Mina, eestlane: The Estonian diaspora in Latvia

The executive director of the Association of Estonian Cultural Societies and cultural journalist Maarja Lõhmus decided to visit our next guests themselves while editing Mina, eestlane (I am Estonian). They wanted to tell the story of Estonians in Latvia and Livonia, from the seminary of Jānis Cimze (1814–1881) to Ventspils.

The first stop was the Cimze Seminary in the town of Valka – an important place in the history of Estonian song festivals (we invited Neeme Punder and Peeter Riemann from the Valga Museum). The Cimze Seminary was in perfect order and there was even a wax figure of old Cimze himself!

The next stop was the Estonian School in Riga, where the guide Toomas Kalda talked about the cultural history and the school teachers Aiva Plaucha and Ivika Keisele enthusiastically shared their experiences of inspiring people to learn Estonian language and culture and their cultural relations.