Paslepa Manor and Teachers’ Seminar
Paslepa Manor and Teachers’ Seminar
In 1679, Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie founded Paslepa manor in the village of Paslepa which was previously part of Kulan manor. The manor itself changed hands several times over the years. Its last owner was Aleksander Eduard Frischmann, citizen of Haapsalu, and after his death the manor passed to his heirs.
The main manor house was built in the 18th century, but not much of it remains. Between 1940 and 1992 the manor house was used by the Soviet border guards. In the 1990s an attempt was made, with the support of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland and the Swedes, to establish a successor to the former Pürksi agricultural and folk university – the Paslepa folk university – after the manor was vacated by the Soviet army, but nothing came of it. In 2002, the rural municipality of Noarootsi sold the manor ruins to a private owner, and the park and most of the former manor complex have now been restored.
For ten years, the Paslepa Teachers’ Seminary operated in a small house rented from Paslepa manor, training teachers initially for Swedish-language schools, and later also for Estonian-language peasant schools when the needs of Swedish schools had already been met. It was one of the first institutions in Estonia to prepare teachers.
The Paslepa Teachers’ Seminary also marked the beginning of a religious awakening in the areas inhabited by Estonian Swedes.
Paslepa Teachers’ Seminar
In 1873, the parish priest of Noarootsi, von Girgensohn, rented a small five-room house next to Paslepa Manor, where the seminary of teachers belonging to the Estonian knighthood began to operate. Thure Emanuel Thorén (1843-1930), a missionary who had come to Noarootsi from Sweden, became the head of the school and held the post until 1881. Johan Nyman (1859-1933), a graduate of the same seminary from Noarootsi, took over from Thorén.
One seminary class lasted three years and a new class was admitted only after the previous one had graduated. Only young men were allowed to attend school, and the seminary taught religious education, Swedish, Russian, Estonian, calculus, general history, geography, natural sciences, calligraphy, gymnastics, organ playing and singing. Most subjects were taught by Thorén, but he was assisted by sacristan Anton Westersten, who also taught Estonian and Russian. The students have recalled that the language used made communication difficult at first, as Thorén spoke official state Swedish and the Estonian Swedes who spoke the local dialect did not understand him.
The tuition fee was 5 roubles a year and the students had to bring food from home.
12 young men were admitted to the seminary in the first year, and eight of them went on to take the final examinations three years later. Most of the students were from Noarootsi, but some were also from Vormsi and Risti parish. The students, with the exception of 14-year-old Johan Nyman, were aged between 17 and 22.
The next class started in January 1877. 12 students were accepted this time, 11 of whom took the final examinations.
The third class started in January 1880 with 11 students, including only three Swedes, and the language of instruction switched to Estonian. Thorén now found himself in a difficult situation because he did not speak much Estonian. He invited his former student Johan Nymann to teach some subjects. Thorén’s own health took a turn for the worse and in 1881 he returned to Sweden. Nyman took over the management of the school.
The third and last class graduated in December 1882. It was decided that a new class would not start until the school had a new building. In 1883, plans were made to build a schoolhouse and fundraising began. The land for this purpose had been allocated from the rectory manor, an arrangement had been made with the builder, and the construction of the building was expected to begin in January 1887. In 1887, only three students applied to enter the school. At the same time, the Russian authorities insisted on Russian being used as the language of instruction at the seminary. The knighthood, which had financed the school up to that time, did not agree and the school ceased its activities in the spring of 1887.
Thure Emanuel Thorén and religious awakening
Thorén was born in 1843 in West Götaland. At the age of 15, he apprenticed as a blacksmith to a carriage maker, then worked as a carriage builder. At the age of 20, he was converted on his birthday, right on the street as he said himself, and in 1870 Thorén went to study at the missionary training school in Johannelund.
In 1873 he was sent to Estonia with another missionary, Lars Johan Österblom. Initially, the Swedish Evangelical Mission had plans to send bibles to Estonia. Local church officials assured them that almost every Swedish household already has a bible, but that there is a lack of a devout travelling preacher because local residents are poorly educated, prone to drinking and rather poor.
So Thorén and Österblom were sent off to Estonia. They both arrived first in Haapsalu and then headed to Girgensohn, the parish priest of Noarootsi. After the meeting it was decided that Thorén would stay in Noarootsi to preach, while Österblom would head to Vormsi.
While teaching at Paslepa Seminary, Thorén placed special emphasis on religious education, which led to religious awakenings among the students while they were still learning at the seminary. In the evenings, they held a communal prayer service where they read, sang and prayed to God. Johan Nyman has given the following description “Our most sublime moments were the evening prayers. We would sing new songs that Thorén taught us, and often burst out laughing with joy, unable to contain it.”
The religious awakening spread from the seminary to the villages, where Thorén held prayer services and sermons at the request of the people. The movement, which started in Paslepa, spread to Riguldi and Sutlepa municipality, and from there to Estonians and the rest of Lääne county. The positive impact of the awakening on the people’s religious life, and above all on their morale, was also acknowledged by provost Girgenson in his speech at the provincial synod. The religious movement caused many village taverns to lose customers, as the peasants, now fearful of hell, gave up drinking, smoking and dancing.
Under Thorén’s influence, choirs were founded in Noarootsi, and adults started to voluntarily take up studying and exercise. In the 1880s, Thorén’s health deteriorated. The fact that Paslepa Seminary switched to Estonian also had an impact, forcing Thorén to learn Estonian and German, which was not so easy with his failing health. In 1881, Thorén was allowed to return to Sweden.
Thorén was much loved and respected in Noarootsi as evidenced by the behaviour of local residents when the missionary left. “The farewell was everso moving, the congregation wept and I myself wept as I have never wept before even for my sins,” Thorén later wrote in his memoirs.
Thorén died in Sweden in 1930.