Laane-Viru, Estonia

WEST-VIRU COUNTY

GENERAL DATA

West-Viru County is situated in the northern part of Estonia, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Area of West-Viru County is 3465 km², length of the coastline

POPULATION

Population of the county is 70,592 (01.01.2002). Regarding the size of population, West-Viru is the fifth largest county in Estonia.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION

There are 18 units of self-governments in West-Viru County: 4 urban municipalities (towns) and 14 rural municipalities.

NATURE

Protected areas in West-Viru County: 12 landscape reserves, 3 state nature protection areas (partly in the county), Lahemaa National Park 34,647 ha, Pandivere Water Protection Area 234,509 ha , Endla State Nature Protection Area 307 ha.

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the sea in the history of Virumaa, as there is hardly a sphere of life that has not felt its influence. For centuries Estonians have caught their staple food, the Baltic herring, from the sea. Both expected and unexpected visitors have arrived from the sea.

Rutja

The development of the Estonian culture and population has been directed and influenced by the sea. According to the common law, every kind of profit gained from the sea is lawful and so the profession of coast watchers is well-known since ancient times: he was a man, who kept watch on a high shore, lit signal fires, informed about ship accidents and the arrival of the enemy, observed the movements of fish shoals. The villages were situated away from the coastline then, because of the lack of farmland near the sea and also to avoid the frequent looting raids from the ships. Fish was mainly caught from inland waters, coastal fishing took place only during the spring and autumn seasons.

The connections between the coast of Finland and Virumaa are thought to have started in the 12th century already. The sea offered much better transport opportunities than the mainland, with its poor road conditions, and besides that, a boat could carry a heavier load than a horse and carriage. The scientists think that it was the close communication by the sea that united all the Baltic Sea nations into one cultural region, thus the European influences reached Virumaa via Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

Rakvere, Vallimäe Castle

Trading between Finland and Virumaa, or the so-called friendly trade, began in the 13th century in Virolahti region. A score of Estonian place names on the Finnish coast show that a number of Estonians moved to live overseas and the other way round (for example, the original name of the Estonian village Käsmu is the Finnish Kesamo). Besides the widespead trading of the Baltic herring for bread, Estonians also brought coffee, matches, leather and tobacco from Finland and took potatoes, apples etc. back there. The main trading articles in the middle of the last century were spirits and salt, the smuggling of those two goods generated wealth and encouraged entrepreneurship. Fishermen became smugglers, smugglers became ship-owners. The first ships were bought from Finland, later on they were built on the Virumaa coast. Now the men were mostly engaged in honest trading: fuel was taken to Tallinn, bricks and cement to Helsinki and St. Petersburg. The first experiences in seafaring were gathered on the ships of the lord of the manor, where the peasants did their day`s work of unpaid labour, ploughing the sea instead of the land.

Founding of the Nautical School in 1884 in Käsmu gave a new impetus to the development of maritime activities in Virumaa, and many local seamen were educated here. By the turn of the century Virumaa coast had become the most important centre of ship-building in Northern Estonia. The first ship-builders were Finnish, but later on they were outdone by the skills of the shipwrights from the Estonian island of Saaremaa. After the birth of the Republic of Estonia, the age of steamships began and by the end of the independence period, Käsmu Shipowners Ltd was the second largest among the thirty-two shipping companies in Estonia.

Thus the sea has brought work and fame to the people of Virumaa for centuries already. Let them have the strength to carry on.

Käsmu, Kuradisaar

If you take a look at the map of Estonian surface waters, it seems that the authors have forgotten to draw rivers and brooks on a part of Northern Estonia. But this is not the fault of negligent cartographers, but the result of natural processes. It is called the and is Pandivere Upland, a unique area in Estonia. The highest point here is Emumägi, 166 m above sea level. The height is not very impressive, but it is still the highest point in Northern Estonia. The Pandivere Upland, with its limestone and dolomite core, is an area where karst phenomena are most widespread in Estonia, where there is no network of surface waters on 1375 km² of land because the rainwater filters into the ground. Rainwater becomes ground water and emerges from the springs on the slopes of the upland, resulting in rivers that flow in all directions, rising from these springs.

