Pirita

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Location of Pirita in Tallinn
Pirita monastery church with grave slabs
Exterior of the nave of St. Brigitten's Monastery
Cloister and farm building of the Pirita Monastery (excavated and secured), background of the new Brigittenkonvent

Pirita (German Brigitten, sometimes also St. Brigitten ) is a suburb of Tallinn in the northeast on the Tallinn Bay (Estonian Tallinna laht ) . There you will find the Olympic marina built for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow - today a sailing center - and the ruins of the medieval Saint Birgit Monastery. The architecture and the layout of the Olympic Center in Kiel-Schilksee served as a model for the Soviet builders when building the marina . This is where the Pirita jõgi flows into the Baltic Sea , where the 1980 Olympic sailing competitions took place.

population

According to the last census in 2011, Pirita has a population of 16,165. The Estonian-speaking residents predominate with 76.8%. The Russian-speaking population is 20.9%, less than half of the average in Tallinn.

Townships

Pirita is divided into nine districts: Iru , Kloostrimetsa , Kose , Laiaküla , Lepiku , Maarjamäe , Mäh , Merivälja and Pirita .

Attractions

Pirita, located on the northeast side of the Tallinn Bay on the Baltic Sea, is a popular destination for Estonians in summer because of its extensive sandy beach. The place played an important role in the history of Estonia.

The beach of Pirita - middle Olympic harbor from 1980 - half right silhouette of Tallinn

Birgitten Monastery

On the river Pirita , not far from the coast, there are the ruins of the monastery of the Birgittenordens from 1436. The nave with front and gable sides, several tombstones and many old tombstones in the associated cemetery with a hexagonal chapel have been preserved. In more recent times the foundations and remains of the wall of the cloister and the farm and accommodation buildings have been excavated and secured.

At its heyday, this was the largest church building in Northern Europe; Destroyed in the Livonian War in 1577, only the ruins remained. Next to the historic monastery grounds there is a new women's convent, which was built from the yellowish-gray limestone typical of this region.

Since 2005 the monastery has been the venue for the annual Birgitta Festival music festival , whose artistic director is the Estonian conductor Eri Klas .

  • Ruins of the St. Brigitten Monastery

  • The remains of the chapel and cemetery of the Brigittenkloster

  • Ruins of the St. Brigitten Monastery

  • New construction of the St. Brigittenkloster

  • Singers Festival Square

Singers Festival Square

Another cultural monument of Estonia is located southwest of Pirita, the Lauluväljak (German song place ). The Estonians gather here every five years for a big song festival . The current singing stage is an example of Estonian modern architecture, it was designed by Henno Sepmann together with Alar Kotli and Endel Paalmann in 1959.

The tradition of chant as a reminder and a path to insurrection - functions of singing that have faded in the rest of Europe - have helped Estonians reassert themselves of their endangered cultural identity. Their songs, which were banned by the Soviets and were heard again for the first time in 1988, had a corresponding significance, along with the demand for national independence. The regaining of state sovereignty in the Baltic states went down in history under the heading of the Singing Revolution .

Maarjamäe (Marienberg)

The Maarjamäe manor ( Marienberg in German ) is also to the southwest of Pirita . For most of its history it belonged to the Russian aristocratic Davydov-Orlov family. Today there is a museum with exhibits from Estonian history from the Baltic German period to Stalinism . There are Soviet and German military cemeteries nearby .

Metsakalmistu cemetery

The Tallinn Forest Cemetery is located northeast of Pirita . Numerous Estonian artists and politicians are buried on it.

nature

In the coastal area of ​​the Pirita district , the river of the same name flows into the Baltic Sea. In its final kilometers, the river crosses a nature reserve (Estonian: Pirita jõeoru maastikukaitseala ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on the mother tongue per settlement unit according to the 2011 census , accessed on October 23, 2013

Web links

Commons : Pirita  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 59 ° 28 '  N , 24 ° 50'  E