Kukruse () is a village in

Toila Parish Toila Parish () is an Estonian municipality located in Ida-Viru County. It has a population of 4,735 (2019) and an area of 266 km². History Toila Parish was formed in the course of the 2017 administrative reform of Estonian municipalitie ...

Ida-Viru County Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...

in northeastern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. It is located by the

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

–

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

road ( E20), between the cities of

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve () is a city and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of ...

and

Jõhvi Jõhvi ( ; ; ) is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and Jõhvi Parish. The town is located about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. History Jõhvi was first mentioned as ...

. Adjacent to the village is a district of Kohtla-Järve sharing the same name, Kukruse. Before the 2017 Administrative Reform, the village belonged to

Kohtla Parish Kohtla Parish () was an Estonian municipality located in Ida-Viru County. It has a population of 1640 (2014) and an area of 101 km2. Villages Amula, Järve, Kaasikaia, Kaasikvälja, Kabelimetsa, Kohtla, Kukruse, Mõisamaa, Ontika, ...

. As of the 2011 census, the settlement's population was 52.

Kukersite Kukersite is a light-brown marine type oil shale of Ordovician age. It is found in the Baltic Oil Shale Basin in Estonia and North-West Russia. It is of the lowest Upper Ordovician formation, formed some 460 million years ago. It was na ...

, a marine type

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

age, is named after Kukruse. During the road construction in 2009, a cemetery approximately 800 years old was revealed. Fifty graves were studied. The human remains and objects placed in the graves provide a good picture of 13th-century society, culture, and beliefs. Some of the finds from Kukruse were displayed at the

Estonian History Museum Estonian History Museum () is a museum about the history of Estonia in Tallinn. It was initially established by the pharmacist Johann Burchart, who ran the town hall pharmacy known as the Raeapteek. Inaugurated in 1987, it picks up where its cou ...

Kukruse Manor

Kukruse knight manor was first mentioned in 1453. The present building received its appearance in the 19th century when a second floor was added to the left wing of the originally baroque house. Several prominent members of the

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

family von Toll have lived at Kukruse, namely genealogist Friedrich Ludwig von Toll (1781–1841), historian Robert von Toll (1802–1876) and geologist and Arctic explorer

Eduard von Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian geologist and Arctic explorer. He is most notable for leading the Russian polar expedition of 1 ...

(1858–1902). The manor housed a museum named the Kukruse Polar Manor (), which was dedicated to

and

Sannikov Land Sannikov Land (, ) was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia. History Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen the land mass during their 1809–1810 ca ...

. The museum was closed after operating at a loss, and the manor was put up for sale in 2025.

References

External links

Kukruse Polar ManorKukruse manor
at Estonian Manors Portal {{Authority control Villages in Ida-Viru County Manor houses in Estonia Kreis Wierland