In spring there are a lot of small lakes in the upland with swans swimming upon them. But in the same place in summer, on Assamalla meadow for example, you can see people making hay. As the area is very important for the protection of ground water, the Pandivere State Water Protection Area was set up in 1988 in the counties of West-Viru and Järva.

Limestone – the national stone of Estonia – is the most common mineral resource in the county and it can be found in the whole territory of the county, except for the part between the North-Estonian limestone bluff and the sea. Clay, that is used for cement production in Kunda is found there. Though the limestone bluff is the most attractive and some think that it is also the steepest in East-Viru county, between Ontika and Toila, only the first statement is true. The limestone bluff reaches its greatest height of 67 m in West-Viru, in the area between Sagadi and Vihula where it is several kilometres from the sea.

Vihula Manor

West-Viru county is not only rich in clay and limestone. Our most famous mineral resource is probably phosphorite that is found in two mineral deposits, at Toolse and Rakvere. The plans of the Soviet authorities to start mining phosphorite near Rakvere caused the so-called “phosphorite war”. Because of the resistance of the local people the central authorities were forced to abandon their plans that could have destroyed much of the environment in the county.

Besides peat, sand and gravel which are mined here West-Viru is rich in lake chalk. The Tapa and Estonian oilshale deposits are also situated in West-Viru county.

Returning once again to the limestone we can say that this stone has been used here from the beginning of human settlement. Our predecessors were buried in stone coffins. Castles and houses have been built from limestone and lime has been produced. In the southern part of our county, lime production has been restarted in Rakke. There is a limestone museum in the gate tower of the former bishop`s castle, in the middle of the manor of Porkuni. Porkuni manor complex, where deaf children have been educated for over 70 years, is an example of the use of limestone in manor architecture.

Sagadi Manor

The scenery of West-Viru county is one of the most varied and beautiful in Estonia. Different types of landscape follow each other in well distinguishable zones starting from the coastline and up to the southern border of the county. Every zone is characterized by specific vegetation and forests. In these different zones the way of life, the type of settlements, industry and agriculture, and everything that is based on the land, mineral resources and nature, also vary.

On the northern border the county begins with the small islands of Uhtju and Vaindloo far in the sea, then the mainland rises from the sea as stony capes or beautiful sandy beaches. An important feature of the northern coast is the Baltic limestone bluff that breaks the landscape into two – forest with poor coastal sands and farm and forest land with morains rich in lime. People living north of this line earn their living on the sea and in the south as farmers. The edge of the limestone bluff is cracked by ancient bays where numerous rivers that begin on the tableland now flow.

Rutja, Arma Horse Farm

The tableland itself, broken up by eskers and low ridges, rises slowly to the south until it reaches the Pandivere Upland. Its three peaks – Ebavere, Kellavere and Emumägi reach up to 150 meters and dominate the landscape of Eastern Estonia. Both on the northern border of the tableland and on the foot of Pandivere Upland there are marshes and moors everywhere. Between the marshes there is the hilly landscape of the county.

The lakes and rivers of the county include beautiful groups of small lakes, their origin and position connected to the eskers. But there are also waterless areas in West-Viru county, limestone regions covered with thin soil and stunted vegetation where the water disappears into karst cracks.

West-Viru county is framed by forests – Alutaguse forest in the east, the belt of Middle Estonian forests and marshes in the west, in the north the pine forests growing on the pre-limestone bluff coastal shallows and the wet peatland forests of Pedja giant valley flat.

