Tartu Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Tartu Cathedral earlier also known as Dorpat Cathedral is one of the landmarks of the Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n city of Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
(Dorpat). The building is now an imposing ruin overlooking the lower town. In the small part of it that has been renovated is now located the museum of the University of Tartu
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
, which the university also uses for major receptions.
History
The hill on which the cathedral later stood (Toomemägi or "cathedral hill"), on the EmajõgiEmajõgi
The Emajõgi is a river in Estonia which flows from Lake Võrtsjärv through Tartu County into Lake Peipus, crossing the city of Tartu for 10 km. It has a length of 100 km...
River, was one of the largest strongholds of the pagan Estonians
Estonians
Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian...
, and the strategic nature of the site makes it likely that it had been since the earliest times. It was destroyed in 1224 by the Christian invaders of Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
. Immediately after the conquest the Christians began construction of a bishop's fortress, the Castrum Tarbatae, on this strategic spot. (Parts of the old walls of the previous structures have since been revealed by archaeological excavations).
The construction of the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
cathedral on the north side of the cathedral hill was probably begun in the second half of the 13th century. It was surrounded by a graveyard and houses for the members of the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
. The cathedral was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, who were also the patron saints of the city. It was the seat of the Bishopric of Dorpat
Bishopric of Dorpat
The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval principality and a catholic diocese which existed from 1224 to 1558, generally encompassing what are now Tartu, Põlva, Võru and Jõgeva counties in Estonia. The Bishopric was part of Livonian Confederation...
, and one of the largest religious buildings of Eastern Europe.
The church was originally planned as a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
, but the later addition of the three-aisled quire gave it the character of a hall church
Hall church
A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....
. The quire (in an early form) and nave were already in use by 1299. About 1470 the high quire with its pillars and arches was completed in Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
style. The cathedral was completed at the end of the 16th century with the building of the two massive fortress-like towers, originally 66 metres high, on either side of the west front. A wall separated the cathedral grounds and the bishop's fortified residence from the lower town.
Decline of the cathedral
In the mid-1520s the ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
reached Tartu. On 10 January 1525 the cathedral was badly damaged by Protestant iconoclast
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
s, after which it fell increasingly into decay. After the deportation to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
of the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Dorpat, Hermann Wesel
Hermann Wesel
Hermann Wesel was a German ecclesiastic in Livonia, and the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Dorpat .-Life:Hermann Wesel is presumed to have originated from Wesel on the Lower Rhine. His father is supposed to have been a shoemaker....
(bishop from 1554 to 1558; died 1563), the cathedral church was abandoned. During the Livonian War
Livonian War
The Livonian War was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.During the period 1558–1578,...
(1558–1583) Russian troops devastated the city. When in 1582 the city fell to the Poles, the new Roman Catholic rulers planned to rebuild the cathedral, but the plans were abandoned because of the ensuing Polish-Swedish War (1600–1611). A fire in 1624 compounded the damage.
In 1629 Tartu became Swedish, and the new rulers showed little interest in the derelict building, which during their time fell further into ruin and neglect, except that the burials of the townspeople continued in the graveyard well into the 18th century, while the main body of the church served as a barn. In the 1760s the two towers were reduced from 66 metres to 22 metres, the level of the nave roof, and made into a platform for cannon. The main portal was walled up at this time.
University
With the re-founding of the German-speaking University of Dorpat by Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1802, the Baltic GermanBaltic German
The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
architect Johann Wilhelm Krause was commissioned to build among the cathedral ruins the university library, a three-storey building erected between 1804 and 1807. Krause also planned an observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
in one of the old towers, but this never happened, and the observatory was built new. At the end of the 19th century the northern tower was converted for use as a water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
.
In the 1960s the library building was extended and fitted with central heating. When it was replaced in 1981 by a new university library building, the old library became the home of the historical museum of the University of Tartu . A thorough building conversion took place in 1985, when the 19th century interior was largely restored. Today the museum contains displays of important artefacts of the university's history, scientific instruments and rare books. The rest of the cathedral ruins and the external walls of the quire have been structurally secured and consolidated.
Toomemägi
The area surrounding the cathedral – the cathedral hill or Toomemägi – was landscaped as a park in the 19th century. Besides a cafe, the park now contains numerous monuments to people connected to the scientific and literary traditions of Tartu. These include among others: Karl Ernst von BaerKarl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn also known in Russia as Karl Maksimovich Baer was an Estonian naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a...
(1792–1876), Tartu's greatest natural scientist; Kristjan Jaak Peterson
Kristjan Jaak Peterson
Kristjan Jaak Peterson also known as Christian Jacob Petersohn, was an Estonian poet, commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and the founder of modern Estonian poetry. His literary career was cut short by the tuberculosis that killed him at the age of 21. His birthday on...
(1801–1822), the first Estonian poet; Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810–1881), the great Russian doctor; and Friedrich Robert Faehlmann
Friedrich Robert Faehlmann
Friedrich Robert Faehlmann was an Estonian philologist and an Estophile active in Livonia, Russian Empire...
(1798–1850), the initiator of the Estonian national epic, the Kalevipoeg
Kalevipoeg
Kalevipoeg is an epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald held to be the Estonian national epic.- Origins : There existed an oral tradition within Ancient Estonia of legends explaining the origin of the world...
. The path to the lower town is spanned by the Inglisild or Angel Bridge, a name which is very likely however to represent a corruption of an original "Englische Brücke" or "English bridge", built between 1814 and 1816. A portrait relief in the middle commemorates the first rector of the re-founded university in 1802, Georg Friedrich Parrot
Georg Friedrich Parrot
Georg Friedrich Parrot was an Livonian scientist. He was the first rector of the Imperial University of Dorpat founded in 1802.-Biography:Georges-Frédéric Parrot was born in Montbéliard, France...
(1767–1852), and bears the inscription Otium reficit vires ("Leisure Renews the Powers"). Also on the Toomemägi are the seat of the Estonian Supreme Court, Dorpat Observatory (tähetorn), built in 1811, and the university's old anatomy theatre.