Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,435. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century, Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat.
Baltic Germans are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have markedly declined as a geographically determined ethnic group in the region.
Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen, known by her pen name Koidula, was an Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means '(Lydia of) The Dawn' in Estonian. It was given to her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik – 'Singer of the Dawn'.
Miina Härma was an Estonian composer. She was the second Estonian musician with higher education.
Võru is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish.
Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot was a Baltic German naturalist, explorer, and mountaineer, who lived and worked in Tartu, Estonia in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. A pioneer of Russian and Estonian scientific mountaineering, Parrot is best known for leading the first expedition to the summit of Mount Ararat in recorded history.
Uku Masing was an Estonian polymath who contributed to theology, oriental studies, philosophy, poetry, folklore and to the field of ethnology. He was a significant figure in Estonian religious philosophy. Masing also wrote poetry, mostly on religious issues. Masing authored one novel, Rapanui vabastamine ehk Kajakad jumalate kalmistul in the late 1930s, which was published posthumously in 1989. As a folklorist, he was a distinguished researcher of fairy tales, contributing to the international Encyclopedia of the Folktale. He was awarded the Righteous Among The Nations by Yad Vashem and the Israeli Supreme Court for his participation during the Holocaust in helping a Jew in Estonia escape capture from 1941 until the end of the war. His actions exposed him to great danger during this period requiring him to meet with his friend as well as lying to the Gestapo.
The Kopli cemetery was Estonia's largest Lutheran Baltic German cemetery, located in the suburb of Kopli in Tallinn. It contained thousands of graves of prominent citizens of Tallinn and stood from 1774 to shortly after World War II, when it was completely flattened and destroyed by the Soviet occupation authorities governing the country at the time. The former cemetery is now a public park.
Otto Wilhelm Masing was a clergyman, writer, journalist, linguist, notable early Estophile and a major advocate of Estonian commoners' rights, especially regarding education.
The Great Cemetery was formerly the principal cemetery of Riga in Latvia, established in 1773. It was the main burial ground of the Baltic Germans in Latvia.
The Estonian National Museum founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter part of the 19th century.
Estonian Naturalists' Society is the oldest Estonia-based society of naturalists. It was founded in 1853, and since establishing has been the major scientific organisation focusing on natural history of Estonia.
Baron Karl Eduard von Liphart or Carl Eduard von Liphart was a noted art expert and collector from Estonia. The family manor was near Dorpat.
Raine Loo was an Estonian stage, television and film actress.
Old St. John's Cemetery lies in the southeastern part of Raadi Cemetery in Tartu, Estonia. It was entered into the National Register of Cultural Monuments on 23 May 1997.
Karl Eduard Sööt was an Estonian poet.
