THE KOLGA MANOR ‘CHAPEL’ THAT ISN’T A CHAPEL

Abstract

In the Estonian context, Kolga is a truly a gigantic manor, which wasowned by the powerful noble families of De la Gardie and Stenbock.The focus of this article is the interior of the two-storey-high spacein the northern avant-corps of the Kolga manor house, called the‘chapel’, which has survived almost untouched. A brief survey isalso provided of the fragments of the finishing details that havebeen preserved in the other rooms of the manor house. The articleis based on research dealing with the building’s interior finishing(in 2014) and archaeology (in 2021), which has been conducted bythe Estonian Academy of Art, and on information obtained in thecourse of the on-going conservation.What has the recent research and ongoing conservation work addedto the interpretation of the interior in Kolga Manor’s northern avantcorps?As is known from previous studies, the northern avant-corpsroom’s décor probably dates back to the period of a Neoclassicalreconstruction in the early 19th century. Only the building sectionitself dates back to the earlier Baroque period, which also explainsthe existence of previous finishing layers under the current one. TheNeoclassical approach transformed it into a two-storey space andmasterfully added an illusory design. However, the room, which fora long time has been called the ‘(home) church’ or ‘chapel’, probablyhad a secular function and was used as a ballroom or music hall.