Rägavere is a village in

Rakvere Parish Rakvere Parish () is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. Rakvere municipality surrounds the city of Rakvere and is located in north east Estonia. The shape of the municipality resembles to a butterfly. Rakvere Parish is one ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

, 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 ...

. (retrieved 28 July 2021)

Rägavere Manor

Rägavere () estate has a history that goes back to 1540, when Mõdriku estate was split in two by 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 ...

brothers Wolmar and Dietrich Brackel. Rägavere estate became the property of Dietrich Brackel. From then until the

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

s of 1919, when most aristocratic property was seized by the newly independent state of Estonia, the estate belonged to a number of Baltic aristocratic families, including the families Metztaken, Taube, Paykull, Schulmann,

Stackelberg __NOTOC__ Stackelberg is a surname, mainly known as the surname of a noble family of Baltic German descent (see Stackelberg family). Notable people with the surname include: A *Adolphe Stackelberg (1822–1871), Swedish count and Christian reviva ...

von Knorring The Knorring family also spelled von Knorring is the name of an old Baltic-German noble family, whose members held significant positions within the Russian Empire and Scandinavia. They also held the title of Baron in Sweden and in Prussia. Notab ...

, Kaulbars, von Herzfeld, von Dehn and Pilar von Pilchau. From 1922 until 1977 it housed a school. In the 1970s the chairman of the local

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

, Erich Erilt, initiated restoration works, the first such undertaking in then-occupied Estonia. His efforts sparked a renewed interest in manor house architecture and eventually led to the restoration of many more manors in Estonia, such as

Palmse Palmse is a village in Haljala Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia, on the territory of Lahemaa National Park. Palmse manor Palmse estate () belonged to the convent of St. Michael in Tallinn in the Middle Ages and is referred to as ...

Sagadi Sagadi is a village in Haljala Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia, located within the territory of Lahemaa National Park. Sagadi Manor Sagadi Manor () was first mentioned in written records in 1469. During its history, it belonged ...

, Pirgu and others. The main building seen today dates from the end of the 18th century; an earlier building was devastated during the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. A wing was added after a fire in 1889. The building contains fine

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

interiors, evidently designed by Johann Schultz (who also designed parts of

Toompea Castle Toompea castle () is a medieval castle on Toompea hill in the central part of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. In modern times, it houses the Parliament of Estonia (''Riigikogu''). History The Toompea castle's predecessor, an ancient Estoni ...

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 ...

) and are especially noteworthy for their fine

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

decorations, in the style of

Michał Ceptowski Michael Ceptowski, aka Mathias Zopf, (February 21, 1765 – May 24, 1829) was a Bavarian born artist who settled and worked in Poland. Early life Ceptowski was born in Raisting, Bavaria. He was the son of Johann Michael Zopf and Mary Probst. Probab ...

References

Villages in Lääne-Viru County Manor houses in Estonia {{LääneViru-geo-stub