Suur Munamägi Tower () is an

observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

on the top of

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

's highest hill:

Suur Munamägi Suur Munamägi (; translation 'Big Egg Mountain') is the highest peak in Estonia (and the Baltic states), reaching above sea level. It is located near the village of Haanja, in Võru County in the southeastern corner of Estonia, close to the ...

; located in

Võru County Võru County ( or ''Võrumaa''; ) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga and Põlva counties, Latvia's Alūksne and Ape municipalities, and Russia's Pskov Oblast (making it the only Estonian county to border two countries) ...

History

On the hill, there have been 5 towers. The first tower, built in 1812, is the subject of a folk legend: it was supposedly destroyed because it confused ships headed toward the coast. The second tower was built in 1870 by a local barman. The tower was high. The tower was popular amongst local people because of its bar. Only 4–5 people fit in the tower and the trees started to ruin the view. The third tower was built on the same building as the second tower. The tower was built up to . The fourth tower was built in 1925, when Estonia was an independent state. The tower was built in 3 months and it was high. The Võru county then built paths for people, cleaned the forest and put benches in front of the tower. The fourth tower was ceremonially opened on 19 July 1925. Soon after that people realized that the wooden tower was old and again the trees started blocking the view — 17 metres was not high enough. The new fifth tower was built of

ferroconcrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having ...

in 1939. The tower was made high. It was built of 36 000 bricks and 80 tons of cement which all were carried up to the mountain. The tower was finished in the same year in June but the ceremonial opening was cancelled because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The tower was not seriously harmed in war and the repair was made in 1955. The Memorial Museum of Fr.R. Kreutzwald that was at that time the owner of the tower, started to modernize the tower and fix its surroundings. In 1969 the museum built an additional floor on the top of the tower and changed the construction of the stairway on the top floors. The add-on was engineered by Toomas Rein and Veljo Kaasik. The tower was now high. The view from the height of is in radius. A renovation project of the tower was started in 1998 by Haanja parish. In 1999–2000 Toomas Rein carried it out. In 2002 the piping of the tower was engineered and completed next year. From August 2004 to July 2005 major renovation works were made on Suur Munamägi: the observation tower was renovated, the tower's elevator and glass café were built, the paths to the tower re-made, the lightning of the pedestrian path and the tower was made. The total cost of the works was 10 million kroons. The construction was financed by the EU

Phare The Phare programme is one of the three pre-accession instruments financed by the European Union to assist the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in their preparations for joining the European Union. Originally created in 1989 a ...

program, Enterprise Estonia, the Estonian government, Environmental Investment Centre, private supporters and the budget of the parish. On 24 July 2005 the renovated observation tower of Suur Munamägi was festively opened.

References

External links

* Towers in Estonia Võru County {{Estonia-struct-stub