>The effort this gentleman has put into cataloging and photographing his nation's heritage is something to be applauded! Ironically the manors were largely own

>The effort this gentleman has put into cataloging and photographing his nation's heritage is something to be applauded! Ironically the manors were largely owned by Germanic people who were not Estonian. They are the local (Germanic) nobles after the crusades to the Baltic region. Estonians were called "people of the land" (maarahvas) and their language "language of the land" (maakeel) because they had been in some form of indentured servitude ever since the crusades. The word for German/Germany/Germanic in Estonian is "saks," which implies/means nobility. It as used to refer to the Lords of the manor. I mention this, because if you think about it then its basically the cultural heritage that accompanied something that was brutal for Estonians. Indentured servitude isn't far from slavery after all. On the other hand, the Soviet era wiped most of that away, so people are neutral about the whole Germanic nobles thing.