Kunda River

As both cultivated and virgin landscapes exist side by side in the nature of the county, the flora and fauna characteristic to the two are represented everywhere. The flying squirrel still lives in the virgin forests known as “bear forests”, the golden eagle nests in the eastern marshes, the grayling spawns in the rivers fed by springs and the salmon and the salmon trout can still be found in the coastal rivers. Even the white stork has widened its area of distribution reaching the coastline of West-Viru County in Palmse and Sagadi.

Because of the expressiveness and variety of nature, Lahemaa in the western part of the county was chosen as the site for the first Estonian national park.

NATURAL RESOURCES

5 state mineral deposits. Major natural resources are phosphorite, oilshale, cement clay, cement limestone, building sand, heating peat.

IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES

cement production, construction materials, forestry and wood-processing, clothing industry, processing of agricultural products, distilleries, breweries, dairies, bread and pastry production

Kunda, Estonian Cell

The first written records about spirits in Estonia come from the 15th century. The statute of the brewing company of the Tallinn Great Guild, issued in 1484, forbade the people of Tõnismäe suburb to sell spirits in the town.

In the 18th century, great changes took place in the distillation of spirits. An end was put to the practice of illicit distilling of spirits that had been widespread among the peasants and distilleries started to play a more important part in the manors. In 1766 manors of the provinces of Livonia and Estonia were given the right to export spirits to Russia. During the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796), the lords of the manor managed to curb the distilling activities of their competitors: the clergy and the merchants. In 1774 the Council of Justice decided that in church manors, spirits may be distilled only from their own production and not from purchased grain. Still earlier, in 1755, the right of merchants to distil spirits was abolished.

Virumaa developed into a centre of the distilling industry in Northern Estonia and by the beginning of the 19th century about 3/4 of Estonian spirits were produced here. The intensity of the distillation of spirits was also the highest in Virumaa. For example, in 1805 221 buckets of pure alcohol per 100 dessiatine (270 acres) of farmland were distilled in Virumaa (175 in Harjumaa, 161 in Järvamaa and 121 in Läänemaa).

The first data about the only Estonian distilleries that are still operational now come from the end of the 18th century. Exact dates are missing for Rakvere Distillery, but we know that a distillery worked at Moe in 1794. Most of the distilleries in Virumaa had contracts to supply spirits to Russia and therefore there were no interruptions in the production. In the second half of the 19th century the development of distilleries in Northern Estonia was further supported by the new railways and the conditions for potato-growing were more favourable in the north than in Southern Estonia. In the end of 1880s steam power was among the technical innovations introduced in the Moe Distillery.

Distillation of spirits went on without any great changes until 1918 when the Republic of Estonia was declared which led to the loss of the large Russian market and the number of distilleries was reduced. Most of the remaining distilleries were closed in 1950s. The final blow to the distilling industry in Virumaa and Järvamaa was dealt by the new strict alcohol policy introduced in June 1985. Only two distilleries – Rakvere and Moe still remain in Virumaa.

CULTURE AND SPORTS

Rakvere Theatre, Local radio Viru Raadio, Newspaper “Virumaa Teataja” Newspaper “Rakvere Linna Leht”, 11 museums, 43 libraries, 27 clubs and cultural centres, 3 music schools, 42 sports organizations

The People of Virumaa Find Spiritual Strength at Vihula

Estonians must be the richest people in the world, because for every Estonian, there is a page of spiritual wealth – folklore – preserved in our museums. Over a million pages all in all. And this is a record that has been hard to break for even much larger nations.

Vihula manor has a deeper meaning to the people of Virumaa than just another manor with late baroque architecture from the 18th century and blue ponds with romantic bridges. Nowadays Vihula manor is also the symbol of Viru Säru, the first real folklore festival in Estonia. Under the trees of Vihula park the greatest and the most important wealth of the richest people in the world – our folklore or the bridge of memory – is displayed every two years.

Viru Säru is more than a party filled with dance and music. There are hundreds of people in Virumaa for whom Viru Säru has become a lifestyle, a starting point for time-keeping. “I think it happened in the summer after the fourth Säru”, they would say.

