Tallinn Trip – Soviet Statue Graveyard (Mihkel Aitsam Statue)

Similar to my previous post, this rather Soviet looking one is just about Mihkel Aitsam (1876-1917). Designed by Endel Taniloo, it was erected outside the Mihkel Aitsam Vocational School (now the Vana-Vigala School of Technology) on 25 October 1976 to mark the centenary of his birth.

This is what it looked like in its original location. When Soviet occupation of Estonia ended, the statue was shoved into some bushes and it was recovered by sculptor Tauno Kangro who donated it to the Soviet Statue Graveyard in 2008. The ghosts from a bygone era are at least being able to tell their stories, or at least, whisper them quietly. It must be an odd thing for any family members, to see a relative being treated as a hero in a country and then for that to switch to anger and seeing his statue chucked in a bush.