- English manor houses, Italian palaces, Japanese Gardens, and German noble families.

Where else could we be, but Estonia.

(bright music) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following.

(train whooshes) (upbeat music) (light bright music) From the Middle Ages through the modern era, imperial families, nobility and heads of state all built their manor houses, their castles, and every once in a while, a beautiful palace.

Today, we are taking you to get curious about Estonia's finest homes and historic landmarks.

This episode takes us across Estonia from Kadriog Palace, near the capital of Tallinn to Palmse Manor in northern Estonia, to Alatskivi Castle on the eastern border, and finally back up north to Vihula Manor.

(bright music) Som here's what I'm curious about in Estonia's historic homes.

Who were the Baltic German nobility?

What is Balmoral Castle doing here in Estonia?

Where can you find symbols of a Russian czar?

Why was this little flag covered up?

When was a baron given this land by a Danish king?

And how does this one piece of furniture tell the long history of a noble family and a peasant uprising?

So much to be curious about in Estonia's palaces, castles and manor homes.

Our curious journey into these homes begins with its most grand because this is not just a mansion, but a palace, Kadriog Palace.

And it is here that we first learned that it wasn't the Estonian people but the Estonian conquerors who built the stately abodes.

Kadriog Palace was built in 1718 by Peter the Great, soon after he had conquered Estonia.

As with all his conquests, he was expanding the Russian Empire and making the statement that the new Russia was a very European one, full of high art and high culture, which is why this palace was done in this beautiful Italian style.

But what about that name?

Kadriog translates to Catherine's valley because his wife's name was Catherine.

(light chamber music) Yes, his palace was built by Russian czar Peter the Great for his second wife, the future Catherine I, empress of Russia.

You can see the inscription here on this plaque marking the foundations of Kadriog Palace in 1718.

And by all accounts, they had a happy marriage.

You'd probably be pretty happy too if you had a palace and gardens like these to traipse around in.

This elegant palace came to be because of the Great Northern War in the early 18th century when Russia conquered new lands across northern Europe, including Estonia.

This marks the beginnings of the Russian Empire, and it explains why there's a Russian palace in the middle of Estonia.

Inside, there is room after room after room of beauty and curious symbols, especially here in the Great Hall, which is where we meet with art historian and curator, Greta Koppel.

Peter the Great, he's one of these, you know, megalomaniacal leaders from the past, and they almost always make these outrageous statements about themselves that they're, you know, kind of like a Roman god or a Greek god.

And we have evidence of that in the mural up above us.

- So this was a rather crude story.

But it is used here to indicate the events of North War.

- [Christine] This is the classical myth of Actaeon and Diana where Diana kills Actaeon for spying on her while bathing by turning him into a deer and then sends his own dogs to attack him.

Lovely choice of decor, don't ya think?

- That Diana symbolizes Russia, Peter the Great.

And the Actaeon is the poor king of Sweden, Carl XII, who was defeated in the war.

- And that's just the beginning of the curious symbols here, like these intersecting Ps, standing for Petrus Primus, Peter I.

The fact that he chose Latin for this monogram possibly hints at his desire to westernize Russia, which of course he did.

We have other interesting symbols.

I see, it looks like a haystack.

What's the meaning behind that one?

- It indicates how the areas that Peter the Great won in North War were added like straws into this haystack.

Like- - Oh, so he was collecting countries like.

- Yes.

- What an awful way to look at things.

(laughing) Little bit of an ego, a little bit of an ego.

And then there is one more big symbol which doesn't require interpretation at all.

This, the golden double-headed eagle of the Russian Empire, proudly hung high in the Great Hall, just in case anyone was wondering who was in charge around here.

(light piano music) But even though the palace is still full of symbols of Russian dominance, it most definitely has an Estonian legacy as well.

In its later years, the palace becomes the residence for the president of Estonia.

And of course today, it is this beautiful museum.

In fact, it is one of the finest art museums in all of northern Europe with exquisite collections of European art from the 16th through the 18th centuries.

(light folk music) Like these exquisite baroque, rococo and empire style furniture pieces whooshing you back in time to the lives of the upper class and the elegant salons they lived their lives in.

Some of these pieces come from Baltic German manor houses which we will learn about later.

None of them are original to the palace for a very curious reason.

How come we don't have any of his furniture, their furniture, here in the palace anymore.

- It was a summer residence, so their court came here only occasionally during the summer.

So they had very little furniture here on spot.

What they did, they often traveled with their furniture.

- That seems so, well obviously, it is extravagant because of who he was.

He was, "Oh my good, bring my furniture with me.

I have my favorite armchair.

I like my breakfast table."

And they just brought it all with them.

- It is.

- That's incredible.

And this room has some wonderful built-in art created in the 1930s, but in a 17th century style called Danzig baroque.

