Estonia proposes lifting protection from a third of Jõgevamaa's manor monuments

Estonia's National Heritage Board has completed its first full review of manor heritage in Jõgevamaa county and proposed stripping state protection from roughly a third of the architectural monuments examined there. According to Anita Staub, head of the board's building heritage department, 85 of the 133 listed manor-heritage objects could retain protected status, while protection should end for 48 of them.

The board has been working through the national heritage list since 2023, and Jõgevamaa is the first county where the pilot assessment is now complete. Estonia has roughly 5,000 listed architectural monuments overall, more than half of which are manor estates. Manors in five counties have been reviewed over the past year, but Jõgevamaa is the first for which a full analysis is ready.

Many listings were arbitrary

Staub explained that many buildings ended up on the protection list somewhat by chance. During the first Soviet-era inventories, numerous structures were placed under protection without any real justification for doing so, and a number of them were already in poor condition at the time they were listed.

The board's recommendations are not final. Results will be presented to the local Jõgevamaa community next week, and only after that will officials decide which objects to delist. Even among the experts involved, opinions are not always unanimous — Staub cited Voorika manor as a contested case. Historically significant and tied to an important work of cultural literature, the estate's main building underwent a harsh 20th-century reconstruction that added a large-scale extension significantly altering the historic setting, prompting the proposal to end protection for the complex.

Similar assessments have also been carried out in Pärnu, Lääne, Hiiu and Saare counties. The board intends to gradually review the entire manor heritage list, a process that also involves archaeologists, since manor heritage often includes archaeological value as well as buildings. Assessing the five counties took ten months, and the full review is expected to be finished by the end of 2028. The Jõgevamaa report will be presented to residents on Tuesday, October 7, in Puurmani.