Tartu
Tartu (before 1918 known primarily in English by its German name, Dorpat), with its population of 101,246 (the Population Census data is from 2000) in an area of 38.8 square kilometres, is the second largest city of Estonia. The first written records of Tartu date from 1030.
Tartu, situated 185 kilometres south of Tallinn, is also the centre of Southern Estonia. The Emajõgi River, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia, flows for the length of 10 kilometres within the city limits and adds colour to the city.
During the civil war in Soviet Russia following World War I, a Peace Treaty between the Bolshevik Soviet Russian government and Estonia was signed in 1920 on February 2 in Tartu. The treaty meant that Soviet Russia renounced territorial claims to Estonia "for all time".
During World War II a large part of the city as well as the historical Kivisild (Stone Bridge) from 1871 over Emajõgi were destroyed by the Soviet forces partly in 1941 and almost totally in 1944.
The city is best known for being the home of the University of Tartu, which was founded by the Swedish King Gustaf II Adolf in 1632. Tartu is therefore also known as the "Athens of the Emajõgi", or, earlier, as the "Heidelberg of the North". Tartu is today also the seat of the Estonian Agricultural University, the Baltic Defence College, and - partially for decentralization reasons, partially because the move of the ministry allowed the improvement of personnel - since recently also of the Ministry of Education and Research.
The Estonian Supreme Court, which was reestablished in Tartu in the autumn of 1993, is likewise in Tartu, as well as the Estonian Historical Archives.
History
Ca 600 AD On the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) the Estonians erected a fortress called Tarbatu. In 1030, Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Kiev, raided Tarbatu and built his own fort in that place, which went by the name of Yurjev (as city and university were officially also called during times of "heavy Russification", ca. 1885-1918). Tartu was a commercial centre of considerable importance during the later Middle Ages and a member of the Hanseatic League. In the 16th century, Livonia and Tartu both came under Polish rule, and a Jesuit grammar school was established in Tartu in 1583. In addition, a translators' seminary was organized in Tartu. The activities of both the grammar school and the seminary were stopped by the Polish-Swedish war (1601). Tartu then became Swedish - which led to the foundation of the university - and, in 1721, part of the Russian Empire, which it remained until 1918.
See also: University of Tartu