Alexander Nikolai von Glehn (16 July 1841 in Jälgimäe Manor,

Kreis Harrien Harrien County (german: Kreis Harrien, german: Kreis Reval, et, Harju kreis, russian: Revelsky uyezd, russian: Gariensky uyezd) was one of the four counties of the Russian Empire located in the Governorate of Estonia. It was situated in the centr ...

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Governorate of Esthonia (Pre-reformed rus, Эстля́ндская губе́рнія, r=Estlyandskaya guberniya); et, Eestimaa kubermang was a governorate in the Baltic region, along with th ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– 7 September 1923 in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

), was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

landowner and public figure, most notable for being the founder of the town of

Nõmme Nõmme ( Estonian for ''"Heath"'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-cla ...

(now part of

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 ' ...

). He was born into the wealthy Glehn family, and was the brother of Peter von Glehn, a noted botanist. He studied economics, medicine, philosophy and architecture at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

and in Germany. Glehn established a new settlement called

in the northern part of the lands of his Jälgimäe Manor. In 1873 he gave out the first plots near the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

which was established a year before on the

–

Paldiski Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the Pakri Peninsula of northwestern Estonia. Since 2017, it's the administrative centre of Lääne-Harju Parish of Harju County. Previously a village of Estonia-Swedes known by the historical ...

railway (part of the Baltic Railway). In 1917 Nõmme gained the borough rights and in 1926 the

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

, but was merged with

in 1940. Glehn also built himself a new Mustamäe Manor (german: Hohenhaupt), nowadays known as the

Glehn Castle The Glehn Castle ( et, Glehni loss, also Mustamäe Manor, german: Hohenhaupt) is a castle on the hillside of Nõmme, part of Tallinn, Estonia. History The manor was designed and established by Nikolai von Glehn on the northern part of the l ...

into Nõmme. The main building ("castle") was finished in 1886 by himself being the architect. The castle is surrounded by a park with several buildings like palm house (1900–1910), observatory tower (1910) and sculptures "Kalevipoeg" (1908), "Crocodile" (1908), all of those created by Glehn himself. After a departure for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1918, he went to

to treat his ill son, Manfred von Glehn (1867-1924), in the warm climate. On 12 November 2011 a sculpture by Seaküla Simson was opened beside the footbridge in the centre of

to honor Glehn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glehn, Nikolai 1841 births 1923 deaths People from Saku Parish People from Kreis Harrien Baltic-German people Baltic nobility Estonian nobility Estonian architects Estonian landowners 19th-century landowners 20th-century landowners University of Tartu alumni