President Arnold Rüütel's funeral service to be shown on ETV this Saturday
President Arnold Rüütel's funeral takes place this Saturday, January 11. The funeral service from the Estonia Theater will be broadcast live on ETV starting at 11.30 a.m.
At 9 a.m. on Saturday, the commemoration of President Rüütel will begin at Toompea when the funeral cortege stops as a flag is raised at the top of Pikk Hermann tower.
The event will be broadcast live on ETV here.
The funeral service for President Rüütel, which takes place at the Estonia Theater, will also be shown on ETV from 11.30 a.m. here.
The funeral cortege will later move on to Kadriorg for a memorial service. President Rüütel's cortege will be received by current President of Estonia Alar Karis, along with former presidents Kersti Kaljulaid and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and distinguished international guests.
Among the international guests in attendance will be former Finnish President Tarja Halonen and former Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.
There will also be flyover of NATO aircraft to escort President Rüütel's cortege as it makes its way along A. Weizenbergi tänav to the President's Office.
On Friday, President Rüütel's casket lay in state at the Kadriorg Art Museum, with a guard of honor comprising the Defense League (Kaitseliit), Women's Defense League (Nasikodukaitse) and Young Eagles (Noored Kotkad), along with other invited figures who had a connection with the president's life, work and activities.
Saturday's events are not open to the public, but changes to traffic and public transport in Kadriorg and in central Tallinn can be read here.
An online book of condolence is open here, overseen by the President's Office. A physical book of condolence was open at the art museum at A. Weinzbergi 37, until 9 p.m. on Friday.
Arnold Rüütel was Estonia's second president after the restoration of independence, which he played a prominent role in, and the country's third overall. He was in office 2001-2006, during which time Estonia joined NATO and the EU.
He passed away on December 31 at the age of 96.
He is being buried with full state honors. Current President Alar Karis and the two surviving former presidents, Kersti Kaljulaid and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, will be in attendance.
Kadriorg Art Museum is adjacent to the presidential residence, and the art museum building was itself the residence of Estonia's first head of state, Konstantin Päts, in the 1930s.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Michael Cole
