Monument to the War of Independence in Laiuse
Memorial site

This monument is in Laiuse cemetery in the village of Vilina in Jõgeva municipality.

It is dedicated to those from the parish who fell in the War of Independence. It was designed by Anton Starkopf and unveiled on 30 August 1925. It was torn down in July 1941 before being reassembled during the German occupation. It was then demolished in 1954.

The memorial depicted a Grecian-style temple. The two-step foundations supported six fluted Doric columns bearing a massive tapered slab. In the middle was an open space with a tablet listing the names of the dead and a sarcophagus with an effigy of a fallen soldier.

On 22 February 1998 a memorial cross designed by architect Ilmar Kannelmäe was erected on the site of the former monument, which had been destroyed by the Soviet regime. The new dolomite cross features a relief of the Cross of Liberty and the text ‘Rm 14, 7-9’, while the tablets at the foot of the cross on both sides are engraved with the names of the fallen. The left-hand tablet reads: "THE FALLEN OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE", followed by 20 names. The right-hand tablet lists 24 names. The text on the other side reads: "TO THOSE FALLEN IN THE ESTONIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE" and "TO THE VICTIMS OF THE WORLD WAR AND THE SOVIET OCCUPATION”.