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 Elistvere
manor is one of the oldest manors in the neighbourhood. The manor was
first mentioned in 1355 under the name Ikavere. In a sales transaction
from 1443, the manor as called Ellistfer — Elistvere. The manor has had
several owners: at the beginning of 16th century, it belonged to
Wrangells, in 1723 it went to the Stackelberg family, in 1870 the manor
was obtained by Ungern-Stembergs by marriage and it remained this way
until it was transferred in 1919. The heart of the manor belonged to the
last member of the family, Klaus von Ungern-Sternberg until the
beginning of 1930s.
The luxurious Late Baroque mansion was built at the time of Reinhold
Johann von Stackelberg in 1785. It is one of the most prominent Late
Baroque mansions in Estonia. The construction manager was probably
master J. H. B Walter from Tartu, the author of Tartu Town Hall. The
building caught the eye with its high plinth, grand parade staircase and
high mansard roof. The windows had wide plastered frames with a
balustrade imitation under them. The chimneys had remarkable cornice
extensions.
Behind the mansion there was a courtyard with a wide circle road.
Together with the mansion, auxiliary buildings with a representative
arcade, were erected on both sides of the front yard. These included a
bam (still exists) and a stable-coach house (demolished in 1984). A
two-storey guesthouse and a stable were erected behind the mansion. In
the list prepared by the Estonian noblemen credit institution in 1884,
Elistvere manor was represented by 25 buildings. In addition to the
aforementioned, the complex had a seneschal house, greenhouse, farmhand
residence, smithy, watermill, tavern, etc. The gentry's sauna was
located at the lower pond. The sauna characteristically describes the
wealth and size of Elistvere manor complex. Manor buildings were
surrounded by a park. A good overview of the changes in park design can
be seen in manor plans from 1825 and 1872.
At the beginning of the republic, the manor and the park remained
without constant care. The mansion was demolished in 1931 and the stones
were transported to Tartu to be used as construction materials. The Late
Baroque barn with a beautiful arcade is the only building from the whole
complex that has been fully preserved. The barn facade is decorated with
9 round arches, the area between them is decorated with pilasters.
Several other auxiliary buildings have also present — some are
reconstructed and some in ruins. After WW II, the front courtyard was
used as an administrative area of a kolkhoz and a saw gate was located
at the back of the house. The former seneschal house was set up to be a
kolkhoz centre with a club, a library and a shop in it. The barn and the
conserved ruins of the guesthouse are listed as national monuments.
After regaining our independence, the owners planned to establish an
animal park into the manor heart, following the example of other similar
parks in Europe. The surroundings were cleaned and several other
maintenance works were carried out in the park. The main idea of the
animal park is to expose the naturally existing or existed animal and
bird species in an old manor park.
There are plenty of elements preserved from the historical manor complex
that are worth exposing. If you look around more closely, you can see
the back yard terraces, ponds, water canal and park meadows. There are
fragments of noble oak boulevards, groups of ancient trees and ruins of
manor buildings and rock fences. There is ancient culture hiding itself
everywhere and the manor barn is just the first of many things that the
visitors notice. The rest of it can be unveiled with logical
derivations.
The park was established at the end of the 18th century and beginning of
19th century when the area was recovering from the Great Northern War
and landscaping deserved more attention. Already in 1782, A. W. Hupei
mentioned Elistvere's good fruit garden and beautiful stone buildings.
On manor plan from 1825, a regular road network surrounded by a
two-terraced Baroque garden and a pond can be seen between the mansion
and Elistvere Lake. Opposite to the mansion, at the other side of
Juula-Elistvere road, there is an English style park with winding
pathways. At this time the manor park belonged to top ten Estonian
country parks. The plan from 1872 shows that the park has been expanded
and the area around the mansion has been changed.
The eastern side of the park was designed with grass fields, ponds,
bridges, stone benches and posts, some of which are still preserved. The
road side part of the park is edged with a great oak alley, under which
there is a road leading to Kuru. In north-eastern side the park blends
in with a forest which has grown on the meadows that can be seen on old
manor plans after the water level of the lake was significantly lowered
after deepening the Amme River. A spring with clear water used to flow
from under the ruins of the former guesthouse. Unfortunately the spring
was buried during conservation works.
