Constructing Sacred Sites as a Form of Collective Memory: The Sacrificial Stone on Toomemägi Hill in Tartu

Abstract

Sacred natural sites retained their relevance in Estonian culture during and after the shift from mainly oral to mainly literary culture. However, the framework for conceptualising sacred natural sites has changed. Premodern sites have acquired new meanings and functions (notably those associated with national identity) and new sites have been taken into use. The article will present a typology describing the different ways of conceptualising the sacred natural sites that is current in Estonian culture and will offer a case study of a sacred site with a pivotal role in Estonian national identity, the sacrificial stone on Toomemägi hill in the city of Tartu.