Lydia Koidula

About

Lydia Koidula was a poet and playwright. Her poem Mu isamaa on minu arm is Estonia's unofficial anthem. Her monument in Pärnu was the first public monument to a woman in Estonia.

Story highlights

• Wrote Mu isamaa on minu arm, still sung as Estonia's unofficial anthem.
• Opened the door for Estonian women on the professional stage with Saaremaa onupoeg.
• Grew up beside her father's newspaper presses in Pärnu during the national awakening.
• Her Pärnu monument (1929) was the first public monument to a woman in Estonia.

Pronunciation

/lyːdiɑ koiˑdulɑ/

LEE-dyah KOY-du-lah

Cultural flavour

• Mu isamaa on minu arm became Estonia's unofficial anthem and is still sung at Song Festivals
• first Estonian professional female dramatist; Saaremaa onupoeg (1870) packed village halls
• daughter of Johann Voldemar Jannsen, founder of Perno Postimees - she grew up in a print shop
• pen name Koidula (of the dawn) was chosen to sound like a sunrise over the national awakening
• Lydia Koidula monument in Pärnu by Amandus Adamson (1929) was the first public monument to a woman in Estonia
• died young in Kronstadt in 1886; Estonians still leave flowers at her Pärnu memorial every spring
• wrote fiery patriotic lyrics while also drafting comedy dialogue that teased small-town manners