Otepää Parish

Municipality of Estonia (2017)

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Municipality of Estonia in Valga County

Otepää Parish Otepää vald
Municipality of Estonia
Otepää Cultural Building
Flag Coat of arms
Otepää Parish within Valga County.
Country	Estonia
County	Valga County
Administrative centre	Otepää
Government
• Mayor	Jaanus Barkala
Area
• Total	520 km² (200 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2019)
• Total	6,456
• Density	12/km² (32/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	EE-557
Website	www.otepaa.ee

Otepää Parish (Estonian: Otepää vald) is a rural municipality in Valga County, southern Estonia.^[1] It includes the town of Otepää, that is known to be the "winter capital" of Estonia.

The parish was formed in 2017 by merging of the former Otepää parish, Sangaste parish, 7 villages of Palupera parish and 12 villages of Puka parish.[1]

Settlements

The Parish has one city, two small boroughs and 52 villages.

Town

Otepää

Small boroughs

Puka - Sangaste

Villages

Ädu - Arula- Ilmjärve - Kääriku - Kähri - Kassiratta - Kastolatsi - Kaurutootsi - Keeni - Kibena - Koigu - Kolli - Komsi - Kuigatsi - Kurevere - Lauküla - Lossiküla - Lutike - Mäeküla - Mägestiku - Mägiste - Mäha - Märdi - Makita - Meegaste - Miti - Neeruti - Nõuni - Nüpli - Otepää küla - Pedajamäe - Päidla - Pilkuse - Plika - Põru - Prange - Pringi - Pühajärve - Räbi - Raudsepa - Restu - Risttee - Ruuna - Sarapuu - Sihva - Tiidu - Tõutsi -Truuta - Vaalu - Vaardi - Vana-Otepää - Vidrike

Neighboring Parishes

Elva, Nõo, Kambja, Kanepi, Antsla, Valga ja Tõrva vald.

Religion in Otepää Parish (2021) [2]

Unaffiliated (84.6%)

Lutheran (9.0%)

Orthodox (2.0%)

Others Christians (0.5%)

Others Religions (1.3%)

Unknown (2.6%)

Interesting facts

Otepää is first mentioned in writing in the Novgorod Chronicle in 1116.

The name Otepää (Odenpe, Odempe) means bear's head.

In 1841, the Pühajärve war took place, where the local peasants started to oppose the landlord.

In 1941, the Otepää postage stamp was put into circulation in Otepää.[3]

On October 3, 1991, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was in Otepää. He blessed Pühajärve and planted a commemorative oak next to the church.