich park surrounds the manor.

The Sangaste Count was known as an innovator of agriculture in Russia. He studied in France and was later an inspired breeder of crops. If Mihkel Pill, who worked at Jõgeva, is called "the father of Estonian white bread", then Friedrich von Berg can well be called "the father of Estonian black bread", since he bred a yielding variety of rye, "Sangaste", which grew well in Estonian climate. Breed stallion Hetman, who played an essential role in breeding the Tori horse, also came from Sangaste (see Pärnumaa, Tori). We should also say that Sangaste Manor with its extremely modern mechanical farm equipment was named the best agricultural enterprise of Tsarist Russia in 1912. Today, the manor with its hotel and seminar centre is under the care of the local community. The Ballroom, Spanish Room and Hunting Room and the former Library are open to visitors, who can also see a small exhibition of old photos about the life of Count Berg.

Sangaste village, located 4 km north-east of Lossiküla (Palace village), was built at the crossing of larger local roads as a typical church village and for a long time, it was called Kirikuküla (Church village). One side of the road from Lossiküla to Sangaste is bordered by a row of large oaks.

In 1742, Sangaste Church was built on the site of an old church, which was destroyed in the Northern War. The church has a unique organ, built in 1924 by the brothers Kriisa who have produced a number of organs for our churches. The most renowned lord of Sangaste Manor, Count Friedrich von Berg (1845-1938), is buried at the cemetery one kilometre off from the church. (A sign is pointing to the cemetery.) His grave is marked with a modest tombstone; rye is sown on his grave every year.

The predecessor of the town of Otepää was a village called Nuustaku, which was renamed Otepää on the initiative of Matthias Johann Eisen in the early 1920s. The name derives from the name of an ancient stronghold, called Otipea (Bear Head; Odenpe after Henry of Livonia). The bear can be seen on the flag and the coat of arms of Otepää, but it looks much milder that the bear on the coat of arms of Vändra, the other "bear town" of Estonia.

A permanently settled stronghold of ancient Ugandi County was already established by the 7th-8th century at Otepää Linnamägi. After Tartu, this was one of the most important strongholds of the region, known also to the Pskov Russians, who came to raid the area. During the ancient fight for freedom, Otepää stronghold repeatedly changed hands. Brothers of the Order of the Sword conquered it in 1208. In 1217, the Ugandians together with the Russians attacked the Germans, who had fortified themselves there, and won the stronghold back. The Teutonic Knights finally conquered Otepää in 1224 and started to build a stone castle there. This was one of the first stone castles in South Estonia and also the oldest brick construction in Estonia. The building was begun by the Bishop of Estonia (Lihula), Hermann I von Buxhoeveden, who 10 years later became Bishop of Tartu.

The Bishop's castle was destroyed in the late 14th century by the troops of the Livonian Order, who repeatedly raided the Tartu Bishopric. The stronghold was finally abandoned after wars with Moscow in 1480-1481. Archaeologists have found a very rare object under the ruins of the castle - a bronze gun, which is one of the oldest preserved guns in the world. This muzzle-loading gun without a lock had been broken into pieces; it is now kept at the Institute of Estonian History. Some parts of the old castle walls have been excavated and they can be seen on Linnamägi.

Mediaeval Otepää had three churches - one inside the stronghold and two outside its walls for the peasants' use. A large stone cross on a hill behind Linnamägi marks the site of the first peasants' church.

The present-day Church of St Mary is located on the border of the town, beside Kanepi Road. The old church was rebuilt in the Neogothic style at the end of the 19th century. An altarpiece by the artist Albert Sprenael is worth mentioning in the interior of the church. Two bas-relief commemorative plaques devoted to the Estonian flag, made by Voldemar Mellik, are on the facade of the building. Services are held in this church only in summer and during the more important winter holidays (Christmas, Easter).

In winter, Sunday services are held in a much warmer and more comfortable so-called Winter Church, remodelled from an outbuilding of the old parsonage, the actual name of which is the Chapel of Orphans and Widows. At the traditional Otepää winter music festival, some concerts are held in the Winter Church.

A monument to fighters in the War of Independence has been erected on a hill in front of Otepää Church.

In 1996, the Estonian Flag Museum was opened at the former Otepää parsonage, displaying a permanent exhibition on the history of the Estonian flag. The blue-black-and-white flag of the Estonian Students' Society, sewn by Karl August Hermann's wife Paula, was inaugurated at Otepää Church in 1884. Hardly anybody could then guess that in 34 years, this flag would be the official flag of the Estonian Republic.

As fitting for the winter capital of Estonia, the Skiing Museum was established in Otepää in 2001, located under the same roof as the Estonian Flag Museum. The museum introduces the history of skiing in Estonia, stressing the role of famous Estonian skiers.

A monument to Jakob Hurt (1839-1907), who was the Nuustaku Pastor in 1872-1880, is standing near Otepää parsonage. In those years, he was most active in the National Awakening Movement and paid much attention to the opening of schools and equipping of them with study aids. Residing in Otepää, Hurt chaired the Learned Estonian Society and the Main Committee of the Estonian Alexander School. School life in Otepää was outstanding; the Estonian-language Pro-gymnasium, opened in 1907, was the first of its kind in Estonia. Two men from Kambja village have stood at the beginnings of education in Otepää - Adrian Virginius (1663-1706) and Ignati Jaak (1670-1744). Adrian Virginius established the first school in Otepää and invited a recent graduate of B. G. Forselius's teachers' seminar, an Estonian Ignati Jaak, to teach there.

