Sculpture “Vyachko and Meelis defending Tartu” (full title “Prince Vyachko of Polotsk and Meelis, son of Lembit, defending Tartu in 1224. “) is a memorial to the characters of the story “Meelis” by the writer Enn Kippel (1901-1942). Meelis, the son of Lembitu, the elder of Sakala, and Vyachko, the former prince of Koknes, who, according to the story, were killed in a battle with the Germans in Tartu in 1224. Kippel’s book tells the story of the fight between Meelis and the Russian prince Vyachko against the German crusaders, and was widely used in the Soviet era as an example of Estonian-Russian historical friendship.[1] Although the plaster sculpture itself was completed in 1950 and cast in bronze in 1964, it was not until 1980, 950 years after Yaroslav The Wise’s conquest of Tartu in 1030, that it was placed in Tartu’s urban space as a monument to the first mentioning of Tartu.
Removing the sculpture from the slope of Oru Street was considered as early as 1990, when the Tartu City Council proposed to the Tartu Art Museum that it be moved to a more suitable location. At the time, however, it remained in its place, contrasting both visually and in terms of its somewhat childish urban placement with the political war monuments that were removed. In August 2024, Elmut Paavel, a former member of the Tartu City Council, launched a public debate on whether it was right to display a monument to the friendship between Estonia and Russia in the public space of Tartu[2], and Mariann Raisma, Director of the University of Tartu Museum, disagreed, arguing that Meelis and Vyachko had become a ‘nonument’, a work whose topicality and/or symbolic value had changed or disappeared due to political or social change. Since nonuments do not have the turbulent consequences of ideological monuments, it would be much better to make this work an example of how to translate, -reread and make sense of an ideologically charged public work of art, rather than just simply removing it from public space.
“Prince Vyachko of Polotsk and Meelis, son of Lembit, defending Tartu in 1224” was the diploma thesis of sculptor Olav Männi (1925-1980) at the Tartu State Art Institute in 1950. The work was first made as a plaster model and cast in bronze in 1956.[3] In 1951, the work was presented at an exhibition of Estonian SSR art. A reproduction of the work was published on the front cover of the December 1951 issue of the magazine Pilt ja Sõna (Picture and Word), which, among other things, reviewed the work as follows: “One of the most outstanding works in the exhibition is the monumental group of sculptures entitled ‘Prince Vyachko of Polotsk and Meelis, the son of Lembit, defending Tartu in 1224’, executed with exceptional talent by O. Männi, which powerfully conveys the undeserved friendship between the Estonian and the great Russian people. Both heroes are depicted with great inner emotion. Their common goal – to rout the German knights – is reflected in their expressions, their tense postures and the active silhouette of the entire sculpture group.” This sculpture, reflecting the popular theme of friendship between nations, captured the zeitgeist of its time, for example, it was used for the cover design of Volume I of the History of the Estonian SSR, published in 1955.[4] However, Männi’s sculpture also survived the reappraisals of art culture during the melting period, which made it suitable for the role of a monument in Tartu’s urban space in 1980. The sculpture group was also the basis for the cover design of the fifth reprint of “Meelis”, designed by Henno Arrak and published in 1976.[5]
In independent Estonia, the monument gradually lost its original meaning. The monument was “domesticated” and became a rather bizarre decorative sculpture, with countless people from Tartu taking funny pictures in its background. Similarly, the monument has been supplemented with hats, scarves and other objects. Through the photographs, the now “nonument” continues its afterlife as a meme in the virtual world. It should be borne in mind that sometimes a work’s activity in the online environment can be greater than in urban space. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that, since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the original layers of meaning of the work have been reactivated and it can no longer be considered completely innocent and forgotten. In Olav Männi’s sculpture group, there are a lot of questions to be discussed in the course of the Reframing Monuments project.
