Gallery: Fate of Maarjamäe Memorial still open
The Tallinn city government, which has been in office for just under a year and shares ownership of the decaying and frequently vandalized Soviet-era Maarjamäe Memorial property with the state, has not yet made any definitive decisions regarding its future.
"Vandalism has increased across the city – particularly in the past year– and it needs to be brought under control citywide. This will, of course, be largely achieved through cooperation with the police and municipal police. The City Center government's responsibility is to keep its own properties clean," said City Center Elder Sander Andla (Reform).
"Regarding the Soviet-era memorial, the city government has agreed to resolve this issue in cooperation with architects and representatives of those repressed, while respecting the sanctity of burial sites," Andla quoted from the spring coalition agreement.
Andla noted that, according to the city government's action plan, this agreement must be reached by May 2025.
Isamaa's proposal for the coalition agreement was to remove Estonia's most prominent Soviet monument entirely. However, as reported by ERR in the spring, the coalition agreement ultimately reflected the Social Democrats' viewpoint.
There was also a proposal to transfer the Maarjamäe Memorial for use by the Estonian History Museum. "I don't see anything wrong with that idea in itself, but the initiative should come from the History Museum. Why not?" said Deputy Mayor Kaarel Oja.
As of Friday, the city government has not discussed this idea with the History Museum, said the museum's director, Jaanus Rohumaa.
The fate of the memorial has been a topic of discussion for the past 30 years, but it has become more pressing since the full-scale war in Ukraine began.
Earlier, in 2020, then-Minister of the Environment Rene Kokk (EKRE) presented a memorandum to the government cabinet offering solutions for the future of the memorial complex, which was erected during the Soviet occupation at Maarjamäe. At that time, Interior Minister Mart Helme (EKRE) expressed his support for demolishing the complex.
In October 2022, 32 memorial plaques commemorating Soviet military units, which bore occupation symbols, were removed from state-owned land at the Maarjamäe Memorial site.
The central feature of the Maarjamäe Memorial is the 35-meter-high Ice Cruise Obelisk, erected in 1960, designed by architect Mart Port and sculptor Lembit Tolli.
At the center is a ceremonial square, designed in 1975 by architects Allan Murdmaa, Peep Jänes, Rein Kersten, Henno Sepmann, artist Jüri Palm and engineer Vello Hüdsi.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Mari Peegel, Marcus Turovski