Alatskivi Castle ( et, Alatskivi loss, german: Schloss Allatzkiwwi) is a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

castle in

Alatskivi Alatskivi (german: Allatzkiwwi) is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Peipsiääre Parish Tartu County Estonia. It was the administrative centre of Alatskivi Parish. Alatskivi has around 390 population by 2015 with 128 square kilometers land. The ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Dating to the 17th century, it is situated in

Peipsiääre Parish Peipsiääre Parish is a rural municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. Settlements ;Towns: Kallaste ;Small boroughs: Kasepää - Kolkja - Varnja ;Villages: Savka - Sipelga Religion Gallery Varnja.JPG, Main street of Varnja Varnja i ...

Tartu County Tartu County ( et, Tartu maakond or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of t ...

. It was rebuilt in the late 19th century by Baron Arved von Nolcken, modeled on the

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

residence of Balmoral in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. A renovation occurred between 2005 and 2011. Five rooms on the first floor house the

Eduard Tubin Eduard Tubin ( – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer. Life Tubin was born in Torila, Tartu County, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his parents were music lovers, and his fat ...

museum, which documents his accomplishments as a music composer and conductor. Alatskivi Castle is surrounded by various ancillary buildings and a forested park of 130 hectares (320 acres) area, the largest in

. The park contains many

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

es,

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

s and an approach road lined with linden trees.

Location

Alatskivi Castle is located north of

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

and from

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. It is built on the high bank of Lake Alatskivi at the foot of the Alatskivi valley. An arched entrance leads to the castle along a road lined with linden trees.

History

The earliest mention of the manor was in 1601. King Gustav Adolf II of Sweden gave it to his secretary, Johan Adler Salvius, in 1628. In 1642, its ownership passed on to

Hans Detterman Cronman Joachim Cronman (c.1640 – March 5, 1703) was an owner of estates in Livonia and a colonel for the Swedish Empire. He was the Commandant of the Neumünde redoubt/fortlet (skans in Swedish). Biography Joachim Cronman was the son of Hans Dett ...

(c.1600-c.1645). In 1753, it was purchased by the Stackelbergs and inherited by the Nolckens in 1870. Baron Arved George de Nolcken (1845–1909) rebuilt the castle between 1876 and 1885 according to his own designs, influenced by the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

used for Queen Victoria's

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

in Scotland, which he had visited in 1875. After nationalization occurred in 1919, the castle complex was taken over by the government under the Ministry of Agriculture and became a school, cavalry barracks, state controlled farm land, council offices, cinema and library. It has been fully refurbished to its original form based on the original pictures of the aristocracy and their descendants who resided here. After the 2011 restoration, the castle was opened to the public with the Alatskivi Castle Foundation administrating the castle and the manor complex.

Features

The writer Ain Hinsberg refers to the manor house having been designed as a mock-English castle. The castle is built to an asymmetrical plan, with single- and double-storied wings, turrets and a slate roof. The building has both single- and double-storied floors. It hosts seminars, training programmes and small conferences, and is fitted with three meeting rooms and dining facilities. Completed in 2011, the

Museum is located in five rooms on the first floor of the castle. The main feature is devoted to the life and work of Eduard Tubin who was one of Estonia's most esteemed composers. The initial exhibits are of members of the Tartu school who studied with Tubin, including

Heino Eller Heino Eller (7 March 1887 – 16 June 1970) was an Estonian composer and pedagogue, known as the founder of contemporary Estonian symphonic music. Life Eller was born in Tartu, where he took private lessons in violin and music theory, played ...

Eduard Oja Eduard Oja (17 January 1905 in Palupõhja – 16 April 1950 in Tartu) was an Estonian composer, conductor, music teacher and critic. His father was a forest warden. Between 1919 and 1925 he studied at Tartu Teachers' College at Tartu University ...

Alfred Karindi Alfred Karindi (30 May 1901 – 13 April 1969) was an Estonian organist and composer. Life and work Alfred Karindi was born on 30 May 1901 in the village of Kõnnu, Illuka Parish. In 1920 he entered the Tartu Higher School of Music where he ...

Olav Roots Olav Roots (26 February 1910 – 30 January 1974) was an Estonian conductor, pianist and composer. Roots was born in Uderna. He studied at the Music School of Tartu from 1923 to 1928, studying piano with Artur Lemba and composition under H ...

, and

Karl Leichter Karl Leichter (13 October 1902 in Näpi, Rakvere Parish – 7 March 1987 in Tallinn) was an Estonian musicologist. He graduated in 1929 in theory and composition, studying under Heino Eller with pupils such as Eduard Tubin, Alfred Karindi, ...

. Tubin's music scores, manuscripts, books, records, films and photos, musical instruments, records, books, and sketches of theatre costumes are all part of the display. The museum also houses a large-scale model of the castle and plays the music of Tubin.

Manor Park

The large Manor Park consists of oaks, ashes, maples, alders and an approach road lined with linden trees, some trees being grown on terraces. It is the largest in the Tartu County. A hiking track is laid through the park and the Alatskivi Landscape Conservation Area. There are two artificial reservoirs along the Alatskivi River. There is a large boulder at the extreme end of the park in Kõdesi Forest where

Apollo Belvedere The ''Apollo Belvedere'' (also called the ''Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere'', or ''Pythian Apollo'') is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity. The ''Apollo'' is now thought to be an original Roman creation of Hadrianic ...

's statue existed in the past, although the statue has been moved to Kadriorg Park in

. The main castle is surrounded by many stone buildings. During the 19th century, the manor had 57 buildings, of which 41 remain. These are grouped in four areas connected by roads. The first contains the castle, coaching house and cheese cellar; the second, the economic circle, contains the laundry, kitchen, stables and sheds; the third or border circle, contains the barn, mills, church and cemetery; the outer fourth circle contains the Apollo Belvedere statue and the final resting place of the Estonian folklore figure

Kalevipoeg ''Kalevipoeg'' (, ''Kalev's Son'') is a 19th century epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald which has since been considered the Estonian national epic. Origins In pre-Christian ancient Estonia there existed an oral tradition of legends e ...

Gallery

Alatskivi cactle inside 05.jpg, Interior Chandelier alatskivi cactle.jpg, Chandelier Alatskivi cactle inside 04.jpg, Exhibition Alatskivi mõisa peahoone õhust edela nurk.JPG, Castle from above Alatskivi mõisa peahoone õhust kirde nurk.JPG, Castle from above

References

External links

* {{Castles in Estonia Houses completed in 1885 Castles in Estonia Buildings and structures in Tartu County Peipsiääre Parish Manor houses in Estonia Kreis Dorpat Museums in Estonia Tourist attractions in Tartu County