The implement is a replica, copied from an authentic bronze horn found 70 years ago, during archaeological excavations the town's castle.

The horn was sounded on Monday to mark the 88th anniversary of Otepää receiving town status.

The original, dating back to the 12th to 13th century, during the period of the Baltic Crusades, is thought to be the oldest surviving wind instrument of any kind to have been found in Estonia.

Historian Ain Mäesalu told AK: "The horn was probably acquired as war booty from the [Teutonic] Germans during the ancient struggles for freedom, while the Estonians then modified it somewhat, wrapping birch bark around it, and started using it as a war horn of their own."

Lacking finger holes, the instrument is a "natural horn" similar to a bugle, with pitch changes primarily controlled by the user altering their lip tension, or embouchure.

The most challenging part of its construction was casting such thin metal.

On this, master craftsman Toomas Mägi said: "Technologically speaking, this process is known as the lost-wax casting method, in which a wax model is first made, covered with molding material, and then the wax is melted out, and the metal replaces it."

"The horn is cast in two separate pieces, but the most difficult part was the fact that it's a tube of metal about two millimeters in thickness. Essentially, you are casting sheet metal," Mägi went on.

The original AK segment, in which the horn can be heard in action, is here.

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