Kolga Manor: a beautiful Manor House and Lost Place in Estonia

iPhone Photography

Apr 8

On my way back from the alleged ghost town Viivikonna, I stopped at Kolga Manor, an abandoned, beautiful, neoclassicist, manor house.

Recently, I found myself using Lightroom Mobile Premium more and more for photo perspective correction on iPhone. With Adobe Lightroom, and especially using the guided method, fixing perspective distortions, especially horizontal and vertical distortions, is really easy.

Know before you go to Kolga Manor

Kolga Manor is roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes from Viivikonna or 45 minutes by car from Tallinn. I'm afraid using a car is the only way to get there. I didn't see any public transportation that would stop anywhere nearby.

The inside of Kolga Manor is legally accessible, but you need a permit or attend one of the guided tours for which pre-booking is necessary. A contact email and phone number is listed on the Visit Estonia website.

Inside Kolga Manor

As I didn't have an exact schedule when I planned to arrive there, I drove there at a venture. I was lucky and found a nice lady at the museum. The entrance to the museum is a small door right near the "parking lot". After doing some paper work, I was allowed to enter the manor to explore it. Unlocking the huge door using the likewise big key, I felt transported back in time.

Many other lost places I've visited became a victim of vandalism. Not Kolga Manor.

First you'll see the beautiful and moody stairway from the ground floor to the first floor. Up there, you'll see huge and beautiful rooms with partially crumbling walls or peeling plasterwork.

If all the doors of the rooms are open, you'll be able to see from one side of the manor right through the rooms to the other end. And make sure you visit the room with the fireplace.

I had to to use my Moment Wide and Moment Fisheye lens to be able to capture the beauty of those rooms. Using my travel tripod and ProCamera in LowLight Mode also helped a lot!