MONUMENTS AND POWER

The catalogue of the Estonian History Museum outdoor exhibition Monuments and Power covers the story of the few dozen Soviet monumental sculptures displayed in the Maarjamäe Palace park.

The exhibition is made up of sculptures that have been removed from their previous locations, mostly after 1991, when Estonia regained its independence. The catalogue, just like the exhibition, draws on the fate of the people for whom the sculptures were erected. There are four larger groups: Soviet Union leaders Lenin and Stalin, heroes of World War II, people executed by their own side during Soviet repressions, and people killed by the enemy.

In the first chapter of the book, “Monuments and power”, Marek Tamm and Jaak Valge talk about the various layers of the Estonian monumental memory landscape. The most extensive of the layers is the latest one – the communist layer of Soviet times.

In the second chapter, Rita Valge gives an overview of Soviet-time monumental sculptures in Estonia.

The third and longest part of the book, which features a rich array of photographs and illustrations, is dedicated to the monuments that make up the outdoor exhibition of the Estonian History Museum. Jaak Valge and Rita Valge write both about the people or events depicted as well as the stories of how the monuments were created or demolished.

Since there is much uncertainty about how exactly several of these monuments were taken down, we hope to gain new insight into the subject once this book is published.

The Estonian History Museum catalogue Monuments and Power is also published in Russian and English.