Poland in Estonia

The plaque with a bas-relief depicting Stefan Batory, created by the Estonian sculptor Tauno Kangro, is located on the west facade of the main building of the University of Tartu. It replaced the old plaque funded by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland back in 2005.  

 

The text on the plaque underlines important threads of Estonian, Hungarian and Polish history, connected with the heritage of king Stefan Batory.

 

Stefan Batory is a significant figure in the history of Polish-Estonian relations. During the years of his rules in Poland (1576-1586), he gave the city of Tartu a white and red flag and founded a Jesuit college, which became the cornerstone of the Dorpat University established decades later, where about 2.5 thousand Poles studied during the times of partition of Poland.

 

The ceremony of unveiling the plaque was attended by the ambassadors of Poland and Hungary – Grzegorz Kozłowski and Kristóf Forrai, as well as the chairman of the City Council, Lemmit Kaplinski – grandson of Jerzy Kapliński, who was a well-known Polish language teacher at the University of Tartu in the interwar period. There were also representatives of the most important local scientific and cultural institutions, including the rector of the University of Tartu, the dean of the Baltic Defence College, the management of the Estonian National Museum and the Estonian National Archives, and the European Capital of Culture 2024 project.