Lūznavas Manor sister - Olustveres Manor in Estonia

While travelling to Estonia's capital Tallinn, it is worth choosing not the usual way through Tartu, but through the Viljandi District to visit Olustveres's Manor (Olustvere mõisa) -- to look at one of the best preserved mud complexes in the Baltics, as well as to learn from the neighbouring country how to preserve and contemporary use of cultural heritage. In many places there can be parallels with Lūznavas in the Rēzekne municipality – both manors are built around the same time – at the end of the 19 th century -- in the beginning of the 20 th century as summer residences, similar to the architectural styles, both include an ornate ancient park, to which both Olustverei and Lūznavai have an agricultural school. There is only a significant difference – if THE buildings of Lūznavas (former branch of the Rēzekne vocational secondary school) are empty and unused, then in Olustveres's agricultural and hospitality service technicality, life is melting. As of the beginning of the 20 th century, it has been a member of the Olustveres Agricultural School and is an integral part of it. To meet Olustveres's estate and its life, we went to Estonia last week with the external liaison officers of the municipality of Rezekne, Inta Rimšani.
In the archives of the Oustveres Manor, first mentioned in 1424, the main building was built in 1900 – 1915, following a sample of the Yogendy Still as a summer residence of the St. Petersburg Manor. The complex is surrounded by a well-preserved landscape park, whose reconstruction project was developed by the great Riga landscape architect Georgs Kufalts (1853 –1938). A tourist information centre is located in the main building of the estate, just like Luznava. It should be noted that the information for tourists is mostly Estonian, at least in the information stalls located in the park, no translation in English or Russian is found, apparently, the owners focus mainly on the influx of local tourists.
It is a pleasant surprise to the main building of the manor, the house of the lords, especially the first floor of Halle with the luxurious wooden stairs and the parquet. There is a warm sense of comfort throughout the building, there is no museum cold and stiffness, as if the landlords have just gone out for a moment, but they will come back to invite guests to tea, the sounds of the piano (the hall of the hall), and the summons. A beautiful celebration hall is now available, while a luxurious hotel room with a fantastic bed is located on the second floor. The price of this number is 100 euros, but it is quite demanding, especially for the new spouses. By the way, at the time of Ferzena, the manor had been fashionably equipped with water-wire and sewerage, electric lighting, telephone, and therefore the room for communication – the bathroom and the toilet -- settled in the beginning of the last century. In the manor is the anticultural furniture of the time, owned by the collector Leonard Martinam Venice. The masters' house is leased to organize a variety of celebrations, conferences, seminars, while on the day we visited Olustver there were several pupils' excursions.
From other buildings there was a red brick of red bricks in the courtyard with a dairies and gates, an alcohol brush and a rock at the edge of the road. The peculiarity is given by the wood of Vinda and metal. The vast area of the manor is surrounded by a stone wall wall behind a wide range of coniferous and leaf trees with interconnected ponds, graceful bridges, shadowy walkways. By the way, the walkways are not asphalted but are covered with natural black cover, so that it is easy to travel with wheelchairs.
In contrast to THE owners of Lūznavas, the art messeners Kerbedzs, Ferzeni must have been more pragmatic, in the Tal ancient times there has been a strong economic complex in the manor, then there is a wool handling, dairies, then a modern and large cow barn, an alcohol brush (built in 1864, one of the main sources of manor income), a cigarette, a large horse stallion with an ambitious inner courtyard, where there are now various open-air events. During the Soviet times, there have been apartments in the assistants of the estate, as well as the office of the former Soviet housekeeper, but now the funds of THE EEA and Norwegian Financial Instrument have been capitalised and there are various workshops installed there: hanging, weaving, flax processing, ceramics, glass blowers, scallying workshops, bakery bakery, art gallery. Unfortunately, there was only one of the workshops in the workshop that day, where two masters were working together, making a variety of beautiful handouts, which would also be a souvenir on the spot. Here is an opportunity for any interested party, paying a small amount of money, to learn a variety of skills, in particular through seniori.
Since 1920, when Fersen's estate was nationalised, an agricultural school is located in the manor complex, there is even an agricultural university in 1941-1943. The site is now managed by Olustveres's agricultural and hospitality service, which now houses a new modern building next to it. The technician, Arnolds Pastaku, managed to make a call after his return from Estonia. He said kindly that the professions are being trained by cooks, rural managers, mechanisers, hospitality service specialists. The educational institution has a daily division where young people learn after graduation of class 9, as well as part-time studios where the profession is occupied by people of different ages. The school owns 630 ha of agricultural land. The manor complex has three sources of financing: public funding allocated to educational institutions, the money earned (excursions, rental of premises, workshops, Souvenirs sales), as well as various projects with which several employees are involved in the development and management.
At the time of the visit to Olustveres Manor, there was an impression that the complex was a live and integral part of the local community where the people of different ages had been found and operated, both agricultural technicians and seniors, that it was a place with which Estonians proud and carefully kept its magnificence and values.
Anna Rancāne
Autores photo
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