Tartu (Estonian: Tarto) is the second largest city of Estonia. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga. The University of Tartu is the nation’s oldest and most renowned university. Tarto is going to be the European Capital of Culture in 2024.
About Tartu, Estonia in brief
Tartu (Estonian: Tarto) is the second largest city of Estonia. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga, the capital of Latvia. The city is often considered the intellectual centre of the country. Tartu houses the Supreme Court of Estonia, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Estonian National Museum, and the oldest Estonian-language theater, Vanemuine. The University of Tartu is the nation’s oldest and most renowned university. Tarto is going to be the European Capital of Culture in 2024. The first documented record of the area was made in 1030 by chroniclers of Kievan Rus. In the 12th century Estonians on one side and Novgorod and Pskov on other side repeatedly raided each other. In 1262 the army of Prince Dmitri of Pereslavl, son of Alexander Nevsky launched an assault on Dorpat, capturing and destroying the town. The event was recorded both in German and Old East Slavic chronicles, which also provided the first of a settlement of artisans which had arisen alongside the bishop’s fortress. In medieval times after the Livonian Order was subsumed into the Teutonic Knights in 1236, the town became an important trading city. As all of Estonia and Latvia, the largely German-speaking nobility, but in Tartu even more so, dominated culture, education, religion, and politics until the late 19th century.
For example, the city hall of Dorpat was designed by Johann Kracklenburg, another German, while the university buildings were designed by Wilhelm Krackburg. In German, Swedish and Polish the town has been known and is sometimes still referred to as Dorpat , a variant of Tarbatu. In Finnish-speakers use the toponym Tartto. By the 7th century, local inhabitants had built a wooden fortification on the east side of Toome Hill. Over the next centuries the settlement grew, and around 9th–10th centuries became an inland trading center. It was captured by the crusading Livonian Knights in the beginning of the 13th century and recaptured by Estonians several times during the period of Northern Crusades. The distance to Estonia’s summer holiday capital Pärnu in the west is 176 kilometres and the fastest route there by car is through Viljandi and Kilingi-Nõmme. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonian, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. The town is served by Tartu Airport, which is located in the south of the city, near the town of Kailuaalu and the city of Väljakarta. It has a population of 1.2 million. It became a commercial centre of considerable importance during the later Middle Ages and the capital.
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This page is based on the article Tartu, Estonia published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
