Independence Day in Parnu

On 24 February, the Independence Day is celebrated in the Republic of Estonia. This is the day when the Independence Manifesto was declared in Tallinn 90 years ago. On 23 February, the declaration was announced in Parnu.

As the Bolsheviks had seized power, Tallinn and Haapsalu was already occupied by the Germans, it was decided that the Manifesto was to be proclaimed here in Parnu as quickly as possible. The text of the Manifesto that had reached Parnu was printed in the early hours of 23 February 1918, and already on the same day copies were distributed all over the city. At 8 in the evening, Hugo Kuusner, envoy of the Diet of Estonia and a native of Parnu, declared in public the Manifesto of Independence on the balcony of Endla Theatre to the citizens and soldiers of the Estonian battalion.

Monument commemorating the proclamation of the Republic of Estonia in Parnu
Of 26 projects submitted for the competition organised by Parnu in 2005 for establishing a monument to commemorate the declaration of independence, the project named "Balcony" was declared the winner. This project envisaged the restoration of a portal with the historic balcony of Endla Theatre. The monument is a copy of the balcony of the first building in Estonia that was specifically built to a theatre. The authors of the idea and design of the project were architect Mikk Mutso, free-lance actor, playwright and creative writer Mart Aas and artist Kaarel Eelma. Project engineer was Juhan Idnurm. The consultant for history was Doctor of History Juhan Kreem. Language consultation was provided by specialists from the Estonian Institute of Language and Literature and consultation on Braille by specialists from the Estonian Library for the Blind.