The earliest records of Väimela date from 1590, when under Polish rule it was a crown estate of the Kirumpää starostwo. In 1744 Empress Elizabeth gave the lands of the former Kirumpää castle to her chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin. From the late 1700s the manor belonged to the Richters, who built a one-story flat-roofed main house and two wings joined to it by arched walls, framing a court of honor. From 1870 until expropriation it was owned by the Loewens.
Retreating Bolsheviks set the house on fire in 1919; in 1922 a three-story school building rose on the same spot. The building belongs to the state real estate company Riigi Kinnisvara.
Owners
Bestužev-Rjumin1744–1749
von Müller1749–1759
Schumann1759–18. saj
Rehbinder18. saj–18. saj
Richter18. saj lõpp–1870
von Loewen1870–1919
Good to know
The manor was also called Väimere.
From 1920 the manor center held an agricultural school, and in the Soviet era a model state-farm technical college.
The main house was also damaged by fire in the 1950s and in October 2018.
Photos through time
1929 · The Väimela agricultural school, 1929 Võrumaa Kutsehariduskeskus · Public domain2010 · Väimela manor, 2010 Toomas Tsamoot · CC BY 3.02012 · Väimela manor house, 2012 Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 3.0 EE2013 · Front of the main house, 2013 Vaido Otsar · CC BY-SA 3.0 EE2019 · The main house in spring 2019 Vaido Otsar · CC BY-SA 4.0
