Pärnu Resort 750 Year Birthday

Published in Global Estonian no. 3, a magazine celebrating Estonians everywhere Pärnu was founded 750 years ago as a capital of a diocese that served as a connecting link between Europe and Russia. The oldest human remains in the vicinity of Pärnu and the whole of Estonia have been found 15 km from Pärnu in the village of Pulli where people lived approximately 8800 BC. A new favorable period for human activities was approximately 6000 BC when the area of the lower reaches of the Pärnu River formed a lagoon bordered by a spit. These hunter-gatherers had a versatile food selection to choose from. Prior to 3000 BC, a settled-agricultural society started to develop. Archeological findings testify to contacts with Scandinavia. Numerous findings of Arab, Byzantine, Georgian, German and Anglo-Saxon coins confirm that Pärnu was an established trading and port center in the 11 - 12th century AD. The founding of the city of Pärnu is related to the Crusades. Current Estonian and Latvian territory was Christianized 1198-1227, and it was named Livonia after the Estonian related tribe known as the Livonians who submitted first to baptism. The region was merged with Catholic Europe and assigned to the Livonian Order and mission dioceses. The legate of Pope Gregorius IX, Guillelmus from Modena started a new diocese in Western-Estonia and assisted the new bishop, Dominican monk Henricus in forming a cathedral chapter and selecting a spot for a cathedral. There was no existing town in the area of the newly formed diocese. In 1238 on the right bank of the Pärnu River, a city was founded consisting of colonists and native Estonians. The cathedral was consecrated in 1251 and a cathedral chapter was formed. Thus Pärnu will be the first city in western Estonia to celebrate its 750th anniversary in 2001. The Lithuanians who had remained pagans, burned the city of Pärnu and its cathedral only 12 years later. The residents decided to rebuild the city on the opposite bank of the river. The half-burned altar cross salvaged from the original cathedral became a relic for the city. According to the legend, God had saved it. The rebuilt city was named New Pärnu; the order master gave the city a new privilege in 1265 and extended it in 1318. New Pärnu was soon included in the Hanseatic League of Western European trading cities. In the 1330s, Old Pärnu received its city bylaws. Pärnu’s high point was in the 14th century when it was an important part of the Hanseatic transit to Russia via its port. The primary profit came from the export of grain and flax. Business was booming. Livonian grain was in great demand in Western Europe, especially during spring when supply was depleted or spoiled. Pärnu’s tradesmen purchased the crops and sold it to the large markets in the spring. At the turn of the 15th century, Pärnu’s trade was booming. Till the end of 16th century, the two Pärnu cities were competing with each other. There remain some written sources about life in Pärnu from the 16th century, for example sailing instructions on how to enter Pärnu harbor from this period. Since the sandy mouth of the river did not allow receiving larger ships, Pärnu harbor was only suitable for small ships. The larger vessels had to be loaded and unloaded at roadstead, which reduced the port’s competitiveness. The Reformation wars during the 16th - 17th century swept away the crusaders’ small states in Livonia. Pärnu became a Swedish town with a German population. The tradesmen in Pärnu were in such a majority that the Swedish King Karl XII, who stayed there only for ten days, gave a special order. According to his decree, the first burgermeister and two town councilors had to be lawyers with the tradesmen being limited to holding the remaining positions. Mainly due to the wars, the transition to modern times was devastating for both cities. In 1609 Pärnu had only 10 residents. During the Polish-Swedish War in 1598, King Sigismund III of Poland made New Pärnu an administrative center for the Polish district. The Swedish Governor General, J. Skytte designated Pärnu a provincial court district. The Swedish government built in Pärnu a modern fortified city, three times larger than the medieval city. Struggling Tartu University was brought to Pärnu in 1699 for a period of 11 years. When the 100-year Swedish reign ended in 1710, the university was evacuated. A plague originating from Africa devastated Pärnu and the Swedish garrison capitulated to Russian Army. The Germans maintained their self-government in the Baltic area during the Russian reign. Pärnu became a commandant governed fortified city. For creating new commercial contacts, the German immigrants founded from 1730-1740 two of Estonia’s largest trading companies, Jacob Jacke & Co. and Hans Diedrich Schmidt. The local tradesmen were successful in explaining the profitability of a port extension to Emperor Katherine II, therefore the mouth of the river was deepened at the end of the 18th century. At the same time, the