141 the Pirita Convent in Estonian Historical Memory: Not Just in The

Pirita klooster Eesti ajaloomälus 141 The Pirita Convent in Estonian especially its triangular western gable, which Historical Memory: Not Just in the has been endlessly reproduced in picture al- Forest behind the Convent bums, postcards and school textbooks; it is Linda Kaljundi known from the songs and quotations in the Summary film The Last Relic, memories of perform- ances and concerts taking place in the con- Abstract: The Pirita convent is one of the vent, etc. However, the shaping of Pirita as best known symbolic and visual signs of an Estonian realm of memory has been char- the Middle Ages in Estonia. At the same acterised, since the emergence of local na- time, its role in our historical memory has tional historical self-awareness, by the con- been both remarkable and unusually diverse, stant opposition between the alienation and uniting a number of different narratives, domestication of the site. and also visual and performative layers. Although there has been increasing schol- This article examines the shaping of Pirita arly interest in historical memory in recent as an Estonian ’realm of memory’, paying years, the Estonian realms of memory have special attention to the contrast between so far not been extensively mapped. We can its alienation and domestication. nevertheless point out some key features of the Estonian national historical memory and Keywords: Pirita convent, medievalism, its realms of memory: in their current shape realms of memory, Estonian historical memory they reach back to the era of the National Awakening in the middle of the 19th cen- The Pirita convent is one of the best known tury, the era of the invention of tradition and symbolic and visual signs of the Middle Ages the emergence of new nations. As expected, in Estonia. Destroyed by Russian troops in in this process the topic of the same and the Livonian War in 1575 and standing in the other becomes crucial. For the Estonian ruins since the Great Northern War (1700 historical memory characterised best by its 1721), the convent managed to survive until traumatic nature this was, and still is, a the 19th century, which was characterised by complicated issue. As local territories for a a fascination with ruins, and the convent was long time belonged to the German cultural still standing at the start of the first archaeo- space, which was proclaimed the other from logical excavations and restoration work at the National Awakening period onwards, and the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. To- especially during the first republic, this in- day, everybody living in Estonia recognises evitably raised the question of what was ac- Pirita by its name and its soaring triangular tually the same in our cultural legacy in western gable. written and visual culture, institutions, his- The current article examines the place of torical events, heroes etc. Here, also, distin- Pirita in Estonian historical memory, and guishing between our and alien landscape claims that the role Pirita has played, and still and monuments played a significant role. An plays, in national historical self-conscious- excellent example in this still relatively lit- ness is remarkable and unusually multi-lay- tle-researched topic is Pirita, where, remark- ered. As a realm of memory, Pirita unites ably, both narrative and visual layers exist. numerous layers: narratives and metaphors, The main reason for Piritas fame is, with- spectacular ruins and a number of visual signs, out doubt, the historical novel by Eduard 142 Linda Kaljundi Bornhöhe, Prince Gabriel or the Last Days course, the Pirita convent is not an our of the Pirita Convent (1893). In 1969 Grigori realm (of memory), where we can earnestly Kromanov turned it into a historical adven- search for our roots amongst the crumbled ture film, The Last Relic, with some catchy walls. The antagonistic role of the convent tunes, and both the film and the songs be- emerges even more powerfully in the film, came hugely popular. Estonian national his- where it was allegorically depicted, at the torical memory has largely been shaped by time of the post-Prague spring (1968), as a writers and, besides the national epic Ka- symbol of an alien ideological power, and the levipoeg (Kalevs Son, 18571861), Eduard suppressor of free will, freedom of speech, and Bornhöhes novels about the Estonians an- heretics (i.e. dissidents). Although this inter- cient and eternal fight for freedom have had pretation model should not be applied to all a major impact on the formation of national Estonian viewers, the impact of an approach identity, primarily his Tasuja (Avenger, 1880). that forcefully alienated the convent as a rep- In most schools, his novels, including Prince resentative of the other must certainly be Gabriel, are still included in the compulsory taken into consideration in creating an image reading