The Estonian town of Rakvere has, for the fourth year in a row, installed a rather different and innovative Christmas tree.
Like in the last three years, the tree was designed by Teet Suur, the town’s innovative cultural arts manager.
Made from wood, the main peculiarity of this year’s Christmas tree – or shall we say, installation – is that it serves a dual purpose. One can simply admire the Christmas tree from a distance; or also walk up the stairs to its viewing platform with a floor at a height of three metres (10 feet) from the ground. “I would call it interactive,” Suur told Estonian World. “The keywords here are the new angles, the gates and reaching the second level.”
The technical solution and the construction work was conducted by the Rakvere Vocational School, supervised by teacher Raiko Kaasik.
According to Suur, despite the international media attention (including the Huffington Post and the Forbes magazine, over the years) it brings to Rakvere, not every local inhabitant is happy with the alternatively designed Christmas trees. “There are some who are against it, but not because of the specific design, but because they would like to see a proper Christmas tree at the town centre square,” he said.
Suur has previously said that every visitor to the town, as well as local inhabitants, should feel that Rakvere, a home for 15,000 people, is a lively and creative place where people could enjoy “artistic pleasure”. In 2016, the Rakvere Christmas tree had giant cogwheels. In 2015, Suur used 121 coloured recycled windows to build his peculiar Christmas tree. And in 2014, the Christmas tree was made of used waste wood from the local mills.
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Images courtesy of Teet Suur and Estonian World.
