News from Estonia

2024 was a busy year for advocacy on the U.S.-Baltic front. 2025 will continue to be so. In the U.S. Congress, a sign of success is the fast-growing interest in the Baltic Caucus, as both House and Senate Caucuses increased exponentially. 34 new House members joined in 2023-2024 during the...

As part of the Tartu 2024 European Capital of Culture program, one of Japan’s most renowned artists, Ryoji Ikeda, has opened a unique audiovisual solo exhibition dedicated to Estonians at the Estonian National Museum (ENM). The exhibition features two new works created specifically for the ENM space, exploring the synergy...

Starting next year, new rounding rules will take effect, and Estonia will cease minting one- and two-cent coins. The smallest coins featuring Estonia's outline will be sent to other European countries where they are still in use. Each year, the Bank of Estonia ordered one or two truckloads of one-...

A monument commemorating the Great Flight of 80 years ago was unveiled in Pärnu. The statue, funded through donations, was erected under the leadership of the Estonian World Council, which gifted it to the city of Pärnu during a ceremony on September 21st. The sculpture depicts the final touch of...

Dr. Michael Guo-Brennan, an associate professor of public administration at Troy University, has received the Fulbright Scholar title. This prestigious award allows him to conduct research and lecture at Tallinn University in Estonia for six months. His focus will be on civic engagement and public policy, with special attention to...

On August 23, the Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC), the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the embassies of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and about 100 participants gathered on McPherson Square outside the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, DC, to celebrate 35 years since the Baltic Way, and to...

As the instigator of the Pärnu Monument idea and the dreamer who could not let go of the desire to somehow publicly express  my generation’s “Thank you” to our refugee-suurpõgenemise families, I am so proud of ALL the other dreamers, many friends and the ÜEKN Suurpõgenemise  Commit-tee who joined what...

Marju Kõivupuu. In a recent radio interview on Vikerraadio's "Vikerhommik," cultural historian and folklorist Marju Kõivupuu acknowledged that keeping Estonian culture and identity alive abroad demands motivation and determination. Kõivupuu said she has a lot of respect for those who keep the Estonian language and culture alive living beyond Estonia's...

Restoration of Independence Day (Taasiseseisvumispäev) is marked on August 20 each year to celebrate the date in 1991 when Estonia regained the freedom it had lost to the Soviet Union more than five decades earlier. ERR News briefly explains the day's significance and the following chain of events. On August...

On June 11, the Estonian Biobank, part of the University of Tartu (TÜ), launched its long-awaited online biobank participant portal. With a current Biobank cohort size of more than 200,000 individuals, around 20 percent of Estonia's adult population can now log in to the globally unique portal and read about...