Viinistu

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Viinistu is a fishing village in the Kuusalu rural community in Harju County, Estonia . It has 169 inhabitants (as of 2006).

history

Viinistu is located on the Gulf of Finland . The first written information about Wynest comes from the year 1372. The German name Finnisdorf mentioned in a later document indicates a settlement by Finnish fishermen. In 1643, 24 families of very different nationalities lived in the village (Estonians, Finns, Swedes and Russians). The Northern War and the imported plague decimated the population considerably. It did not recover until the 19th century. Before the outbreak of World War II , about 500 people lived in Viinistu. After Soviet deportations and war events in October 1944, only 146 inhabitants remained.

For centuries the main line of business was fishing. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the population also made good money smuggling alcohol into Finland, which was prohibited by prohibition . Especially after the First World War, it was a question of German goods that were brought to Estonia via Memel . In 1924, Sweden , Finland and the Baltic states signed an international treaty that prohibited the trade in alcohol on the Baltic Sea .

During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, in connection with the industrialization of the nearby town of Loksa, an oversized fish kolkhoz was built in Viinistu.

Viinistu Art Museum

The Estonian-Swedish businessman and art patron Jaan Manitski , born in Viinistu, bought the town's bankrupt collective farm in 1998 . In 2002 he opened the private art museum Viinistu in the renovated buildings. It shows the large collection of Estonian art that Jaan Manitski has amassed. The special focus is on the Baltic German " Düsseldorfer Schule ", the Tartu artist group Pallas and more recent Estonian art. In addition, Manitski had the old kolkhoz boiler house converted into a concert hall, founded a summer theater and built a restaurant and hotel. From there you can take excursions to the offshore island of Mohni .

people

  • Aleksander Warma (1890–1970), politician in exile, head of state of the Republic of Estonia in exile from 1963 to 1970
  • Jaan Manitski (* 1942), businessman, politician (1992 Foreign Minister) and patron of the arts

Web links

  • Viinistu Art Museum website (Estonian)

Coordinates: 59 ° 39 '  N , 25 ° 45'  E