7. Tartu - Nõo - Luke - Vapramäe - Elva

Külitse - Ropka lake - Luke manor - Nõo church - Tõravere Observatory - Vapramägi - Peedu Kerikmägi - Vellavere - Elva

37 km

We leave Tartu driving along Riia street which is the beginning of the Tartu-Valga road being one of the oldest in Estonia. The distance from Tartu to Elva is 28 km, the total length of our route will be about 50 km.

At the distance of 4 km from the centre of Tartu we reach Lemmatsi. In the 18th century there was a Lemmatsi dairy-farm belonging to the Karlova estate. As a result of the land reform in independent Estonia, the estate was divided into smaller peasant farms. In 1941, when the war had already begun, the workers of Tartu were forced by the Russian troops to start digging an anti-tank trench (depth - 3 m, width - 4 m, length - 800 m). The Soviet commanders hoped to defend Tartu from the German tank attack. During German occupation the trench became a place of genocide and a common grave. Each day lorries from the German concentration camp in Näituse street brought innocent people here. The anti-tank trench is the grave of 12,000 victims. In 1964 a monument to the victims of fascism was erected (sculptor E. Rebane, architect V. Tamm) and a park was laid out. The monument is a 16 m-long and a 4 m-high wall with nine mourning figures.

In the distance we see a moraine plain stretching to the primeval valleys of Aardla in the east, of Tatra in the south. The plain is cultivated. Soon we reach the village of Külitse where the 24 km-long Ilmatsalu river flows. Near Kärevere it flows into the Suur-Emajõgi. Lake Ropka (depth 1.2-1.5 m) is not far from Külitse. In summer the water is exceptionally warm and attracts holiday-makers from Tartu.

We reach Nõo. At the corner of the graveyard a village road to our left takes us to two lakes in the flat valley. The lakes of Nõo Karujärv, both Large Karujärv and Small Karujärv have swampy shores and muddy bottoms. According to legends the bears ("karu" in Estonian) are involved in the making of lakes. One legend tells us that there had been a bear forest where bears were always fighting with each other. The god became angry, wanted to separate them and poured rainwater on them. The rain was so heavy that it covered the bear forest to make two lakes. Another legend tells us that a huge Bruin had once drowned in the lake. Still another explains that the lakes are full of bears' tears. In the land auditing documents of Livonia from 1638 the lake of Karujärv is mentioned Ajameggejerwe.

We cross the Unipiha road and soon reach the manor of Luke. One of the oldest feudal estates in Estonia was first mentioned in 1557. Johann von Löwenwolde had established it in 1299. During the Livonian War it was fully destroyed. In 1600 it belonged to the Bürgermeister Kretzmar from Tartu, but in the same year it was given back to the family of Löwenwolde. From the middle of the 19th century until 1920 when it was expropriated, the estate belonged to the family of Knorring. The servants' house from the second half of the 19th century and the eclectic gardener's house from the beginning of the 20th century deserve attention. The park with Baroque elements is also of interest. There are cascading ponds, lime alleys, sculptures, hedges, decorative elms, pyramidal oaks and theyas which beautify the park. A lime-tree labyrinth is something special. At the end of the lime alley there had been a life-size figure of Eve, only a foundation has survived. The park which was completed by 1898 is until today the park having the best planning in the county of Tartumaa.

From Luke we move on to the borough of Nõo. It is situated at the sides of the old road and this is one of the reasons why Nõo has suffered much in all the wars. In the ancient times the present area belonged to the parish of Tarbatu (Tartu) - Provincia Tharbitensis. Nõo was first mentioned as Nughen in 1319, as a separate parish in 1483. Today the borough consists of the village of Nõo and the Vana- and Vastse-Nõo estates which were founded in the 18th century. The most important architectural monument is the three-naved 13th century hall church built in the middle or the end of the 13th century. St. Laurentius' church, first mentioned in 1559, has survived, inspite of several wars, in its original shape. At first the church belonged to the bishop's dome council of Tartu, in the 15th century a parish church and one hundred years later it was a popular destination of pilgrimages. Several architectural elements of the church (decorative ribbed vaults of the choir, cross-shaped cross-sections of pillars) remind us of the churches in Rhineland and Westphalia. According to chronicles already in 1781 there was an organ in the church of Nõo. It was exceptional, in other rural churches organs were not yet installed. The present organ dates back to 1890. The bells of the church are also old - the bigger one was cast in Gatsina in 1807, the smaller one in Tartu in 1817. The altar piece "Golgotha" by Tõnis Grenzstein (1895) and wood-carvings of altar reliefs by Jaan Koort (1910) deserve attention.

From Nõo we come back to the Tartu-Valga road and at the distance of 4 km we can make a right turn off the main road and move in the direction of the hill of Tuulemäe. We face the borough of Tõravere with its silvery domes - the township surrounding the observatory.

