Page 105 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

WESTERN EST ONIA  103

E Lydia Koidula Museum VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
J V Jannseni 37. Tel 443 3313. Open
10am–6pm Tue–Sun. & 8 call in Practical Information
advance. ∑ parnumuuseum.ee Road Map D2.* 44,000.
A short walk across the Pärnu n Uus 4, 447 3000. _ Pärnu
river, the Lydia Koidula Museum Film Festival (Jul), Oistrakh Festival
provides a moving testimony to (Jul). ∑ visitparnu.com
Estonia’s most revered female Transport
poet. Established in 1945, it is k £ Riia mnt 116.
situated in the building where @ Pikk tänav.
her father, Johann Valdemar
Jannsen, ran a primary school Kronstadt. Although very
from 1857 to 1863. little of Lydia Koidula’s work is
A highlight of the museum is available in English, the museum
a recons truction of the bedroom is worth visiting for an interesting
Detail featuring an Art Nouveau mask, where Koidula died of cancer in insight into Estonian literature
Ammende Villa 1886 in the Russian town of of the period.
P Ammende Villa
Mere pst 7. Tel 447 3888. See Where to Lydia Koidula (1843–86)
Stay p298 and Where to Eat and Drink Lydia Emilia Florentine Jannsen is a highly influential figure in
p317. ∑ ammende.ee Estonian history. Although she was forced to write under the
Built in 1905 by a wealthy local pseudonym Koidula, meaning “of the
merchant for the wed ding party dawn”, because writing was not
of his beloved daughter, considered a suitable career for a
Ammende Villa is one of the woman at that time, her poetry was
most impressive examples of ecstatically received. Her My Country is
Art Nouveau architecture in the My Love became the unofficial national
country. Over the years, it has anthem during Soviet times. Some critics
served as a casino, a health believe that Koidula’s finest writing was
her passionate correspondence with the
estab lishment and a library, writer Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,
before two Estonian business­ although his jealous wife eventually put
men renovated it and converted an end to it. Koidula later married a
it into a luxury hotel, with a Latvian doctor. She died of cancer in
beautiful fine­dining restaurant. Kronstadt, in the Gulf of Finland, pining Lydia Koidula, a major Estonian
The villa is located a short walk for her country to the last. writer and poet
from the sea and the Old Town.
Pärnu Pärnu Airport Lydia Koidula
5 km (3 miles) Museum
1 Town Hall Pärnu R I I A M A A N T E E
2 Elizabeth’s Church Pärnu
3 St Catherine’s Church Concert Hall
4 Pärnu Concert Hall KALDA A I D A H O M M I K U
5 Tallinn Gate Õ H TU V E E Railway Station
6 Ammende Villa A K A D E E M I A P Õ H J A 5 km (3 miles) Bus
Õ H T U St Catherine’s U U S M A L M Ö Ü H A VA I M U H O S P I D A L I H O M M I K U Station
P I K K
KESKVÄLJAK
P
Town
Hall
Church
Õ H T U P
RÜÜTLI
MUNGA
V E E
RÜÜTLI
K U N I N G A K U N I N G A
VN-TALLINNA
Elizabeth’s
Church
LÕ U N A LÕ U N A Koidula
Park
R I N G I
Tallinn
Gate PÜHAVAIMU
R E M M E L G A
MURU V E E
N I K O L A I N I K O L A I
0 metres 200 Ammende ESPLANAADI ESPLANAADI
MER E P U IESTEE
R I N G I R I N G I
Villa
0 yards 200
For keys to symbols see back flap
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