ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE MANOR
According to the written sources Väätsa village (Dorf Wetze) was firstly mentioned in 564. In 1591 Calus Flemming gave Väätsa village to Hanz Burt for an undetermined period.
In 1619 Magnus von Nieroth acquired the place as a swap.
In 1621 the Swedish King Gustav II Adolph registered Väätsa to Magnus Nieroth who, since 1612, had already owned it „for the loyal active service against the Polish and the army of the Moscow Grand Duchy in the Livonian war.“
According to this fact it can be said that he was the first estate owner. The Nieroths arrived in Livonia from Germany in the 13th century. Magnus von Nieroth acted as an administrator in Paide and Tallinn castles and as a governor in Käkisalmi (Kexholm).
On the 22nd of July, 1635, the patronage government of the Swedish Queen Christina registered the lands of Väätsa to Magnus Nieroth.
By 1680 the manor was in the hands of the Nieroths` descendants. After that the Baranoffs acquired the manor for about 190 years, paying 8,300 state thalers for it. There is the extant transcription from the Swedish King`s Charles XI written confirmation from the 1720ies. According to it the manor was pawned to Claus Johann Baranoff who was the Estonian land councillor. [nggallery id=13]
During the reign of the Baranoffs the Väätsa Manor complex was extensively built up. Arround 1800 a new and more magnificent manor was built next to the old one. From the middle of 19th century there were preserved the oldest maps of Väätsa Manor.
In 1864 the last estate owner from the Baranoffs, Peter Johann Georg, pawned the manor to a scholar doctor Carl Johann von Seidlitz for three years, obtaining 140 thousand silver roubles for it. After passing the deadline the mortgage deed was prolonged for more three years. In autumn 1870 it was converted into the purchase contract. Since then the reign of the Seidlitzs had begun in Väätsa and it lasted for about half a century, until the nationalization of the 1919.
Carl Johann von Seidlitz was in the Russian Navy medical service and the coordinator of Sankt Petersburg Navy hospital. He improved himself in several European higher medical institutions. For many years he worked on high medical positions in the army. During the years 1837-1847 he was a professor in Sankt Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1846 the Russian Emperor Nicholas I gave him the title of service noble.
Carl Johann von Seidlitz was one of the first advocates of Charles Darwin’s evolution theory in Russia (including Sankt Petersburg and Estonia) and even in Germany. He was also the president of Estonian Naturalists´ Society. He prepared the building of the railway in Estonia and Livonia, and organized the general levelling of Estonia and Livonia between 1880 and 1890.
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The last estate owner in Väätsa was Karl Johann Anton (Karl Julian) von Seidlitz (the grandson of before mentioned person) who lived here until the nationalisation of the 1919. He was a cavalier, a cavalry master, and a colonel, and graduated from Nikolai cavalry school. He was also the chief of the field office and the quartermaster of the Northwest Army. His area of activity in Väätsa was horse breeding.
Since 1925 there has been a school in the manor. In 1977 an extension for the school was built in the northern side of the main entrance. [nggallery id=11]
NIKOLAI BARANOFF
In 1808 a well-known painter Nikolai Baranoff was born in the estate owners´ family of Väätsa Manor. Being deaf and dumb he got his education in Berlin where his talent for art became apparent. He studied painting in Munich and Vienna, and improved himself in Rome. In 1845 he became a freelance artist of Sankt Petersburg Academy. In Sankt Petersburg Baranoff painted portraits of Russian actors and icons which can be found in orthodox and catholic churches. From his works, there is an altar painting in Paide church from the year 1848, which was a gift to the church reconstructed from the fire from the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (born Princess Charlotte of Prussia). The artist died in Paide in 1863.