27 March 2025 ERR reports on the co-operation between Saaremaa Municipality, Cultural Heritage Board and the project Reframing Monuments in terms of the Tehumardi memorial.
The Saaremaa municipality, which covered the red emblem of the Tehumard monument last Friday and is planning to modernise the memorial field, needs an extra €5,000 from the state. The municipality wants to go ahead with a project proposed by artists to reinterpret the Tehumardi sword.
Saaremaa’s mayor, Mikk Tuisk, has asked the heritage protection authority and the Ministry of Culture for the money.
In a letter to the authorities, Tuisk said he had been working for the last two years with the heritage protection office and the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) to find a solution to the red emblem on the Tehumard.
“Today we are in a situation where part of the graves in the memorial have been liquidated and the remains relocated to the cemetery. To date, we have come to the conclusion that a possible solution will cost around €22 000. The EAA is prepared to contribute €12,000 of this amount, and €10,000 would be the responsibility of Saaremaa municipality,” Tuisk said.
According to Tuisk, however, the municipality would only be able to afford €5,000, and the Ministry of Culture and the Heritage Protection Agency could contribute the remaining €5,000.
The municipality goes ahead with the EAA project.
The allocation of the money to Saaremaa municipality has not yet been discussed, said Mari Rebane, a spokeswoman for the heritage department.
The municipality of Saaremaa covered the Tehumardi pillar with the red emblem tiles
However, as the municipality of Saaremaa did not apply for permission from the heritage preservation authority to temporarily cover the texts and symbols of the Tehumardi monument, the heritage preservation authority launched a monitoring procedure to establish the circumstances.
“In the course of the supervisory procedure, the Authority assessed the circumstances, the nature and quality of the work carried out and the need to modify the temporary solution. In spite of the fact that the temporary solution was not carried out lawfully, the Authority considers that the work was carried out in an appropriate manner for a temporary solution and is neutral with regard to the overall appearance of the pillar,” Rebane said.
The authority also acknowledged that the municipality is going ahead with the project proposed in the design competition – a work called “Words” – and is looking for ways to realise it. According to the “Words” project, an alphabet would be carved on the monument, suggesting that words are only words.
“We are ready to continue to work with Saaremaa municipality, as we have done so far, to find the best solution to permanently cover the Tehumardi memorial monument with propaganda symbols and texts,” Rebane said.
Last year, the EAA and the heritage protection authority organised a competition to artistically reinterpret the Tehumardi sword. From three entries, a variant was chosen in which a wild grapevine would have grown along the pillar. However, there was a recent setback from the Environment Agency, which did not allow the planting of a non-native forest vine or the Saaremaa broom.
They want to go further with a work that would have been key words. The new design would have cost more than €20 000. It had been hoped to get the money from the Cultural Endowment, but in early March it was turned down.”
Editor: Mari Peegel