When talking of Otepää, people often mention the so-called energy column, erected in 1992, which is supposed to catch positive cosmic energy. The site of the column - a thick tree trunk with a large cupola - in Mäe Street (the last street of the town, when we drive towards Pühajärv Lake) was chosen by people claiming to be extra sensitive. Bear figures, wrought of iron on the Smiths' Day in 1993, adorn the column. The energy column has even been mentioned in The Estonian Encyclopedia, which is expected to be a rather emotionless publication. But faith is powerful and a tree trunk could hardly catch any energy without the strong faith of those who erected it. Sceptics are, however, wondering how the energy can be drawn out from the tree trunk. In recent years, energy columns have been erected in other places, too - why should all good things happen only in Otepää.

The poet Gustav Wulff-Õis (1865-1946) spent his old age in the Lõhmuse farm by Lake Nüpli, south-east of Otepää. Every Estonian knows his lyrics to the song "Tender Nightingale" ("Õrn ööbik" and the song has become a kind of a anthem for Otepää. A small museum introducing his life and work is has been established at the Lõhmuse farm, the birthplace of Wulff-Õis's wife, the owner of which is Wulff-Õis's grandchild Mari-Ann Karupää.

Near the Otepää-Sangaste Road, 500 m off the Pühajärve Spa, stands a powerful well-branched oak - Pühajärve Sõjatamm (Pühajärve War Oak) which is about 380 years old. Its girth is about 7 m and its height about 22 m. Its name, War Oak, originates from the events of the winter of 1841, when angry peasants held war councils under the branches of the tree. The war began in the autumn of the same year.

Rumours started to spread in Livonia at the beginning of 1841 that emigrants would be given land free of charge in South Russia. In summer, numerous envoys from the peasants came to Riga to ask the provincial government for permission to emigrate, hoping to get free land in the "warm country". Governor General Pahlen, meeting the demands of the nobility, ordered that the envoys should be severely beaten and sent back home like criminals, with their heads shaved. This news spread over the whole province and general dissatisfaction grew still more.

Peasants from the vicinity of Pühajärve drew up lists of emigrants, and the local manor owner summoned soldiers to help him to cope with them. To counteract, angry peasants, armed with wooden clubs, attacked the manor on 20 September, but were thrown back by the soldiers. In December, the rebellious peasants were severely punished near the manor - each of them was whipped 500 times with twigs and 30 had to run the gauntlet - an old military punishment in that country was to send the victim, stripped to the waist, through a double line of men, each armed with a stick with which to hit him as he passed.

The movement to change faith, which ebbed only by 1848, when about a tenth of all peasants of Võrumaa, Tartumaa and Viljandimaa and about a third of those of Saaremaa had changed to the Orthodox faith, was also connected with emigration. People became Orthodox in the hope of getting free land when they adopted the faith of the Tsar.

A wooden sculpture in the park on the shore of Lake Pühajärv (Holy Lake) commemorates the historical visit of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to Lake Pühajärv and his blessing of the lake in 1991.

Driving to the south of Lake Pühajärv and turning to the south-west at Sihva, the visitor reaches the popular ski centre of Kääriku. A monument to a sports teacher of international renown, Fred Kudu (1917-1988), who initiated the building of this recreation and sports centre, has been erected in Kääriku.

A 15 km long hiking and ski trail, known as the Kekkonen Trail starts from the Kääriku ski stadium. The President of Finland at that time, Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, skied the trail in 1964, partly to escape his KGB minders. Since that time, a traditional Kekkonen Ski Event is held there annually on the first Sunday of March. Harimägi, one of the highest hills of the Otepää Upland with a sightseeing tower; stands 3 km southwest of Kääriku. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (1793-1864), an astronomer and geodesist of international fame, conducted geodetic surveying on Harimägi in 1816-1819. He built a triangulation tower, the stone base of which can still be seen there.

Hellenurme Manor Ensemble is located north-west of Otepää; from 1850, it belonged to the von Middendorfs. The Baroque mansion was built in the second half of the 18th century; a number of outbuildings are also intact. Young Jakob Hurt worked as a tutor with the von Middendorffs. Now the mansion, surrounded by a rich and beautiful park, houses a kindergarten and a home for the elderly.

About a kilometre west of the mansion, in a small park around a chapel, is the family cemetery of the von Middendorfs, where lie the graves of an outstanding scholar, Alexander Theodor von Middendorff and his son, Ernst von Middendorff.

A member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences, A. T. von Middendorff (1815-1894) was one of the best-known scientists of Baltic-German origin of the 19th century. He was an explorer; who studied the distribution of animal species. Together with K. E. Von Baer he visited Lapland and the Kola Peninsula and in 1842-1845, he led an expedition to North Siberia and the Far East. During his travels to Novaya Zemlya and the coasts of Iceland, he conducted meteorological and hydrological measurements, which are now of great value. A. T. von Middendorff is considered to be the founder of ecological zoogeography; birds and their migration was his special interest. In addition to nature studies, he was also engaged in agriculture, participating in the breeding of Estonian red cattle and the Tori horse. Several plant and animal species have been named after him, also a bay on the Taimyr Peninsula and a cape on Novaya Zemlya. His elder son Ernst (1851-1916), who was one of the best-known ornithologists of his time, inherited from his father his interest and love for nature.

Calvin Stark

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