Oh, this is amazing.

It's a panoramic view of Estonia's capital city of Tallinn, all painstakingly inlaid with many shades of light and dark woods.

And if you look closely at the parliament building, you will see a tiny and wonderful bit of art history.

During Soviet rule, this Estonian flag was painted over.

But fortunately, after Estonia regained its independence, it was uncovered and proudly displayed once more.

(elegant music) Our next room contains more symbols of Estonia's fight for independence with a special exhibit and paintings depicting a very important year, 1918, the year Estonia gets its independence from Russia.

During this time, there was an effort to help get Estonians out of Russia and relocated into the new Republic of Estonia.

And that is where these paintings come in.

- People who moved from Russia back to Estonia, they paid for their transport costs with paintings because there was not much money available at the time.

They came into possession of the paintings while selling their real estate in Russia.

And then they were paid in paintings.

- They were buying their way home through paintings.

Now, how do we know that?

I know there's some interesting markings on here.

How do these markings help tell us that history or help prove that history?

- This painting is a very good example in that sense because you see two old inventory marks.

- Yes, these two little tiny markings tell us the history.

This red number is from 1797 and tells us that this painting was once in the famous Hermitage of St. Petersburg.

And this white number tells us that before that, it was in the Marble Palace, also in St. Petersburg.

That's amazing.

So because of these two different sets of numbers, we know where the painting started, but then it came into the hands of maybe noble families or regular.

- How the owner who paid for his transport costs got into possession of this painting, we do not know.

- What a journey.

What a journey.

(light chamber music) - So many years of history, so much turmoil between countries and cultures and identities, and between the haves and the have-nots, surrounded by all this beauty from the elegant art inside to the glorious architecture and gardens and fountains outside.

(bright music) (water splashing) But as grand and as beautiful and elaborate as Kadriog Palace is, there is a footnote to the story you need to know about.

So we know Peter the Great mad his stamp on Estonia with that palace, but that is not where he actually lived.

In fact, he lived here in this very humble, by comparison, cottage.

Every time he visited Tallinn, he stayed here while the palace was being built.

And in fact, he passed away before he ever saw the palace completed.

Yep, this is where Peter and Catherine actually lived while Kadriog was being built.

And Peter the Great was used to living in some not-so-great small quarters because when St. Petersburg was being developed a decade earlier, he also famously lived inside this small cottage.

How curious.

(bright music) Next, we go from the Russian influence on Estonia's landmark houses to the Baltic German influence.

The Baltic Germans, as the name suggests, were the German people who lived throughout the Baltic region for many, many centuries.

Of the hundreds of elegant manor homes on large estates across Estonia, most of them were lived in and owned by the Baltic German nobility.

And for about 700 years, they were the ruling class of Estonia.

It began with the 13th-century Crusades when German Teutonic knights spread Christianity across pagan Estonia.

And German rule spread even more with the Hanseatic League, the German trading network which established German cities across northern Europe.

These Baltic Germans even established their own Estonian knighthood, giving themselves titles and ranks in establishing this elite class.

(light folk music) Meanwhile, throughout those centuries, the native Estonians become the peasants, or the working class.

And the nobility built their manor houses here, around 2,000 in fact, including this one, Palmse Manor.

Palmse Manor is one of the grandest baroque mansions in all of Estonia.

And it was the very first fully-restored manor complex in the entire country.

Over the years it survived everything, from a war to a famine to even a plague.

And for the noble families who lived here, they made their wealth off of everything from vodka to bricks.

So yes, this elegant country estate had a very curious history.

(light piano music) The von der Pahlens, a noble Baltic German family, lived here for many generations from 1677 all the way until 1923.

They had many notable members, including barons, generals, politicians, scientists, architects, artists, even a railway industrialist.

They sustained their wealth by some pretty down to earth methods right here on the estate.

They rented out their farmland, sold their timber and cattle, and even distilled their own vodka and made bricks in a kiln, all right here on the premises.

But with all that hard work outside, done by the Estonian peasants of course, it was all elegance on the inside for the noble family.

This is absolutely amazing.

To show us around is the lovely Katriin and dapper Jaan-Laur.

And yes, I do realize he towers over us, especially with that top hat.

But since my Estonian is a bit rusty, we're gonna need him to stick around.

I wanna look around this room.

Would this have been the receiving room or the entertaining room throughout the years?

(speaking Estonian) (speaking Estonian) (speaking Estonian) - So yes, this was basically the entertainment room but also the dining room.

So you would have dinner here.

You would maybe read out books for each other or play music for each other.

- So in the days before everybody was staring at their iPhones all the time or texting each other, we would have wonderful entertainment like this, maybe dancing, that kind of thing?

- Basically.

- Basically.

And after all that wild entertainment, there were special rooms to retreat to, like this beautiful blue one.