It is no problem for these people who see Säru and folklore as their lifestyle to write a poem in the form of the old Estonian folk song as a birthday present for a friend. Both Estonian and Finnish national epics have been created in this eight-stroke verse of finno-ugric origin. The age of this kind of verse can be measured in thousands of years.

These people in Virumaa who carry the ideas of Säru in their soul all the year round do not put on a tail-coat for a festive reception: they would rather wear the national costume, the most important clothes of their nation.

Long ago Viru Säru was changed from a local event into a trade mark that is recognized in the Nordic countries as well as in other parts of Europe. The organizers of Säru have realized that a nation of one million has no need to give to the world the message that our young people drink Coca-Cola and are enraptured by Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson. We should rather let the world know in a loud voice, that in the folklore festival at Vihula a dancing three-year old is joined by her great-grandmother in her eighties who has taught the old dances and lyrics of the songs that she remembers to her great-grandchild. This connection through the memory is, if you wish, the whole culture on which wise men have written thick books.

Muuga Windmill

It was the strength of our memory that allowed Estonians to resist the horrors of Soviet occupation. The oppressors could burn our books and forbid the use of the colours of our flag but they could not erase them from the memory. Neither could the foreign power clean the memory from old folk songs and the new folklore that was born on the basis of the old, and which even included the foolish party functionaries. As an old Estonian proverb says, if I put you in a newspaper, you can get out of the newspaper, but if I put you in a song, you will remain there forever. Today an anecdote born in the Soviet period is equal to a thousand-year old folk song, because both of them are memory and it is memory that makes a nation.

Those who look for peace of mind in Viru Säru must take the time out. And only when the wind sounds in harmony with the folk songs and shivers run down your spine, can you get the feeling of reaching your real home at last. A place where no deceiving politicians and fanatical euromen run around. A place where the souls of forefathers remind us – if you remember, you will exist. If you forget, you will perish…

We need this feeling and this truth about memory badly here in Estonia which is rashly trying to become American or European. That is why Vihula is a place where the people of Virumaa find spiritual strength.

Art and Artists in Virumaa

Many well-known artists have worked and lived in Virumaa. Virumaa has interesting sights left by the unknown artists of the past: castle ruins from the second half of the 13th century in Rakvere Vallimägi and Toolse; country churches in gothic style (the most remarkable of them are in Viru-Nigula, Haljala, Väike-Maarja, Viru-Jaagupi, Simuna, Kadrina and Rakvere); and large beautiful manor complexes from 17th – 19th century (Palmse, Sagadi, Vihula, Rägavere etc.).

The carved wooden altar by the greatest master of baroque sculpture in Estonia, Christian Ackermann, in Simuna church (1684) and the pulpit of Rakvere church (1690) are some of the most beautiful examples of wooden sculpture of the 17th century in Estonia.

The famous Baltic-German painter Carl Timoleon von Neff (1804-1877) was born in Mõdriku manor. He built a mansion in neo-renaissence style at Muuga to house his large collection of art. Von Neff has painted many idealized pictures of Estonian peasants.

The birthplace of the outstanding Estonian artist Kristjan Raud (1865-1943) and his twin brother Paul Raud (1865-1930) is in Kirikuküla near Viru-Jaagupi. Kristjan Raud did the famous illustrations of the anniversary edition of the national epic “Kalevipoeg”: “Building of the Castle” and “Death of Kalevipoeg” etc. The works of Paul Raud show the life of peasantry in the past century.

The well known artists Hando Mugasto, Richard Sagrits, Herald Eelmaa and Aili Vint come from Virumaa.

Today Rakvere is home to the glass artist Riho Hütt, the painter Anne Kokkov and the designer Priit Verlin. Young artists are educated in the art class at Rakvere Gymnasium and in the art courses at Kauri School. This gives substance to the hope that the art life in Virumaa will go on.

HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Rakvere Hospital (218 beds)
Tapa Hospital (60 beds)
166 doctors (incl. 35 licenced private doctors)

EDUCATION

General Education:
Elementary schools 6
Nursery schools 7
Private schools 1
Basic schools 17
Secondary schools 5
Gymnasiums 9
Evening schools 1
Vocational Training:
Vocational schools 2
Technical schools 2
Other Educational Institutions:
Special schools 3
Sports schools 1
Hobby centres 1
Children`s homes 2
Youth training centres 1

From time immemorial Estonians have held their fatherland and mother tongue sacred. Their survival on the limestone coast of Virumaa depended on the wish for the culture to live on in the children. National culture, traditions, thirst for knowledge that can be passed on from generation to generation, gave spiritual strength, and education gave self-confidence and belief in the children´s future.

Although literacy remained the privilege of a few at first, the first data about schools in Rakvere and Virumaa come from 1596, when the Rakvere Town School was founded. Reading was taught to the peasants in the middle of the 17th century. The first folk school was founded in 1687 in Haljala. In spite of the devastating wars and the plague, the schools continued their work and the literacy of the people survived. In 1765 a so-called school edict was issued that demanded the foundation of a school in every centre of parish. In the winter of 1787 there were 67 schools in Virumaa.

Rakvere Vocational School

History has made its changes but some of the manor houses are still in use as schools. There are tens of manor houses in West-Viru county where the children who will shae the fate of Estonia in the 21st century, are learning to read and write now. The manors of Kiltsi, Muuga, Lasila, Palmse and Kohala are places where the past meets the future.

In 1997 there are 61 schools in West-Viru county, but every Estonian child today has the opportunity to study and educate himself in Estonia or abroad if he is eager to do so. The world has become open for the people of Virumaa. The sea that once separated us has changed into a bridge and the Estonians are quick to use it.

School education in Virumaa is 310 years old.

Lääne-Viru College

Rakvere Vocational School

Rakvere Vocational School is the largest vocational educational institution in West-Viru County with more than thousand students at the age from 15 to 25. The main task of the school is to wider options of vocational training and create possibilities for gymnasium students to have a vocational pretraining. There are additional training and retraining for adults as well. Therefore school has to fulfil an important part of county’s occupational policy.

School has good relations with region’s largest employers, which gives an oppurtunity to organise labour’s training with the necessary skills and know-how on their professional level.

School has actively taken part in international projects (INTERREG IIIA, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, ESF). The school cooperates with German, Finnish, Swedish, Czech and Spanish vocational schools and enterprises.

On the ground of basic education there are 9 different professions to study:

• cook
• computer Service in Stores
• baker
• locksmith
• plumber
• mechanic/technician
• joiner
• sewer of light clothing
• general construction builderOn the level of secondary school there are 3 professions:
• baker
• hotel service
• catering
• 

Lääne-Viru College

Lääne-Viru College was created on the basis of Lääne-Virumaa Higher Vocational School on September 3, 2007.

We have the following applied higher educational curricula: Business Administration, Accountancy, Social work, Commercial Economics; and the following curricula providing vocational education: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Business Management, Secretarial Work, Sales Arrangement, Processing Economic Information.

The school is situated in a manor dating back to the year 1780 in Mõdriku, that is about 7 km from Rakvere. We participate in the national programme of manor schools.

The activities of the school are based on the statute.
The basic objectives are:
1. To train specialists on the basis of higher educational and vocational curricula in the field of health and welfare, social sciences, business and law, science and service.
2. To carry out applied research and developmental activities in these fields.
3. To provide re-qualification courses.

Educational activities at Mõdriku started on January 1, 1927 with training of competent housewives for farmers, so educational activities have taken place here for over 80 years.

Lääne-Viru College has unique learning environment, hostels at Mõdriku and Rakvere, a library, a sports ground and a gym.

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