First recorded in 1521, Vana-Kuuste then belonged to the Zoeges, and later to the Liphardts, the Ungern-Sternbergs and the Siverses; its last owner was Leo von Sivers. The two-story Early Classical house was probably built in the late 1700s. Projecting side sections crowned with triangular pediments framed the facade. A picturesque larch avenue was planted from the manor to the historic Tartu–Võru road. From 1834 to 1838 the house held the first institution of higher agricultural education in the Russian Empire.
The house holds the Vana-Kuuste basic school. A large addition was built for the school in the late 1900s, and the recessed section between the side projections was filled in. Almost no outbuildings survive, but the larch avenue remains.
Owners
Zoege1521
von Liphardt
von Ungern-Sternberg
von Sivers1919
Good to know
Otto Reinhold Ludwig von Ungern-Sternberg was born here in 1744; living later at Suuremõisa on Hiiumaa, he became known as the “mad count of Hiiumaa.”
From 1834 to 1838 the manor housed an agricultural institute founded by Professor Johann Friedrich Leberecht Schmaltz as a training base for University of Tartu students.
