Parnu Destination Guide

Pärnu offers a rich cultural experience to travellers.

The Museum of New Art is a place, where the reputed International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival held in the city draws film enthusiasts from all over the world, while in midsummer well-known musicians from across the globe flock to the David Oistrakh Festival, bringing with them new sounds. The inhabitants of Pärnu are partial to music of all kinds. There are interesting plays too, at the Endla Theatre.

Pärnu Artists’ House (Aida St.4, opened: Tue-Fri 12-19, Sat 12-16) is a place of both creative activities and arts exposition. The house presents artists ateliers, room for a resident artist, room for seminars and offices for cultural organisers. The main function of the house is to provide necessary working rooms for artists of Pärnu and to popularise visual arts fulfilling the necessary space in the cultural education of the local population. The House hosts different cultural events and workshops for various interested parties.

Pärnu City Callery, (Nikolai St.27, opened: Tue-Fri 12-18, Sat 12-16) the municipal gallery of Pärnu city government was founded in order to organise exhibitions of visual arts and to develop the cultural life of Pärnu. Since the year of its founding in 1995, the Pärnu City Gallery has organised more than 300 exhibitions. In the period of 1995-2002, the gallery was situated on the Rüütli St. 30. Since 2002 we are working at the new rooms of Pärnu Concert Hall.

Art Gallery of Villa Artis (Amandus Adamsoni 1, opened: Mo-Sat 10.30-17 Summer, Mo-Fri 10.30-17 Autumn-Spring) s a private art gallery in the heart of Pärnu. Since the time of its founding in March 2009, six exhibitions has been organised.
Information about coming exhibitions and references: http://www.reiser.ee/index.php?id=kunstigalerii&L=1
In addition, workshops, seminars and meetings with artists take place in Villa Artis art gallery. Moreover, artists are welcome to stay at guesthouse Villa Artis.

As soon as you enter the Old Town, you will see the Elizabeth Church built in the stunning Estonian Baroque style. It is a beautiful sight, blending well with Pärnu's classical and neoclassical architecture and may be seen from any place in town. The Elizabeth Church was built by a famous Latvian architect in the middle of the 18th century and commissioned by the Russian Empress Elizabeth, after whom it is named. The altar and altarpiece were added more recently (1850 -1856), and the church possesses one of Estonia's finest organs. The church is a very bright green and yellow, has a richly decorated interior, and is crowned with multiple spires.

The Empress Catherine II of Russia had a church built during 1764 - 1768, which would immortalise her - the St. Catherine's Church. This is the richest church in Estonia and the epitome of Baroque style. It has had a great impact on the development of the clerical architecture of the Apostolic Orthodox church in the Baltic countries.

All that can be seen today of the Tallinn Gate which was built in the 17th century is one of the gates in the former town wall. It was so named because it led to a bridge across the moat, and then to the main road to Tallinn. You can see sections of the moat which have been carefully preserved. The path along its side is ideal for a short, pleasant stroll. In summer, water lilies fill the waters of the moat. Ruins of the ramparts are also visible from this vantage point.

The Punane Torn (Red Tower), which belonged to a prison in the 16th century, was renovated in the 80s and, unfortunately, the old red brick lining that gave the tower its name was not recreated. The tower used to be four storeys tall, with the ground floor acting as a prison - a pit 6 metres deep. In the late 1780s, when it was to be enlarged, the work could not be completed, and the pit was covered up. After the prison closed, it was used as a place to store archives.

On the Old Town's main street, Rüütli Street, you can see Pärnu's most beautiful old buildings. One of these buildings (53 Rüütli Street) houses the Town Museum. Here you can learn all about Pärnu's past, and also get an idea of the modern Pärnu.

An example of classical architecture is the Town Hall, rebuilt in 1819 after its merchant owner died. It was purchased from the merchant's heirs on the orders of Tzar Alexander I when he visited Pärnu. Originally, the Town Hall was built in 1797 as a dwelling. It was rebuilt to house the Governor and later became the Town Hall. In 1911, the Jugendstil extension, incorporating Neo-Gothic and Neo-Baroque styles, was added to the structure.

Pärnu has many green areas and parks. In Koidula Park (in the town centre), surrounded by fountains and flowers stands the statue of Lydia Koidula, who was a well-known Estonian poet. She was born near Pärnu in 1843, and her patriotic poetry was the voice of Estonia's "national awakening". Her picture graces the 100 EEK note.

Another great place for a lazy afternoon is near the beach in Rannapark. This is a large park with lots of pine trees and benches. And when you have done enough strolling around, you can buy refreshments from the kiosks in the park.

