HIIU-SUUREMÕISA AND KOLGA. TWO MANOR ENSEMBLES OF THE DE LA GARDIE AND STENBOCK FAMILIES IN THE MIRROR OF THE 17TH–18TH CENTURY NOBLE CULTURE

Abstract

Kolga (Kolck) and Hiiu-Suuremõisa (Dagö-Grossenhof) are two of
the most prominent manor ensembles in Estonia. Belonging to the
De la Gardie and Stenbock families, their architectural histories
have been thoroughly studied both in Sweden and Estonia. In the
1930s, Professor Sten Karling compiled a survey of Jacob and Magnus
Gabriel De la Gardie’s projects for the castles of Haapsalu and
Kuressaare (Arensburg). Based on unpublished archival materials,
the primary aim of this article is to introduce new data about the
ambitions and main trends of the Baltic high nobility in their faraway
Estonian estates. The second and even more important task of the
essay is to offer a new outlook on the building activities regarding
the Baltic villa rustica in its golden age within the Baltic aristocratic
architecture. Beside the patrons of both manor ensembles – the De
la Gardies and Stenbocks, the author has studied multiple sources of
international and local architectural development in tandem with the
archival findings and comparative art-historical research, to shine
a new light on the main trends of the Baltic cultural history of the
Enlightenment period.