The western side of the park has been a dense and shadowy landscape park
with many winding pathways and it is preserved approximately in the same
size as it was when established. Although there are many old trees in
this part of the park, the pathways are only partly preserved. In 1998,
a nature trail introducing the most common park trees and bushes was
established here. Both parts of the park include beautiful trees and
tree groups, the oldest of which probably date back to the establishment
of the park.
 The
number of tree species in Elistvere manor park is typical to Estonian
parks. The main tree species are ash tree, oak and basswood. Some of the
trees are with remarkable dimensions. The tallest trees are over 35 m
high. The following species also grow in the park: the protected
enchanter's nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) and musk strawberry (Fragaria
moschata), giant bellflower (Campanula latifolia) and Martagon lily (Lilium
martagon).
The current Elistvere manor park (20.4 ha) is under nature protection
due to its preserved architectural elements and large old trees. The
park was first considered as a protected area in 1930. According to the
protection rules of parks, arboretums and forest stands, the aim of
protecting the park is to maintain its historically developed planning,
dendrologically, culturally, ecologically, aesthetically and
recreationally valuable park and garden design elements and directing
their further use and development. Elistvere manor park is a heritage
conservation area.
The general planning of the park seen on the map of 1872 is still
visible in the landscape. The upper pond and the park area beside it
with different types of apple trees have been preserved from the Baroque
garden, the terrace and the yard behind the mansion are also visible.
The lower pond at the side of which the gentry sauna was located is
partly overgrown with plants. Several buildings (visitor centre,
auxiliary buildings) and pens have been erected on the rest of the
territory of the former Baroque park. On the place of mansion ruins
there is a pen for lynxes, the bear pen extension is planned on the spot
of the greenhouse. Fortunately, the front courtyard was preserved and is
waiting to be reconstructed.
In 2007, a plan for park territory was ordered from landscape
architects, in the framework of which the further spatial trends were
developed. The main idea was to connect the needs of the animal park
with the values of the manor park without excluding either of them. The
park design from 2008 handles Elistvere park as a symbiosis of history
and current needs. The landscaping project design is based on the park
solution of the late 19th century and connects it with the current
situation. The new division of park areas partly restores the manor time
fruit garden with orderly road network and gradually opens the heart of
the manor with front and back courtyard. The reconstruction process is
performed by stages when the existing installations amortise.
Due to the needs of the animal park, the heart of the park is closed
with a fence. Animal pens are constructed based on the principle that
every pen would have an area where the animal could hide. Visitors can
spend an hour in the park watching animals and walking in the area of
the former Baroque garden. Or spend a whole day in the manor park,
getting acquainted with the animals, walking beside the lake and the
nature trail and holding a picnic on a park meadow.
The new pathways of the park are more or less based on the historical
network and connect animal pens into logical visiting rounds. In this
way, the oval road circle of the front courtyard, the orderly pathways
of the orchard and the winding paths of the south-eastern part of the
park will be restored. Although from all the main manor buildings only
the barn and the conserved ruins have been preserved, the new network of
pathways and the maintained park trees support the historical park area
and make the composition of the manor heart easier to see.
European bisons and deer have strongly damaged the park trees in their
pens. Dendrological assessment determined the valuable high landscaping
of the park which led to first cuttings and further maintenance
suggestions and plantings.
In order to maintain the balance of the landscape and create a visual
bond between different areas of the park, the fences, benches,
information stands and animal facilities were all designed in one style.
The rodent house, area around the gate building and deer area beside
manor back yard are already built based on the new project design. A
young orchard marks the place of the old garden. An outdoor classroom
has been built at the edge of the furthest park meadow. Park views have
substantially improved thanks to forest maintenance works.
The exhibition of animals supports the gradual revealing of the old
manor elements. This is the most curious ensemble in all of Europe and
first "sound checks" have given positive results.
Source: Info panels in the zoo (2018)
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