This national park in south-western Estonia is named after its 400 sq km complex of bogs ('soomaa' means 'Land of Bogs') situated in the catchment of the Pärnu River, one of the country's longest. In 1997, Soomaa was acknowledged as one of the ecologically important regions of Europe and became a CORINE biotope area. It was also on the Ramsar list of wetlands, and in 1998 was nominated as a World Heritage Site to be maintained by UNESCO.

The park was created in 1993, and although it is one of Estonia's youngest, in area it is second only to the Lahemaa National Park. The Soomaa National Park is situated in Transitional Estonia, and its purpose is to protect large raised bogs, forests, rivers, and flood plain grasslands. The area is mostly covered with huge mires. These mires are segregated by the rivers of the Pärnu river basin - the Halliste, Navesti, Raudna, and Lemmjõgi Rivers.

The flatlands in the mid section of Estonia on the imaginary aisle in the direction of Peipsi - Võrtsjärve- Pärnu are not imaginary at all, but an actual water world. On their western borders lie the great swamps and mighty rivers of the Soomaa National Park. This water world has five densely forested fens divided by vast flood plains. The meeting of the many rivers in the rather small area between the fens and swamps offers an extraordinary spectacle of tumultuous water.

During the rainy season or the spring melting, the neighbouring Sakala uplands release an avalanche of water, causing the rivers on the flatlands to flood their banks. This flood of almost Biblical proportions occurs every year, and in fact, in these parts, the fifth season is named as 'Flood'. In the melting springtime, the water covers hundreds of square kilometres in Soomaa - a grand, though sinister sight. The water level of these rivers rises by as much as 6 metres during the flood season. However, the inhabitants of this area, with their traditional two storey barns, are prepared for the deluge. Animals are shifted to the second floor to escape the flood waters. Many families in the vicinity of the park still cling to their dugout canoes, which used to be the only means of transportation during the flood season.

No other place in Estonia is as affected by the climate as is Soomaa. During the spring flood season when huge amounts of water run down the Sakala Upland, the rivers spill over flood plain grasslands and forests, drowning roads and disrupting the area's links with the rest of the country. At times the water level has risen by a metre a day for 3-4 consecutive days. It was just such a deluge that formed the largest flood plain in Estonia - the Riisa flood area, which is 175 sq km at its widest point. When the flood is at maximum strength, the area covered can be 7-8 km across, and from the waters rise islands of raised bogs with steep sides.

Soomaa National Park is the most valuable wilderness in southwest Estonia. Here you'll find one of the only two large surviving bogs in the country - the Kuresoo Bogs, which rank extremely high in species diversity. The riverbanks are covered with botanically important alluvial meadows and forests that shelter approximately 200 recorded species, including Iris siberica, Gladiolus imbricatus, and Sedum telephium. The unique swamp forests (carrs) surrounding the site support more than 1% of the populations of Cygnus columbianus and Grus grus. What's more, you'll find all the bird species of Estonia in these bogs, particularly the Kuresoo. The adjacent forests also are host to many species of birds.

In these bogs, you will come across flora of both marine and continental origin. And in the variegated forests grow many species such as Gypsophila fastigiate, Epipogium aphyllum and Astragalus arenarius.

The best way to explore the wilderness of Soomaa is via canoe. Along with canoeing, you can take a walk across the peat-bogs and the nature trails in the forests.

The traditional dugout canoe, known as 'haabjas' in Estonian, is carved out of a single tree trunk. If you'd like to learn how to make your own dugout, head to the Base Camp Karuskose in the heart of Soomaa. Here you can study in depth the finno-ugric dugout and take part in the practical dugout-building workshops.

A guided full-service day trip in Soomaa includes a three kilometre peat bog walk, a seven kilometre canoeing trip and a traditional dugout building workshop. You can also get your own pair of bog shoes that have always been used for wetland walks. These shoes will allow you to reach normally inaccessible places.

Or you could choose to embark on a guided tour that entails three hours of beaver watching by canoe. For the rough and tough in South Estonia, there's the smoke sauna where you will be expected to beat yourself with juniper, nettle or birch twigs, after which you can indulge in delicious local beer and food.

That the Estonians love saunas is very clear in the Sooma National Park. Another option here is to try canoeing and a barrel sauna. There are other saunas too, such as the Finnish sauna with hot tub and 'sweat lodge', but perhaps their most popular version is the 'floating sauna', which sets you afloat on the river Raudna near Base Camp Karuskose.

You can find interesting things to do here even in the winter: snowshoe tours across the frozen wetlands, and if there's snow, cross-country skiing. Even the rivers are covered with ice, which gives you the opportunity to go ice-fishing.