Riiusaare
ESTONIA–LIVONIA (ESTLAND–LIVLAND) BORDER AT RIIUSAARE
Riiusaare is a moraine hill between Päinurme and Rutikvere villages amidst bottomland meadows and forests on the banks of the Põltsamaa River. It is an ancient place in Central Estonia, although it can be seen as a borderland in more than one sense.
Over the centuries six different border lines have run through Riiusaare: the border line between the Estonian and Livonian Governorates, the border line between Viljandi and Järva counties, the border line between Peetri and Põltsamaa parishes, the border line between Koigi and Rutikvere parishes and the border line between the village lands of Rutikvere and Päinurme and the manorial lands. As this has been a kind of borderland, it has been a source of quarrels and conflicts for the local authorities. Riiusaare (’an island of strife’) and the stream nearby called Tüli or Kiirjooksu (’quarrel’ or ’rapid run’) – these place names speak for themselves. According to a legend the name of Riiusaare was born as the result of a quarrel at the card table between the lords of Päinurme and Rutikvere.
On 16 August 2014 a border stone was opened at Riiusaare to commemorate the one-time border line that ran through Central Estonia between Estonia (Estland) and Livonia (Livland).
On 16 April 2017 during the hiking trip dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia at the Estonia–Livonia border stone in Riiusaare.
Ründo Mülts