Enn Kippel and “Meelis”
Rein Veidemann has summarised Kippel’s life as follows: ‘Born in Tallinn on 16 February (3 February) 1901, the son of a factory worker, Enn (Eduard Ferdinand until 1935) Kippel studied at Tallinn City School. After his father’s death in 1913, he moved with his mother to St Petersburg. In 1919 Kippel returned to Narva, where he was imprisoned on suspicion of belonging to the Red Army. Released from suspicion in early 1920, Kippel was drafted into the Estonian Defence Forces. He graduated from the non-commissioned officers’ school and then performed several administrative duties in the 2nd Infantry Regiment in Tartu. In 1935 he graduated from the Tartu Evening Gymnasium and also studied at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Tartu for a while. In 1940 Kippel joined the Soviet occupation forces. He was appointed political commander of the 1st Division in Rakvere, but was soon dismissed. Kippel evacuated with the retreating Soviet troops to Leningrad, where he was a member of the editorial staff of the newspaper Rahva Hääl. The writer died of starvation in the blockade of Leningrad on 15 February 1942.”[6]
In his survey of the history of Estonian literature, the German literary scholar Cornelius Hasselblatt is unhesitatingly critical of Kippel: “Enn Kippel made his debut in Estonian literature in 1935 with the proletarian-themed novel “The Ancestors”. From there on he cultivated the historical genre, treating the Ancient War of Independence, the Livonian War and the Northern War. On closer inspection, these novels are little more than war novels set in the past. For Kippel, a lifelong military man and arms fanatic, military details were obviously close to his heart. That is why, especially with his youth story “Meelis”, about Lembit’s son, he gained a certain popularity among his audience. But the writer did not deserve higher literary recognition. Kippel does not flinch at any cliché – Russians are stupid, Germans are thwarted, Swedes are good. When the Soviets came to power, he served in various ideological posts. In 1941, he evacuated to Leningrad, where he starved to death during the blockade the following year.”[7]
Estonian historians and literary scholars take a broader view of Kippel’s work and have analysed Estonian historiography on the basis of his works. According to Linda Kaljundi, the fact that the writer had set himself a more distant goal in mapping the military history of Estonians has been hidden in the background of ‘Meelis’: The Dogs of the Lord (1934) tells of the Livonian struggle against the Crusaders, ‘During the Great Crying’ (1936) of the Livonian War and ‘Jüriöö’ (1939) of the uprising of the same name. The novels about the Battle of Ümera, the Battle of the Jäälahing and Ivo Schenkenberg were left unfinished.[8] Enn Kippel’s work was an important part of the historical novel boom of the 1930s and thus reflected the militaristic spirit of the era. The genesis of the work is also more complex. “Meelis” began to appear as a serial in 1939 in the magazine Lasteleht under the title “Lembitu’s Son” (until 1940). The work was only given its final, reworked form during the first Soviet occupation, when the Estonian Defence Forces soldier had become a member of the Communist Party and deputy editor of the newspaper Soviet Defence. In line with the changed regime, the work shows the historical friendship between the Estonian and Russian tribes in their struggle against the German invaders. As literary scholar Ave Mattheus writes, this motif laid the foundations for the work’s long-lasting popularity in the Soviet period: until 1986, six reprints of “Meelis” were published in giant editions and it was read as compulsory literature at school.[9]
The text was compiled by Gregor Taul.
[1] Linda Kaljundi, Eesti lugu: Enn Kippel „Kui Raudpea tuli”. – Eesti Päevaleht, 12.12.2008. https://epl.delfi.ee/artikkel/51152260/eesti-lugu-enn-kippel-kui-raudpea-tuli
[2] Jüri Saar, Kas Vjatško ja Meelis ikka sobivad, küsib Tartu endine volinik. – Tartu Postimees, 6.8.2024. https://www.postimees.ee/8072525/kas-vjatsko-ja-meelis-ikka-sobivad-kusib-tartu-endine-volinik
[3] Juta Kivimäe, Skulptuur. – Jaak Kangilaski (ed.) Eesti kunsti ajalugu 6. köite I osa. Tallinn: Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, lk. 188–190, siin lk. 188.
[4] Gustav Naan ja Artur Vassar (eds.), Eesti NSV ajalugu (1. osa). Kõige vanemast ajast XIX sajandi 50-ndate aastateni. Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus.
[5] Enn Kippel, Meelis. Ajalooline noorsoojutt. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1976.
[6] Rein Veidemann, Enn Kippel (1901-1942). – Kreutzwaldi sajand. Eesti kultuurilooline veeb. https://kreutzwald.kirmus.ee/et/lisamaterjalid/ajatelje_materjalid?item_id=374&table=Persons
[7] Cornelius Hasselblatt, Eesti kirjanduse ajalugu. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, lk. 422-423.
[8] Linda Kaljundi, Eesti lugu: Enn Kippel „Kui Raudpea tuli”.
[9] Ave Mattheus, Sõda eesti laste- ja noortekirjanduses. – Methis, Vol. 26 No. 33 (2024): Sõjakirjutuse, lk 127–153, siin lk. 135.