Tapa is a town in Tapa parish, Lääne-Virumaa, Estonia. Located at
the junction of the Tallinn-Narva (West-East) and
Tallinn-Tartu-Valga (North-South) railway lines, it is an important
transit center for cargo (mainly Russian oil and timber) as well as
railway passengers (mainly Estonian passengers ). Home to soldiers
since the 1930s, Tapa also plays an important role in the training
of young men and women in the Estonian Defense Forces. The Valgejõgi
River runs through Tapu from the north-east.
Tapa developed
as a village probably in the 13-14 centuries. It was first mentioned
in 1482 and the Tapa Knight Estate (Taps) in 1629. Tapa was
officially recognized as a city in 1926. In October 2005, the city
merged with the municipalities of Lehce Parish, Saksi Parish and
Jäneda Parish to form Tapa Parish.
The Tapa Museum was opened
on June 10, 2004. The museum, in 1934, a two-story house, collects
and exhibits objects, including photographs and documents related to
the history and culture of Tapa. All items in the museum reflect the
soul of tapa residents, past and present. Temporary exhibits mark
significant days in tapa history and show the hobbies of the city's
residents. The permanent collection presents Tapu as a railroad,
military and sausage town.
Throughout the history of Tapa, civil and
religious institutions flourished between the depot and the military
base. At the services on December 2, 2007, the first Sunday of
Advent, the Congregation of St. James Lutheran Church celebrated its
75th anniversary.
The temporary prayer house was dedicated in
Tapa on June 19, 1921 by the first Bishop of INPP Jaak Kukk. It was
named after the apostle John. St. James was dedicated on November
27, 1932, the first Sunday of Advent. August Tauk or Anatoly
Podchekaev - the architect of the neo-historical stone church. The
altar, called "The Joyful Christ" or "Come to Me", was painted by
the Russian icon painter Olga Obolyaninova. The church was renovated
in 1953–55 and 1972–74.
On June 10, 2007, Tapa Baptist Church
celebrated its 75th anniversary. The church was founded on June 12,
1932, and Philip Hildemann was its first pastor. In 1940, when
Gottfried Palias was pastor (1933–45), services moved to the
Methodist building of Tapa Church. In 1980, when Dmitry Lipping was
pastor (1976–92), he purchased a building at 1 Kooli Street for
Sunday School and other youth programs. In November 2003, it changed
its name to Tapa Church of Living Faith (Tapa Yelava Usu Kogudus).
He conducts Sunday services with simultaneous translation into
Russian at Tapa Methodist Church at 11 Kesk Street.
At age
75, Tapa Baptist Church had 40 members: 58 percent were between the
ages of 21 and 74, and 68 percent were women. There were 50
participants in the Sunday school and over 100 young people in the
summer camp. His other pastors were Ewald Ayer (1945–56), Paldor
Tikel (1956–60), Eduard Kaur (1961), Erich Symer (1962–67), Heino
Kivisild and Arly Tammo (1968–1975) and Toomas Kivisild (from 1993
). The church belongs to the Union of Free Evangelical and Baptist
Churches in Estonia (Eesti Evangeeliumi Kristlaste ja Baptistide
Koguduste Liit).
On March 17, 2007, the Tapa Music School
(Tapa Muusikakool) celebrated its 50th anniversary with a concert by
its students and alumni. As in many Estonian cities, Tapa has a
music school that is second only to the local primary and secondary
school in teaching children and preparing them for a successful life
as adolescents and young people. The music school opened in the fall
of 1957. Peter Kald was director of the school from 1979 to 2007,
when his son Ilmar was appointed director.
Tapa owes its existence to the railway. (The three
long white rectangles on the Tapa flag represent the three branches
of the railway that meet there.) In the 1860s, Tapa today had only
native meadows. Spruce forests were cleared when railway tracks were
laid east from Paldiski (in northwest Estonia) to St. Petersburg,
Russia. The Baltic Railway Company opened the tracks on October 24,
1870. The construction of the Tapa-Tartu railway line began in 1875,
and the first train to Tartu passed through Tapu on 21 August 1876.
From that day on, Tapa grew rapidly as a railway town. The land was
purchased from the Gut Taps estate for the construction of a railway
station and a depot for the repair and maintenance of locomotives.
The repair shop opened in 1876. The station got its German name Taps
from the estate, and the city got its name from the station.
Tapa has been known as a railway and military town throughout its
history. On August 1, 1923, an armored train regiment (Estonian:
soomusrongirügement) was formed in Tapa with two armored trains:
Kapten Irv, who served in the Estonian War of Independence, and Onu
Tom. On November 30, 1934, the regiment in Valga (in the south of
Estonia) was transferred to TAPU. The base of the regiment, located
on the southern outskirts of the city around the main building of
the Tapa estate, played a significant role in the life of the city
and contributed to its further development.
However, in
January 1941, the regiment was disbanded by Soviet troops. Seven
months later, on August 14, 1941, Nazi troops captured Tapu. During
the German occupation, German military items were located where the
headquarters of the Estonian armored train regiment was formerly
located. In 1972, an engineering and technical training military
unit No. 67665 of the Soviet Army was located at the test site.
Since 1932, an airfield has been located on the southern
outskirts of tapa. On September 30, 1934, the first flight of the
air Union Tapa (Estonian: Tapa Õhuasjanduse Ühing) took place. The
Russians began building a military airfield at this site in the fall
of 1939. In the spring of 1952, the Soviets began large-scale
construction of a military airfield. MiG-17s were deployed at the
base by the end of the same year. Later, the Tapa airfield became
home to the Soviet 656th Interceptor Aviation Regiment. In 1993, the
management of the airfield passed to the Estonian Ministry of
Defense. On June 18, 1993, the first civilian aircraft landed on a
cement runway.
When Soviet troops and their families left
Tapu, the city's population declined from 10,395 in 1989 to 6,800 in
2000. Tapa was left with an empty, plundered, poorly built military
district. However, his life as a military town did not end. In
January 2002, after changes were made to the structure of Estonian
defense units, Tapa again became the home base of a military base.
The Northeastern Defense District (Kirde Kayceringkond) in Tapa
includes an army training center, an artillery battalion, an
anti-aircraft battalion, and an engineer battalion.
The base
is also home to the British Combat Group eFP, which is part of the
1st Infantry Brigade.
Today, on the northern wall of the Tapa
railway station, there is a bronze plaque, originally dedicated to
January 9, 1934 and again dedicated to February 20, 1993, which is
dedicated to the Estonian War of Independence. On the memorial
plaque is the symbol of the Tapa armored train regiment. Dubbed
"flying death on the railroad," the symbol is a skull with a pair of
angelic wings and wagon wheels behind it.