Puhtu Peninsula
| Puhtu Peninsula | ||
 On the Baltic Sea beach |
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| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 58 ° 34 '0 " N , 23 ° 33' 0" E | |
| Waters 1 | Gulf of Riga | |
 Nature on the peninsula |
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The Puhtu peninsula (Estonian Puhtu poolsaar ; historical German name Pucht ) is located in the west of the Republic of Estonia in the Pärnu district . It forms the southeastern tip of the Virtsu peninsula. The distance to the ferry port Virtsu (German Werder ) is about two kilometers.
description
The Holm Puchten (or Holm zum Pucht ; Estonian Puhtulaid ) emerged from the sea around 2000 years ago. It was first mentioned in a document in 1478. At that time the area belonged to the noble Baltic German family Uexküll . The former island only became a peninsula in the 19th century when the land was uplifted. Previously, the area was connected to the mainland by a stone dam.
The area of Puhtu is now about ninety hectares. Mixed forest prevails on the species-rich peninsula . The nature on the edge of the Baltic Sea serves around 160 different bird species as nesting and resting places. Puhtu is on the migration route of many arctic birds such as long-tailed ducks , loons , common scoters and velvet ducks , which rest there. The area is part of the extensive Puhtu-Virtsu-Kaitseala protected area .
colonization
In the first half of the 18th century the first buildings on Puhtu and a park in the Dutch style were built. The owner of the nearby estate of Vana-Virtsu , District Administrator Carl Thure von Helwig (1741–1810), had a complex with summer houses built in Chinese style for himself and his family on the peninsula at the end of the 18th century. From 1797, there were also avenues lined with sculptures, which the patron of art and culture had created. In addition, Carl Thure von Helwig set up a family cemetery in the east of Puhtu.
During the First World War , the tsarist army used the bay as a take-off and landing pad for seaplanes. The military lived in the German-Baltic summer houses. When they withdrew, they destroyed numerous buildings and the graves of the von Helwig family.
After the founding of the Republic of Estonia, Baron Jakob Johann von Uexküll (1864–1944) acquired Puhtu in 1927 . He was one of the most famous zoologists of his time. Between 1929 and 1939 he regularly spent the summer months on Puhtu. He had a summer house built on the southern tip of the peninsula. In autumn 1989 his grandson Carl Wolmar Jakob von Uexküll (* 1944), the founder of the Right Livelihood Award , inaugurated a plaque in Estonian and German for his grandfather at the Biology Station in Puhtu.
In 1934 Jakob Johann von Uexküll won the hobby ornithologist Count Alexander von Keyserlingk (1895–1995) as administrator of Puhtu. He lived there until 1939. He was best known for breeding pheasants and nutria .
In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II , the Estonian government placed Puhtu under nature protection. After the war, Puhtu was subordinated to the State University of Tartu , and a short time later to the Academy of Sciences . She opened an ornithological observation station on the peninsula. A plaque has been commemorating the founder of the station, the Estonian biologist Eerik Kumari (1921–1984), since 1987. A bird watching tower was built in the 1960s.
The Puhtu Peninsula has been part of the Matsalu National Park since 1995 . The ornithological station has been operated by the Estonian University of Environmental Sciences ( Eesti Maaülikool ) since 1997 .
The Puhtu guest house offers overnight accommodation for bird watchers.
Schiller monument
In 1813, Carl Thure von Helwig's youngest daughter, Dorothea Augusta von Rosen (born von Helwig, 1781–1826), had a memorial for Friedrich Schiller erected in the forest of Puhtu . Schiller had been a family friend. The design is still from Carl Thure von Helwig. In 1905 it was renovated on the 100th anniversary of the poet's death.
The small monument is the oldest surviving Schiller monument in the world.
The monument was badly damaged during World War II and restored in 1958. The original is since 1991 the Läänemaa Muuseum of Haapsalu . In 1958 a copy was placed at the original site.
The original memorial, which can be seen today in the Läänemaa Museum, bears the inscription:
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Front:
- The memory
- Friedrichs v. Schiller
- Germany's sublime
- Poet and darling of
- Muses, dedicated 1813.
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Back:
- Poetry is enough for you
- their property rights
- swings with you
- to eternal stars.
- With a glory she has
- surround you
- You create for the heart, you
- will live immortally.
The text on the back is a slightly modified quote from Schiller's drama " The Maid of Orleans ".
photos
The so-called Baron House from the 1920s, today the main building of the biological station
The sentry box, the so-called Count's House from the 1850s
Biological station laboratory building from the 1960s
Sculpture garden
Information board
Blooming wild garlic
Web links
- Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)
- History and nature (Estonian, German, English)
- History and description (Estonian)
- Schiller Monument by Puhtu (Estonian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.virtsu.ee/puhtu.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Thea Karin: Estonia. Cultural and scenic diversity in a historical borderland between east and west. Cologne 1994 (= DuMont art and landscape guide ) ISBN 3-7701-2614-9 , p. 298
- ↑ http://www.zbi.ee/puhtu/index.html
- ↑ Other sources name Wilhelmine von Helwig, who is said to have been Carl Thure von Helwig's widow
- ↑ In August 1805, the year Schiller died, Elisabeth Dorothea von Gersdorf (1759–1844) is said to have erected an obelisk in memory of Schiller on Gut Helme ; it was destroyed in the middle of the 19th century.
