Massu (Lääneranna)
Coordinates: 58 ° 39 ' N , 23 ° 37' E
Massu (German Massau ) is a village ( Estonian küla ) in the rural municipality of Lääneranna in Pärnu County (until 2017: rural municipality of Hanila in Lääne County ) in Estonia .
description
The place has 35 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2011). It is north of Kõmsi . The distance to Haapsalu is 32 kilometers.
There is a boulder made of gneiss near the village . It has been under state protection since 1937. Its circumference is 16.8 m.
Castle
The castle of Massu ( Massu linnus ) has been documented since the 13th century . The fortification, which was originally protected by an eight to ten meter high ring wall , was built on flat land. The oval courtyard was 55 to 65 meters in diameter. Archaeologists estimate the origin of the settlement to be in the second half of the first millennium BC.
There is not much to see of the former castle today. Most of it is overgrown. The remains of the ring wall were removed in 1972/73 and used to build the local collective farm .
Good from Massu
The village and estate of Massu were probably founded in the early 16th century. In 1596, at the time of the Swedish rule over Estonia, they were first mentioned in a document. From 1765 to 1837 at the latest, the estate belonged to the noble Baltic German family Pistohlkors . Then the von Bremen family bought it . They began with the representative expansion of the property and the outbuildings.
Today's Massu Manor ( Massu mõis ), like most of the outbuildings, was built in the first half of the 19th century. The representative building was built from stone in the classicism style. The central part is adorned by a portico made up of eight columns. The house is surrounded by 5.6 hectares of English style park . Opposite the manor house is the stately designed dairy , which is also adorned by a portico.
After the expropriation in the course of the Estonian land reform in 1919, the local school was housed in the manor house. It was closed in 1974. Today the property is privately owned.
Sons and daughters of the village
The most famous son of the place is the Estonian writer Jaan Oks (1884–1918). From 1905 he worked for a few months as a teacher at the School of Massu, founded in 1859.
literature
- Baltic historical local dictionary. Part 1: Estonia (including Northern Livonia). Started by Hans Feldmann . Published by Heinz von zur Mühlen . Edited by Gertrud Westermann . Cologne, Vienna 1985 (= sources and studies on Baltic history. Volume 8/1), ISBN 3-412-07183-8 , p. 342.
Web links
- Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)
- Description (Estonian)
- Well of Massu (Estonian)