The Republic of Estonia was founded on 24 February1918, when the Salvation  Committee (Päästekomitee)declared the independence of the Republic of Estonia. In 2008 this historical event was celebrated throughout the whole year. In total, nearly 1 000 different events were organised all over Estonia during the anniversary year.

The anniversary was celebrated abroad with tens of concerts, exhibitions and film festivals introducingEstonian culture – in total about 200 different events took place in other countries.

Night Song Festival “Time to Take Notice”

A night-time song festival entitled "Märkamisaeg" ("Time to Take Notice") was held at the Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn on the eve of the Day of Restoration of

Independence, 20 August.

The song festival was one of the major events of the 90th anniversary celebration of the Republic of Estonia and marked the passage of 20 years since the spontaneously organised singing at the Song Festival Grounds that evolved into large-scale pro-independence collective singing events attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Estonia formally declared the restoration of its independence from Moscow on 20 August 1991.

A total of 132 choirs and more than 3 000 singers performed at the festival. Altogether, an estimated 70 000 people took part in the event.

Helping Georgia

Georgia is one of the priority partner countries of

Estonian development co-operation, whose development is supported by various Estonian projects. The war that erupted between Georgia and Russia in August 2008 stopped development co-operation projects and Estonia

turned its attention towards providing humanitarian aid for those affected by the armed conflict. Estonia’s first shipment of humanitarian aid arrived in Georgia a mere three days after the war broke out. The next one arrived two weeks later. What happened in Georgia affected Estonian society deeply, and people responded strongly

to the call to help provide aid to those affected by the war. During the fall, people donated 16 tonnes of clothing for infants and toddlers, which arrived in Georgia as part of Estonia’s third aid shipment in November.

Important events of 2009

Song and Dance Celebrations 2009

2-5 July 2009 in Tallinn

Have you ever heard 18 000 people singing at once? This powerful experience can be had every five years in Tallinn, when tens of thousands of Estonians gather in Tallinn to participate in the Song and Dance Festival. The festival tradition, which began in 1869, has been added to UNESCO’s list of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. This year will mark 140 years since the first Song Festival and the festival is being held for the 25th time. The tradition of dance festivals goes back to 1934.

Waste cleanup campaign “Let’s do it 2008!”

There were more than 10 000 tonnes of illegal waste lying around in Estonian nature. In October 2007, a group of active citizens realised that something drastic needed to be done. They developed special software and geomapped more than 10 000 dump sites all over the country. On 3 May 2008, the initiative engaged hundred of organisations and more than 50 000 volunteers, and they cleaned up all the trash in just one day! More than 3% of the Estonian     population of 1.3 million went out to clean illegal waste from the forests, roadsides and other public areas. More than 40 waste management companies supported the initiative with the necessary containers and garbage transportation vehicles. More than 10 000 tonnes of illegal waste was collected during the initiative, which resulted in a cleaner Estonia.

Estonian success at the Beijing Olympics

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Estonian discus thrower Gerd Kanter was crowned an Olympic champion with a throw of 68.82 m. He had already reached the peak of world-class discus throwing the year before, when he became the world champion in Osaka. Kanter's next goal is to set a new world record. Currently the best Estonian track and field athlete of recent years boasts a personal best that is the third-longest throw in discus history.

Estonian rowers were rewarded for years of hard work on the Olympic rowing waters in 2008. Rowers Jüri Jaanson and Tõnu Endrekson won a silver medal in the double sculls event.

2009 – The Year of Innovation in Estonia

On 31 December 2008, the President of Estonia announced that 2009 is the Year of Innovation, which was the beginning of a national year-long co-operation project.

The Year of Innovation is a year of new ideas, creative thinking and doing things differently.  When doing things in the same way is not enough for further development,there’s a need to try out new ways – smart and innovative ones. Many useful innovations together can bring along the growth of a whole economy. The Year of Innovation will hopefully bring out the entrepreneurial and innovative side of Estonians, who believe it’s a natural part of their lives and have a positive approach towards changes and innovation.

More in 2009:

29 March 2009
5 years since Estonia’s accession to NATO

1 May 2009
5 years since Estonia’s accession to the European Union

4 June 2009
Estonia’s blue-black-and-white tricolour turns 125.

23 August 2009
20 years have passed since the Baltic Chain, which was organised on 23 August 1989 to influence the Communist authorities and demonstrate the Baltic countries’ desire for freedom. Over 600 kilometres, nearly 2 million people stood hand in hand, forming an unbroken human chain that ran through all three Baltic states. The Baltic Chain gained the attention of the world and helped create awareness of the Baltic countries’ desire for independence.