The Observatory of Tõravere was built on top of Tuulemäe in 1958-1964. For a long time it was named after Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struwe (1793-1864) who became world famous thanks to the investigation in the field of double stars and as an organiser of the measurement of the arc of the meridian passing from the Arctic Sea to the Danube.

The scientists of Tõravere have a wider scope of activity than Struwe had in the Observatory of Tartu. Departments of astrophysics, space research and atmospheric physics are functioning at present.

Today there are four telescopes at Tõravere, the largest among them the 1.5 m reflector telescope made in Leningrad in 1975. The people interested in astronomy are welcome guests.

To the left of the Tartu-Valga road, on the bank of the Elva river we see a former granary of the Meeri Municipality built of huge stones. Since1874 the local farmers could get a grain loan in the year of the crop failure which had to be returned paying a high interest rate. During the 1905-1907 revolution the farmers who participated in the resistance were detained and kept in the granary. In the neighbouring building of the municipal government of Meeri "administering of justice" took place.

On the other side of the road, there is a pine forest called Tepripalu which is famous as the northernmost habitat for the protected Sempervivum soboliferum - houseleek.

On the right we can see the mill of Tõravere together with a water body formed as a result of damming the river. The hill of Vapramäe is 78 m above sea level. Since 1959 the hill has been a nature reserve. Its slopes are steep, especially the north-western (30-40º). People think that thanks to its steep slopes the hill had been the seat of their ancient stronghold together with a sacred grove and a sacrificial site. The name of the hill is derived from the name of a legendary elder - Vapper. On top of the hill there is an open plain, a favourite place for popular singing and performing. The marked skiing tracks satisfy both professional and amateur sportsmen (3 km training track, 3 km amateur track, 1.7 km children's track).

Before crossing the bridge, on our right, there is a hill in the north-east/south-west direction. It is called Peedu Kerikmägi. The highest part was the seat of a small stronghold (650 m2) which was well protected. It was one of the smallest ancient strongholds in Estonia and at the same time one of the very first where more extensive archaeological excavations started in conformity with all the scientific rules (1936). The finds prove that the stronghold functioned in the 8-11th century, after that people left it. According to a legend there had been a beautiful church which fell underground because of the sinning pastor.

Further on the waters of the Elva river are dammed. For centuries there have been two mills - the Peedu mill on the left bank, the Nuti mill on the right. The mills existed already in 1638. The present buildings date back to the 19th century.

After covering 1.5 km we reach the village of Vellavere. There is the lake of Vellavere Külajärv (4.6 ha) which is rather deep - 2.5 m. According to a legend Kalevipoeg had thrust his sword into the earth to make a lake.

Driving along the Valga road, we reach Elva which is a small town with the population of about 6,200 people who fondly call their town Pine Town because of the pines which are older than a hundred years. We see the biggest lake Verevi or Suurjärv (depth - 11 metres). Inspite of its swampy shores and muddy bottom, it is a popular lake for swimming. On the western shore there is a mixed forest of pines and spruces, on the eastern shores the pine forest is like a park where holiday makers like to walk. According to a legend the lake received its name Verevi ("blood lake" in Estonian) after the pagan god Uku had killed the looters of the sacrificial place. The blood made the lake red.

We continue our trip along the Tartu road. Opposite the stadium there a singing festival ground where songs have been sung since 1926. In Elva there is the only Strauss society in Estonia which organises "The Kingdom of Strauss" party in summer. The performers and the audience wear the period costumes following the fashions of the second half of the 19th century. Not far, there is Lake Arbi which is full of ground water springs, its depth is 8 m, the shores are kept is good condition and it is most relaxing to walk along a firm path around it.

We come to the local primary school. Next to the schoolhouse we see an ancient building where postmen rested. It is the only surviving structure which belonged to the Uderna Postal Station. In the beginning of the 18th century a postal service along the St. Petersburg-Tartu-Riga road was established. The Livonian Council of Knighthood opened 15 stations on the route. The Uderna station was located opposite the school with its stables, sheds for coaches and other outhouses. The station functioned until 1922. It must be mentioned that the Livonian Order had already established postal services connecting their fortresses in 1340.

The main street of Elva - Kesk street - is one of the first streets in the town. It starts from a market place which had caused several discussions in 1923-1926, primarily concerning ownership. Near the market there is a former inn - the Uderna inn.

In the centre of Elva, near the railway station our trip comes to an end. The history of Elva is closely connected with the opening of the Tartu-Riga (Livonian) railway line. The building of the station was officially completed in the summer of 1889, although the passenger traffic had already started on 27 January 1888. Pleasant landscape and good connections made Elva an original health resort in a pine forest which is rich in wonderful wooden architecture.