mois.ee
One of the most visited websites among Estonia’s heritage enthusiasts – the Estonian Manor Portal, mois.ee – now has a new look.
In 1999, Valdo Praust founded the manor portal, introducing the public to the history and present-day condition of more than 700 of Estonia’s most noteworthy manor estates. In 2021, the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) acquired the right to use the database and has since continued to develop and expand it as part of its teaching activities. In a joint workshop, students of heritage conservation and digital product design created a new structure for managing the data, while Lauren Teinmann was responsible for the website design. Heritage conservation students have expanded the descriptions of the manors using a variety of archival sources. Art history students updated the stylistic descriptions in the database, while materials from the Estonian National Heritage Board’s manor heritage inventory provided valuable assistance in describing different building types. Graduates of the Baltic German Cultural Heritage microdegree programme, together with several volunteers, contributed to testing the database. The creative agency Vatson has assisted with technical solutions, while renowned manor researcher Alo Särg has contributed to the content. The ambitious project is led by Riin Alatalu, Hannes Vinnal, Siiri-Liis Huttunen and Maris Veeremäe.
Although the Manor Portal has been given a new look and its content has been significantly expanded, the database is far from complete – there is still enough work to keep us busy for years to come. We are currently developing a solution that would also allow volunteer contributors to help expand the database. EKA is grateful to all manor owners and enthusiasts who contribute to the development of the portal by providing sources, data and photographs.
We would like to thank the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian Research Council for their support.
