Meleski is a village in

Viljandi Parish Viljandi Parish () is a rural Municipalities of Estonia, municipality of Viljandi County, Estonia. It is located around the town of Viljandi, but does not include it. Viljandi Parish was established by merging four municipalities: Paistu Parish, ...

Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...

, in central

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 about north of the Lake

Võrtsjärv Lake Võrtsjärv ( ; ) is a lake in southern Estonia with an area of 270 km² (104 mi²). It is the second largest lake in Estonia (after Lake Peipus), and the largest lake situated entirely within Estonia. The shallow lake is 33.7& ...

. According to Estonia Census 2000, the village had a population of 137. Meleski is bordered by the

Põltsamaa River Põltsamaa is a town in Põltsamaa Parish, Jõgeva County, in central Estonia. The town stands on the Põltsamaa River, and it features a 13th-century castle. History During the German occupation in World War II, a subcamp of the Stalag 332 pr ...

to the northeast.

Glass manufacturing

Meleski glass factory, Amelung & Co, has the longest history of glass factories in Estonia. It was founded in 1792–1795 by Carl Philip Amelung and his father Anton Amelung who, fearing the French Revolution, escaped from the Grünenplan mirror factory in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Germany and travelled to Estonia. Among the owners of the factory, there were the von Bocks who were closely related with the Russian czar court. Allegedly one of the von Bocks was the illegitimate son of Russian czar Peter I. Meleski glass factory was the biggest in the Baltic states during the 19th century, and only the Rjazan glass factory competed with Meleski for the title of the biggest glass factory in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. 1864–1902

Friedrich Amelung Friedrich Ludwig Balthasar Amelung ( – ) was a Baltic German cultural historian, businessman and chess endgame composer. Amelung was born at Võisiku () manor in Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (present-day Jõgeva County in Eston ...

was the director of the factory. Other Estonian glass manufactures such as Johannes Lorup's glass manufacture, Tarbeklaas, Scankristall and Glasstone were developed from Meleski glass factory. Glass production in Meleski was ceased in 2005 but the village contains the largest private glass museum in Estonia.

References

External links

Meleski glass museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meleski Villages in Viljandi County