lists and, during the decades since of the Pirita convent as something alien. the film was made, it has likewise become However, this is not the only Pirita that one of the most beloved cinematic achieve- we know and remember. The second part of ments in Estonia. It might even seem para- the article examines the positive occupation doxical, in hindsight, that although the works of Pirita, because although the cult film and seemingly strove to erase the place from our the towering ruins in the landscape no doubt memory after all, the Pirita convent in these mutually enhance their fame, they also live stories stands for something alien, which their own life. From that point of view it is should be, and indeed is, burnt down by the quite telling that in the film The Last Relic a Estonian protagonists they nevertheless cardboard model was used instead of the real guaranteed it a firm place in the Estonian thing. However, what kind of meaning could historical consciousness. this real convent, not of cardboard but of Both stories focus on the love story of the limestone, have? It is certainly one of the two main characters, the aristocratic maiden most prominent visual signs of medieval Es- Agnes and the adventurer of peasant origin tonia and its western gable has become a and free man Gabriel. Both works also con- standard element in studies of Estonian his- tain sharp opposition between the same and tory, as well as in school textbooks and on a the other, expressed on two levels: in addi- wider popular level: in tourism booklets, post- tion to the love between the protagonists who cards, picture albums, logos of institutions belong to different social classes, the peas- located in Pirita etc. ants revolt against the nobility and the con- Among the medieval monuments, its mas- vent is also central to the plot. Unlike vari- sive bulk places it in line not so much with ous old European countries, where the Mid- churches-monasteries as with great medieval dle Ages in historical memory primarily sig- strongholds, such as Viljandi, Kuressaare etc. nify roots and continuity, in Estonian histori- Due to the opposition of the same and the cal memory the same period denotes disrup- other, which has played, and still plays, a tion, and the loss of the ancient freedom to significant part in creating Estonian land- the German-speaking elite. Within this dis- scapes of memory, the attitude to the strong- Pirita klooster Eesti ajaloomälus 143 holds and to other structures, for example to simultaneous modernisation and historisation manor houses, has been, and is, quite com- of Pirita, are vividly expressed in the Soci- plicated. What we see here is the constant ety publications and visual materials. A spe- wavering between domestication and aliena- cial publishing house was established in or- tion, where the strongholds and manors ful- der to produce postcards, tourism booklets fil the role of bastions of the alien mind and in several languages, and historical novels. power, but their monumentality and herit- The Society also played a significant role in age value do not allow them to be totally arranging, together with Swedish art histori- abandoned. ans and heritage preservation specialists, var- Against this background, Piritas much ious archaeological excavations and research, more positive meaning emerges. The mere as well as publishing and popularising its fact that it is not a military fortification makes results. it possible to interpret the convents mighty As often indicated, the 19th century wave walls and dimensions not as dangerous and of maintaining and researching ruins all over hostile, but rather as something to be proud Europe could be interpreted as taming the of. First of all, Piritas meaning cannot be ruins, as it were, and during this process an regarded separately from its position in the attempt was made to domesticate everything landscape or its idyllic location by the river that caused fear and discomfort. In the case bend and on the edge of the current garden of Pirita, however, an important part in tam- suburb, which became a popular outing and ing the fear could be seen in taking the ru- bathing destination in the 1910s. The con- ins away from the Germans and returning vent has thus become part of the image of them to the Swedes. The idea of the convent Pirita in general together with the beach, as a monument of Estonian and Swedish an- sailing club and regattas, motocross track and cient close connections and cultural co-op- bicycle track, restaurants and functionalist eration was best expressed in the grand fes- beach houses. tivities on the occasion of the 500th anni- Piritas present appearance is largely due versary of the consecration of the convent in to the tidying up of the area preceding the 1936, and also in two albums with Estonian Olympic regatta of the 1980 Games in Mos- and Swedish parallel texts.

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