Let's go into the other room.

Then when I first saw this room, I thought maybe, "Oh, this is where the ladies hang out."

Was this room exclusively for ladies?

What was this room used for?

- So this was generally the lady's side.

So the house was split in two sides, at least the first floor, for the females and males of the family.

And this was the blue saloon of the lady of the house.

- Ah, that's beautiful.

Because sometimes ladies, we want our quiet time away from the men.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

See, she understood that, when she's like, "Yeah."

Yeah.

And then there are these beautiful bedrooms and offices and some gorgeous period dresses, even this quirky little music machine.

(coin clatters) (folk music) And the last room is even more stunning, the formal dining room with lovely little coats of arms on the menus and photos of prominent family members hung proudly on the walls, including one who was instrumental in establishing Estonia's first railway in 1870.

(speaking Estonian) - That handsome fellow there, the good looking guy over there?

- Yeah, so that's Alexander von der Pahlen.

He was the one who made it happen after the czar had blessed it that yes, the railway can be built.

He's the one who made it happen.

(speaking Estonian) - He had a lot of interests also.

For example, he went quite often to St. Petersburg to see the beautiful gardens and the parks and to bring that garden and park culture back to Estonia or to around to his house.

- So let's go take a stroll through the beautiful sculpted gardens of Palmse Manor inspired by the baroque gardens of St. Petersburg (light piano music) and surrounded by acres and acres of forest in what was once all the property of one single family.

(light piano music) But all this private luxury meets an interesting end.

After Estonian independence in 1918, private estates were seized and became government property.

So, after more than 200 years, the von der Pahlen family leaves Estonia and moves to Germany.

(light piano music) Ultimately, all these beautiful lands become a national park.

And in the 1980s, Palmse Manor becomes the first restored Estonian Manor house to open to the public as an open air museum.

(children shouting) Next, we go from a manor house to a dreamy castle set on 740 acres of forest in Tartu County on the eastern border of Estonia.

This medieval castle is the most important castle for this region of Estonia.

In fact, it is on the coat of arms for the local municipality.

And it has all of those wonderful iconic elements of a medieval castle, from the round towers to the crenelations, to even a little flag on top.

The only problem is this was never a medieval castle.

(whimsical music) The history of Alatskivi dates back to at least 1601 when a Swedish king gives a manor house to one of his representatives here in Estonia.

Then in 1880, the Baltic German noble von Nolcken family buys it and creates this crazy castle.

To find out why, let's go inside.

As soon as you enter, you'll see this narrow and very tall lobby.

And up high in what looks like a balcony for one is where the charismatic Baron von Nolcken liked to greet his guests from.

Born to be a baroness, born to be baroness.

That ought to tell you right away about the extravagance and eccentricities of the baron and his family who lived here.

To tell us more about this one-of-a-kind medieval castle, that's not really a medieval castle, is Alatskivi Castle manager Laura Scott, all decked out in 19th century costume.

And this would've been the receiving room, right?

- Yes, this is kind of like a sitting room for the family.

And that was used daily.

But for parties, for balls, for example, and bigger dinner parties, they would, basically, just clear out all the furniture and either put the dancers in here or lots of people sitting down for a fancy dinner.

- [Christine] Over the fireplace is this big beautiful letter A for Alatskivi Castle and also for the Baron's first name, Arved.

But there is another letter here too.

- You look in it into more detail, you can see that the A is actually made out of two letters J.

- All right, I have to get closer.

- Okay.

- Is it okay to touch it?

It's a museum thing.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely you can touch it.

- Okay, so I see the A, and what's the other element?

The letter J, but it's two of them.

- Oh.

- Exactly.

And because of the fact that the lady had of the house, she was called Josephine.

So this is almost like a love offering to her as well.

So because obviously they built this castle for love.

So both of their names are actually into combining here.

- [Christine] And that love was certainly shown with a big gesture because... - There was a manor house in the area before, and nothing happened to it.

It just wasn't fitted for Baroness Josephine.

- It wasn't quite perfect enough.

It wasn't quite fancy enough.

Okay.

- To have this castle was actually her small wish towards the baron.

She actually went to baron and said, "I would like to have a small white building in Alatskivi."

- Oh my, small.

- And this is what she got, yes.

- [Christine] And this small castle originally had 74 rooms, 57 buildings, many, many bedrooms, sitting rooms, even an entire cellar dedicated just to cheese.

And that's just the inside.

Now we get to why the outside was inspired by a pretty famous castle.

You'll never guess which one.

Balmoral castle?

- Yes.

- Why was it modeled after one of the British royal family's residences, Balmoral, in Scotland?

- There's a story that they visited England and Scotland because their other castle, which the friend owns, is actually built after the Windsor Castle.

