Maarjamäe

The Maarjamäe (red) district in the Pirita (yellow) district of Tallinn

Maarjamäe (German Marienberg ) is a district ( Estonian asum ) of the Estonian capital Tallinn . The city district is colloquially called Orlovi .

Description and history

Maarjamäe has 2,097 inhabitants (as of May 1, 2010). The municipality is located in the Pirita district .

The area was previously called Strietberg or Streitberg . The name comes from a medieval battle between the Teutonic Order and Russian troops that took place at the gates of Tallinn.

The oldest evidence of settlement goes back to the 17th century. In earlier times there were some summer manors there, but they are no longer preserved. In 1811 the entrepreneur Johan Gottlieb Clementz founded a sugar factory, which ceased operations in 1837. A little later, the industrialist Christian Rotermann built an alcohol and starch factory. In 1861, the region's first steam-powered mill went into operation in Maarjamäe. In 1869 Rotermann's factory burned down.

The district developed into a popular excursion area on the Baltic Sea beach for Russians, Estonians and Baltic Germans in the 19th century . In 1820 the Russian writer Nikolai Karamzin set up a salon that attracted numerous artists from the Russian Empire.

Today, numerous new apartments for the Estonian middle class are being built at the favorable location close to the city in close proximity to the Baltic Sea.

Maarjamäe Castle

Maarjamäe Castle was built in 1874 by Count Anatoli Orlow-Dawidow (1837-1905) from Petersburg . The architect of the historicist style summer residence near the Baltic Sea was the Petersburg builder Robert Gödicke . The Orlov family emigrated to France after the October Revolution .

After the establishment of the Republic of Estonia, the residence of the Dutch envoy was housed in the castle. From 1932 the castle housed the sophisticated Hotel-Restaurant Reviera-Palais with its well-known revue programs. In 1937 the Estonian Air Force bought the property. With the Soviet occupation in 1940 it became the property of the Red Army . Communal apartments and communal kitchens were later set up there. The building fell into disrepair.

In 1975 the government of the Estonian SSR decided to set up a museum dedicated to the Soviet history of Estonia in the castle. The planned museum should complement the monumental Soviet memorial in Maarjamäe, which was built in the immediate vicinity of the castle. The renovation work in the castle dragged on from 1983 to 1988, so that the museum could no longer start its work during the Soviet occupation of Estonia.

In the central hall of the castle there is still an oversized, four-sided mural in the style of socialist realism . The work from 1987 is entitled Rahvaste sõprus (“The Friendship of Peoples”). The creator is the Estonian painter Evald Okas .

Today the modern Estonian History Museum ( Eesti Ajaloomuuseum ) is located in the castle . In addition to a permanent exhibition on Estonian history since the 19th century, there are also temporary exhibitions. A special part of the museum has been dedicated to the first Estonian President Konstantin Päts since 1995 . In addition, the life stories of the other heads of state of the Republic of Estonia are presented. The Estonian Film Museum ( Eesti filmi muuseum ) is also located on the castle grounds . Monumental Soviet sculptures that were erected in Estonia between 1945 and 1990 can be seen in the palace park.

Monuments and memorials

Soviet memorial

The monumental Soviet memorial Tallinn-Maarjamäe is the largest cenotaph for the Red Army in Estonia. The gigantic but unfinished facility is located on the limestone slope Maarjamägi. It is located on the road between the center of Tallinn and Pirita, which runs along the Baltic Sea . Until Estonian independence was regained, the facility was known as the “Friendship Park” ( Rahvaste sõpruse park ).

Already during the first Soviet occupation of Estonia (1940/41) plans arose to build a memorial in Maarjamäe. The remains of some Soviet soldiers were buried here.

During the German occupation of Estonia (1941–1944) around 3,000 to 4,000 German dead and some Estonians were buried in Maarjamäe. The German occupation forces had previously exhumed the Soviet corpses. Their whereabouts are still unknown today. With the second Soviet occupation of Estonia, the Soviet authorities leveled the German military cemetery.

The Soviet authorities began building the pompous memorial ( Maarjamäe memoriaal ) in the 1950s. The extensive complex includes numerous iron and concrete monuments commemorating the fallen Soviet soldiers of World War II.

In the center of the complex is a 35-meter high obelisk from dolomite . It was created in 1960 by the Estonian architect Mart Port . The obelisk, which is decorated with bronze reliefs by Lembert Tolli , is reminiscent of the so-called ice march of the Baltic Fleet . With the advance of the imperial German troops on Tallinn, the tsarist army evacuated its naval troops from the Estonian capital to Kronstadt . The obelisk can also be clearly seen from the Baltic Sea.

The actual plans to erect a memorial “For the Fighters of Soviet Power” could only be provisionally concluded in 1975, fifteen years later. Between 1959 and 1975, paths with sloping walls clad in dolomite and grass-covered embankments were built into the landscape that rise above the connecting road between Tallinn and Pirita. The complex is contrasted by nature and the sea.

The central square for ceremonies and flowers stoppages in 1975 by the Estonian architect Allan Murdmaa with the help of Peep Jänes , Rein Kersten , Henno Sepmann , the artist Jüri Palm and engineering Vello Hüdsi in concrete reality. A huge, raised handprint has broken out of a dolomite wall as a symbol of mourning. It is dedicated to those "who fought for the freedom of Estonia". The complex is framed by grandstands. During the existence of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic , an eternal flame burned between pylons for the victims of the war. Granite blocks with the names of fallen heroes are placed on the main axis of the facility .

The plans for a large “open-air cathedral” dedicated to the Estonian history of the 19th and 20th centuries from the Soviet perspective did not go beyond sketches. The project ended with the Singing Revolution in the late 1980s .

Today the Soviet memorial is in a state of disrepair.

German war cemetery

Tallinn-Maarjamäe German War Cemetery

The German war cemetery Tallinn-Maarjamäe (“Reval-Marienberg”) is located behind the Soviet memorial. The 27,000 m² site was designed by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and inaugurated on September 12, 1998.

In addition to a 5.50 m high stone cross, there are 24 lying tablets with the information of the more than 2,000 German soldiers resting here. The grave fields are marked with 25 groups of crosses made of natural stone.

The boundaries to the surrounding area are open so that the war cemetery fits harmoniously into the landscape.

Memorial to the victims of the Soviet Union

In 2018 a "Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet Union" was inaugurated near the Soviet memorial. It is considered one of the central Estonian memorials.

Memorial to the 1944 defensive battles

Estonian-German memorial for the "defensive battles 1944"

Next to the “Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet Union”, a monument was erected in 1991 to commemorate the battles of Estonian and German troops against the Red Army in 1944.

Estonian Security Academy

The Estonian Security Academy ( Sisekaitseakadeemia ), founded in 1992, is located in Maarjamäe . The state university mainly trains Estonian police officers, border guards, judicial officers and tax investigators. The student dormitories and numerous sports facilities are located on the spacious grounds.