Swedish-Norwegian, Prussian, Portuguese, Hanoverian and Danish consulates were opened in the city. Pärnu was deleted from the list of fortified cities in 1834. The Belgian, German, British and French missions were opened in Pärnu. Pärnu was turning into an administrative center. The formation of Pärnu County was concluded with the Russian administrative reform of 1888 that gave to the county government an increase in power over the population and self-government. The city government’s law of 1889 added to its already existing jurisdiction of education, medicine etc, the supervision of local commerce and industry as well as the general welfare. At the end of the 18th century, Pärnu’s commerce was active and successful thanks to the uniting of traditions with new customs. When a member of the Hanseatic League, Pärnu’s major export items were flax and other crops, then in the 18th century the export of timber started to gain momentum. In the same century, Pärnu’s harbor was deepened and new structures were erected. Regarding the Russian market, Pärnu was again profiting from its transit as in the 14th century. At the end of 18th century, shipbuilding began in Pärnu; in the next century it was dispersed between seaside villages. Pärnu’s trade really blossomed in the middle of the 19th century when the city port had the highest export turnover throughout Estonia. The introduction of the railroad completely changed the trading routes. At the same time, the export of grain was finished. Thus, only the export of flax and the import of salt remained from the Hanseatic time period. The end of the 1880s brought economic chaos to Pärnu. Sea trading was taken over by Tallinn and Liepaja where several of Pärnu’s tradesmen relocated. The remaining tradesmen in Pärnu started to raft timber and produce cellulose. The population of Pärnu grew; at the end of the 19th century two-thirds of the population were Estonians. Pärnu’s first newspaper, which is still published, was founded in 1857; new cultural societies were created. In the middle of 19th century, the neighboring counties of Haapsalu and Kuressaare developed resort areas. A new city law came into force in Pärnu to also start establishing a resort area. The Waldhof cellulose plant was demolished during World War I, bringing back a clean sea and air. The fieriest fighters against the devastating effect of the plant were the seamen. Seamen had been working in the city from medieval to modern times, but it was not until the 20th century that they started to intervene with life in the city. The first Estonian major tradesman and ship-owner was Johan Linde. From the 1920s to the 1930s, fishing was the main economic activity in Pärnu. The Estonian Republic was declared in Pärnu on February 23, 1918. The Baltic Germans initiated the restoration of a resort operation that had been discontinued due to World War I. Yet, the establishment of a modern resort city started in the middle of 1920s when the Germans were excluded from the city government. From 1927 to 1939 the modern, so-called summer capital of Estonia was developed in Pärnu where the Estonian president also had his summer residence. In its strive for perfection, the resort’s mud was imported when the local mud started to mix with sand. Even the resort inspector from a competing resort was recruited. In 1940 the Soviet government nationalized all real estate properties, mansions, forest properties, resort buildings etc. During Soviet occupation, the fishing industry operated without any environmental safety measures, ironically at the same location where the cellulose plant had polluted the river as well as the bay before World War I. Pärnu port was redesigned to be a fishing port. From 1946 to 1948 the new owner, the Central Committee of All-Union Trade Association made Pärnu a year-round therapeutic resort with four sanatoriums. The sanatoriums hosted only individuals who had received a 28-day voucher. Usually a nurse as the resort representative greeted visitors from all over Soviet Union at the railroad station. To house the increasing number of visitors, larger buildings were constantly added. From 1948 to 1988, when the 150th anniversary of resort was celebrated, the number of visitors grew from 6300 to 300,000. After World War II, the city’s appearance changed. The greatly shattered medieval downtown with its cathedral was demolished in the 1950s and the 1960s. The historic theater building of the Culture Society “Endla” built in 1911, where from its balcony the initial Independence manifesto was read to the public, was also demolished. At the same location, workers’ barracks were erected for so-called builders of communism. Although these temporary structures were designed to be dismantled in 25 years, they remain till today. When the Estonian Republic was restored in 1991, the Pärnu city government initiated the redevelopment of the resort. Three years later, the Pärnu yacht harbor received Blue flag status. In 1995 Finn class World Champion sailing competitions took place in Pärnu.