Second volume of “Eesti mõisad ja lossid” [Estonian Manors and Castles] is out
Eesti mõisad ja lossid II – Aadlikultuuri seitse aastasada – is a continuation of Eesti mõisad ja lossid I – Aadlikultuuri seitse aastasada [Estonian Manors and Castles. I. Seven Centuries of Noble Culture]. It is a book of light and shadow, which brings to mind power struggles, battles and cannon fights, but also the desire to build a new home for the manor. The Swedish era brought the light of the Renaissance to Tartu’s university and the Estonian manor house. Just as candles were lit in churches, lights were lit in the manor houses. It was a time of great hope. There were dreams of the almost impossible. If the social utopias and fantasy projects of the time had been realised and the noble palaces in Haapsalu, Kuressaare, Kolga and elsewhere had been built, history might have taken a different direction. The journey to Europe and national awakening could have begun earlier. Unfortunately, history has its own laws. After the outbreak of the Great Northern War in 1700, new actors took to the stage, bringing to life in a new form an opera libretto written by someone else. But that is the subject of the next book.
Overviews of different eras are followed by descriptions of individual estates, which bring the pieces of the mosaic together into a whole, revealing small themes alongside the big ones, a microcosm alongside the macrocosm, in which each estate emerges in its own unique colour and form, making the heartbeat faster and asking for ever new stories. In the second volume, for example, Palmse, Maardu, Malla, Rogosi, Vormsi, Hiiu-Suuremõisa, Kolga, Albu, Sagadi, Purdi, Võisku, Mäksa, Käru, some 30 manors in all, are covered.
For further information go to: Eesti mõisad ja lossid II | Maiste | Raamatud | Varrak raamatupood