Elva is a city and municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. There
are two large lakes in Elva. Lake Verevi has a sandy and
well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer and
hosts many outdoor activities. Lake Arbi has damp, reedy shores.
Elva's largest employer (and throughout South Estonia) is Enics
Eesti AS, a subsidiary of the Enics Group, providing electronics
manufacturing services in the field of industrial electronics. Elva
has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade
to high school graduation.
The dominant element in Elva is
the train station, which today serves as an information center for
visitors and which in past centuries was an important trade route.
For more information on hiking and cycling, please contact the
Visitor Information Center. The Elva River, with its old mills and
fast-flowing banks, is popular with canoeing enthusiasts. In winter,
skiers can take part in the Tartu Marathon, part of the Worldloppet
series. In summer, mountain bikes are available on its 60 km long
trail from Otepää to Elva.
Tartu County Museum
The Tartu County Museum (formerly the Elva
Museum of Local Lore and the Elva Interdistrict Museum of Internal
Affairs) was founded in 1959 in the town of Elva.
The postal
address of the museum was Elva, Pikk street 2. It had two branches:
the Leopold Hansen House-Museum of the actor Vanemuine at 10
Vanemuine, and the Artist Eduard Kutsar House-Museum at Kerner 4.
The branches were located in houses donated to the museum by Hansen
and Kutsar ... The last director of the museum was Kadri Kivari,
chief curator of Indrek Merimaa.
According to the statutes,
the main task of the museum was "To evaluate the history, culture
and natural history of Tartu County as one of the historical and
cultural regions of Estonia for the benefit of society and its
participation in society."
The museum belonged to the
Ministry of Culture. In recent years, a move to Alatskivi Castle has
been considered, but this has led to opposition from Elva. In 2012
it was decided to move the museum to Elva. However, negotiations
between the Ministry of Culture and the city of Elva reached an
impasse. According to the ministry, the city of Elva made demands
that violated the Law on State Property, and the city did not want
to take on the current staff of the Tartu County Museum.
According to the mayor of Elva Toomas Järveoja, the city planned to
sell two branches and isolate the headquarters of the museum for the
money received. However, the city did not want to take over the
museum in the state, where, according to the Ministry of Culture, it
did not meet the requirements and thus soon threatened the city with
the admonitions of several authorities.
Closing the museum
After the failure of negotiations, the ministry decided to close the
museum. This was justified, on the one hand: “The goals, actual
content and possibilities of the museum created by the Elvin
Interregional Museum of Local Lore do not correspond to each other,
and the regional features and sights of Tartu County are more
clearly marked in other places. will be able to meet the needs of
the district by providing museum services. "
“The
repositories are overflowing, the active replenishment of
collections has been stopped due to lack of space. Storage
conditions do not meet the requirements for temperature and
humidity, but heating costs are unreasonably high. In recent years,
due to the economic downturn, the number of museum employees has
decreased. in the explanatory note to the closure project.
Most of the museum collections were donated to the Estonian National
Museum on January 31, 2013, and the collection of objects and the
archive of actor Leopold Hansen was donated to the Tartu City
Museum. Three objects of the museum were transferred to the State
Real Estate.
Elva church
Elva Church - Lutheran church on
Elgi Street in Elva. The church is used by the Elk community of Elk,
and the building was designed by the architect of the city of Tartu,
Arved Eichhorn († 1922).
Lake Verevi
Lake Verevi (in
Estonian Verevi järv; also known as Lake Elva or Elva Suurjärv) is
an 11.7 hectares (29 acres) lake located on the western side of the
city of Elva in southern Estonia. There is one main dock with two
slides (red and blue) side by side. The large dock has a closed area
specially designed for swimming with two trampolines. There is a
rescue house nearby where you can get first aid or other basic
necessities. During the summer, there are many tourist attractions,
with its beautiful grounds and surrounding forests.
Lake Arbi
Lake Arbi (in Estonian Arbi järv) is a 6 hectare (15 acre) lake in
the center of Elva in southern Estonia. The lake is 42.5 m (139 ft)
above sea level.