Restoration of Henrik Visnapuu Award

At its annual meeting in November, the Estonian American National Council decided to restore the Henrik Visnapuu Literature and Culture Award, founded in the U.S. in 1952 after Visnapuu's death on Long Island and discontinued due to the loss of organizing parties in 2007.

Visnapuu was a well-known patriotic poet and dramatist.

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Published: January 10 2021

"Tartu the Christmas City", is the university city's other, current claim to fame. Its Town Hall Square is full of glass pavilions, including one from which writers broadcast poetry online and another housing happy chickens that lay Christmas eggs. But the crowning glory of this year's Village of Light is the skating rink, built around the "Kissing students" fountain. See www.joululinntartu.ee and on Facebook.
Photo: Krister Rajandu/ Tartu Facebook page

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Published: December 25 2020

This year will be a Christmas like no other.

Families will be apart, we won’t be in church, or visiting with friends, but it will still be Christmas.

Dr. Fauci has confirmed that Jõuluvana, being a magical being, is immune to corona virus and will have no problem traveling.

Päkapikud are also immune, so keep an eye out for them running about.

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Published: December 25 2020

The National Library of Estonia is holding an exhibition of textbooks used for studying in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, which are on display for the first time.

The oldest textbook is from the year 1515 and additionally, studying tools used during that time can also be viewed.

The "ABC and Cicero. The History of School Books in Estonia" exhibition features textbooks used in the countryside and urban schools.

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Published: December 25 2020

U.S. Ends Danske Estonia Money Laundering Investigation

The Estonian branch of Danske Bank did not breach U.S. sanctions by moving around billions of dollars in suspicious funds, the U.S. Department of Treasury reports.

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Published: December 25 2020

The Embassy of the Czech Republic recently hosted an online panel discussion “Radio Free Europe at 70: Its Importance Then and Now” to look at the relevance of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL or the Radios) through more than 70 years of service. 

The panelists were former directors of RFE/RL Tom Dine (1997-2005) and Jamie Fly (2019-2020).  

Radio Free Europe was founded in 1949 to broadcast to Soviet satellite countries, while Radio Liberty started in 1953 to target audiences in the Soviet Union.

The two entities were merged in 1976. 

According to Wikipedia, their purpose was – and still is – to serve as “a free pro-democratic press in countries where the ‘free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed’"  (Wikipedia).

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Published: December 20 2020

Launch of the EML Roland and EML Risto.  Source: mil.ee

The Estonian Navy (Merevägi) took delivery of two new, Saaremaa-built force protection vessels, the first ships built to order for the navy since the restoration of independence in 1991.

A launch ceremony took place on December 10, at Nasva Harbor, Saaremaa, to mark the official handover of the two vessels, the ENS Risto and the ENS Roland, built by Baltic Workboats AS (BWB), to the navy.

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Published: December 20 2020

Tartu's "success story" at reducing car traffic, noise and air pollution in the city center has been nominated for an international award at the Green Destinations Stories Awards.

In October, Tartu entered the Sustainable TOP 100 Destinations list of the international sustainable tourism development organization Green Destinations.

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Published: December 20 2020