So I think they went there, and obviously Estonia didn't have such grand houses, and they, like, saw them and were completely blown away by the looks of things.

And that's why they decided to go ahead and build this castle here.

- That's amazing.

But you know what I got out of that story?

There is or was a group of people who like, "Oh, well, your castle looks like this.

So my castle needs to look like this.

I'm friends with the queen.

I'm friends with."

What a life.

What an amazing life.

- Absolutely.

- [Christine] But if you think modeling your home after a British royal castle is extravagant, listen to what the baron and baroness received as their wedding present from the family.

- So, Josephine's mom and dad sold some forest because the city of Tallinn was being built at the same time.

So they sold some forest to give the youngsters some money to build a castle, basically.

- Again, I have to put it back into terms of a normal people's lives.

You know, you think a wedding gift, someone gets, like, some china or silver.

It's like, "Oh no, I'm gonna sell some forests so I can buy a manor house for you as a wedding gift."

- It is incredible.

- But all this over-the-top luxury came to a crashing halt in 1905 with the peasant revolution where, across Estonia, German noble families and landowners had their homes taken from them or destroyed.

Many of these families escaped for Germany, including the von Nolckens who left their beloved Alatskivi Castle, taking as much furniture and possessions as they could, even ripping the silk wallpaper off the walls.

Now, more than a century later, a few of these pieces have returned home.

This particular piece has had quite an interesting journey from here back to Germany and then back here.

- Yeah, they took it with them.

And 2005, the last relative of the family who was living in the house passed away, and then they decided to give it back to us.

One of the family's wishes was that we will get some furniture back here.

- That's amazing.

So one piece of furniture tells this whole long story, one story.

- Exactly, exactly.

I mean, if this could speak.

- If it could speak.

And today, these pieces of history continue to tell the story of Alatskivi Castle as it lives its new life as a museum, a visitor center, and a luxury hotel.

(bright music) Our final stop takes us to lovely Vihula Manor, today a luxury hotel where you can sleep like a noble.

Over its history, a Danish knight, then a Danish baron, and later a German noble family all lived here and owned the surrounding estate.

But there was never an Estonian noble family here in this Estonian manor or in any manor in Estonia for that matter.

Not in Palmse Manor, not in Alatskivi Castle, certainly not in Kadriog Palace.

For this history, we chat with local historian, Mirell-Lus Orgus.

- The noble families in general were never Estonian.

The most were, like, Baltic Germans or Swedes.

- [Christine] Because over the 700 years that Baltic Germans, Swedes and Russians occupied, conquered and ruled over the region, the local Estonians became the serfs and considered part of the landowner's property.

- These people used to, you know, we were nothing to them.

There's like, these von Schuberts, they one of the nicest ones.

- So even though that's a big part of Estonian history, nowadays, Estonia embraces manor houses like these as their own?

- Yeah, it's like, let's say, it's a bittersweet memory.

You know, what used to be the beauty of them, we embrace that.

- [Christine] So, the legacy of these beautiful manor homes is a complicated one.

And not just for the descendants of those Estonian peasants, but also for the descendants of the noble families who were essentially kicked out of their ancestral homes after the peasant uprising, Estonian independence, and during World War II.

But some come back to visit their ancestral homes here in Estonia.

- They want to learn the history.

They want to see how, you know, where they're from.

And I think that's their right because these are their actual homes.

- What's the most interesting piece of history you've learned in your research?

- You know, the good that the manor owners actually did for this land and how much they helped, in a way, to take the rural Estonia, build it up.

You know, they brought the language, their mannerism.

So I think that's something we took from them, and I'm very grateful for that.

- And now, all these centuries later, as we've seen, these mansions and estates and castles and palaces have become gorgeous hotels or museums.

But a few are back under private ownership, Estonian ownership, including one that is very dear to Mirell.

Do you happen to live in a manor home yourself?

Do you own a manor home?

What's your connection to this history?

- My grandfather does own.

It used to be like a small manor home.

It has great land.

It has beautiful landscape.

It has, like, an English garden, I would say.

So that's my connection to the manor houses, and I take great pride in it.

- Is that how you got interested in doing this?

- Yeah.

- That's amazing.

It's amazing.

(baroque violin music) So, from a Russian invasion that produced the prettiest of palaces with Greek and Roman and curious symbols throughout, sometimes hidden in a haystack, to the sunniest of baroque manor homes where politicians, railroad builders, and ladies who needed some quiet time, all lived in the lap of luxury, to the most curious of castles, which isn't really a castle, inspired by the British royal family as an extreme form of keeping up with the Joneses to an Estonian Baltic German legacy that is both complicated and beautiful, Estonia's palaces, castles, and manor homes have so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey.

And hopefully now, you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of Estonia's curious palaces, manor houses and castles.

As they say here in Estonia, head aega.

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