Tapa, Estonia
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| Tapa linn Tapa |
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Estonia |
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| County | Lääne-Viru County | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 17.36 km² (6.7 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2004) | |||
| - Total | 6,607 | ||
| - Density | 380.6/km² (985.7/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
Tapa is a town in Lääne Viru County, Estonia. It is located at the junction of the country's Tallinn-Narva (west-east) and Tallinn-Tartu (north-south) railroad lines, making it an important centre of transit for freight (mainly Russian oil and timber) as well as rail passengers. With the former Tapa air base, and, today, the Tapa Central Training Center (Estonian: Tapa Väljaõppekeskus) on the edge of town, Tapa continues to be an important centre for training young men and women in the Estonian defence forces.
Tapa owes its existence to the railway. (The three white rectangles on Tapa's flag represent the three branches of the railroad that meet here.) More than 130 years ago, there were only native meadows where Tapa sits today. Forests of fir trees were chopped down during the construction of railroad tracks from Paldiski (in northern Estonia) to St. Petersburg, Russia. The opening ceremony for the Baltic railway was held on October 24, 1870. Construction of the Tapa-Tartu branch began in 1875, and on August 21, 1876, the first train left Tallinn for Tartu, passing through Tapa. From that day on, Tapa grew quickly as a railroad town. From the estate of Tapa manor was purchased land to build a railroad station, which inherited the name Taps. The town got its name from the station.
According to Harri Allandi's The Armoured Train Regiment's Base in Tapa in Words and Pictures: 1923-1940 (Tapal Paiknenud Soomusrongirügement Sõnas ja Pildis 1923-1940), Tapa has been known as a railway and military town throughout its history. On August 1, 1923, an armoured train regiment (Estonian: soomusrongirügement) was formed with the Kapten Irv, an armoured train that served in the Estonian Liberation War, and armoured train No. 3. On November 30, 1934, the regiment from Valga (in southern Estonia) was moved to Tapa. The regiment's base, located at Tapa's manor house, was active until January 1941 when the Soviet occupation force dissolved the Estonian defence forces. During its existence, Tapa's armoured train regiment played a considerable role in the town's life and contributed to the town's development.
On August 14, 1941, German troops took Tapa. According to Allandi's Armoured Train Regiment's Base, during the German occupation, German military things were housed where the armoured train regiment once was. During the years of Soviet power, there was an engineering-technical training center on the site. After the Soviet troops departed, Tapa was left with a poorly-built military district. Eventually, life as a military town with the Estonian defence forces resumed. Since January 1, 2002, following changes in the structure of Estonian defence units, Tapa has been the home of one troop composed of the training center, an artillery group, a pioneer battalion, and an anti-aircraft division.
Today, on the north wall of Tapa's train station, there is a bronze plaque, originally dedicated on January 9, 1934 and re-dedicated on February 20, 1993, that commemorates the Estonian War of Independence. On the plaque is the symbol of Tapa's armoured train regiment. Called "Flying Death on the Railway", the symbol is a skeleton's skull with a pair of angel wings and wagon train wheels behind it.
Harri Allandi is the founder and curator of the Tapa Museum, which was opened on June 10, 2004. The museum, in a 1934, two-storey house at 1 Mai Street, collects and exhibits objects, including photos and documents, related to the history and culture of Tapa. All of the objects in the museum reflect the soul of Tapa's citizens. The permanent collection presents Tapa as a railway, military, and sausage town. Temporary exhibits celebrate notable days in the city's history and share the hobbies and exhibits of its residents.
In October 2005, the municipalities of Lehtse, Saksi, and Jäneda merged with Tapa to form Tapa Commune.
At services on December 2, the first Sunday of Advent, 2007, St. Jacob's Church (Estonian: Jakobi kogudus, literally St. Jacob's congretation), the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tapa, celebrated its 75th anniversary. Pastor Reet Eru officiated, and Archbishop Emeritus Kuno Pajula gave the sermon. A temporary house of prayer was dedicated in Tapa on June 19, 1921 by Bishop Jaak Kukk. It was named after the apostle John. The current stone church was dedicated on November 27, the first Sunday of Advent, 1932. August Tauk was the architect. The altarpiece of the "Joyous Christ" was painted by Russian icon artist O. Obojaninova. The church was renovated from 1953-55 and from 1972-74.
On June 10, 2007, the Baptist church in Tapa celebrated its 75th anniversary. The church was established on June 12, 1932, and Philip Gildemann was its first pastor. In 1940, with Gottfried Palias as pastor (1933-45), services moved to Tapa's Methodist church. In 1980, with Dimitri Lipping as pastor (1976-92), it acquired the building at 1 School Street (Estonian: Kooli tn. 1) in Tapa for Sunday school and other youth programs. In November 2003, it changed its name to the, roughly translated, Tapa Living Faith Church (Estonian: Tapa Elava Usu Kogudus). It continues to hold Sunday services, with simultaneous translation in Russian, in Tapa's Methodist church at 11 Central Street (Estonian: Kesk tn. 11).
At 75, Tapa's Baptist church had 40 members: 58 percent were between the ages of 21 and 74 and 68 percent were female. There were 50 participants in its Sunday school and more than 100 youth in its summer camp. Toomas Kivisild had been the pastor since 1993, following his father Heino Kivisild, who was pastor from 1968 to 1975 with Arli Tammo. Its other pastors were Evald Aer (1945-56), Paldor Teekel (1956-60), Eduard Kaur (1961), and Erich Sõmer (1962-67). The church belongs to the Union of Free Evangelical and Baptist Churches of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Evangeeliumi Kristlaste ja Baptistide Koguduste Liitu).
On March 17, 2007, Tapa Music School (Estonian: Tapa Muusikakool) celebrated its 50th anniversary with a concert by its students and its graduates. Like many Estonian towns, Tapa has a music school that is second only to the local elementary and high school (or gymnasium) in educating children and preparing them for successful lives as teenagers and young adults. The music school opened in the fall of 1957. Peeter Kald was the school's director from 1979 until 2007, when his son Ilmar was named director.
Jüri Tüli is one of the school's accomplished teachers and the conductor of the Tapa Brass Band (Estonian: Tapa Puhkpilliorkestor). From his childhood to his teen years to his adult life - Tüli has played music, taught music, and taught himself more about music. He was born in Tapa on October 1, 1949. He remembers that he began playing a clarinet, which his uncle had given him, on a spring day in May 1959. He was nine years old. He graduated from Tapa Music School in 1966 and from Tapa I Secondary School a year later. He joined the Tapa Fire Brigade Brass Band in 1975, and in the same year, he started conducting the Tapa Brass Band. He became an instructor in wind instruments at the music school in 1981 and has taught there now for more than 25 years.
Liina Saia has taken clarinet lessons from Tüli for more than seven years and has been in the Tapa Brass Band for more than three. In a report she wrote for a ninth-grade English class, Saia said that Tüli is a very kind, warm-hearted, and very good teacher as well as a very good, smart, and experienced conductor. He knows very many Estonina conductors, and the Tapa Brass Band is well-known throughout Estonia.
[edit] Trivia
- In the Estonian language, "Tapa" is also the imperative of "kill". This has led to an urban legend stating that during Soviet times the town had a newspaper called "Tapa Kommunist", which could mean either "Communist of Tapa", or "kill the communist". Later the name was changed to "Tapa Edasi", which could mean either "Tapa Forward", or "Keep killing".
