The people of Avinurme have always loved their home. At times we perceive it as starting from childhood, and sometimes we only realise the importance of home when life takes as afar and some unknown force draws our thoughts back to the banks of Avijõgi River.
Avinurme is that special place with special people and way of life. Has been so for centuries. Our principles and skills have shaped our identity and lifestyle, which have made Avinurme into today’s capital of barrels, or as Osvald Tooming wrote more than a half a century ago – Kingdom of Barrel Masters.
Carpentry is the main field of activity of the residents of Avinurme, the vigour and strength of which is evident in the fact that regardless of the changing times, circumstances and market demands locals have always found work and made their living in the home region thanks to carpentry.
To keep the local spirit alive and develop the skills characteristic to our hereditary culture, Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre Foundation was established last year. The aim of the foundation is to enhance local life, exhibit, develop and support local way of life. The founders of the Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre are Avinurme rural municipality, Avinurme congregation and Avinurme Society of Culture of Education “Nurmetuled”. As such it is a comprehensive association, which essentially involves all the residents and those locals that now live away from home are keeping in touch with their home region.
The first task of the Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre is to build a centre for visitors and cooperation. This building will be the old parsonage, the oldest house in Avinurme built under collective action, which has always served local people.
To bring life to this more-than-a-century-old building a project was drawn in cooperation with Enterprise Estonia to establish a centre of handicraft and carpentry. The project cost is 16.2 million kroons, of which 13.8 million is a support of Enterprise Estonia to found the Avinurme Cultural Heritage Centre. The authors of the renovation design of the house are Tiit Sild and Kaido Kepp, who proceeded from the principle that the building itself would be a part of the lifestyle, demonstrating both traditional construction skills and modern solutions.
The Centre shall have two carpentry workshops, which in addition to old-fashioned machine-tools would also be equipped with modern devices in order to teach traditional skills of carpentry as well as realise new, innovative ideas. Two handicraft workshops are set up to teach various manual and nature related skills and those pertaining to textiles. Furthermore, the building will house a kitchen for teaching traditional cooking and two halls. The great hall shall have all necessary equipment for seminars and different events.
The first floor will have an exhibition titled “Wood Emanating Life” introducing and teaching local cultural history with modern solutions with the science exposition “Hunting as a Way of Life". To introduce the places of interest of Avinurme and the neighbouring areas the Centre also houses a tourist information point and handicraft shop.
