Head of State Juhan Kukk’s portrait unveiled in Stenbock House

Stenbock House — Prime Minister Andrus Ansip unveiled the portrait of Juhan Kukk, the author of the Estonian Manifesto of Independence and later Head of State.

Juhan Kukk was the main author of the Estonian Manifesto of Independence. In February 1918, he wrote the Manifesto to All Estonia’s Peoples together with Jüri Jaakson and Ferdinand Peterson. Kukk also organised the printing of the Manifesto in Tallinn.

The Prime Minister recalled that as the first Minister of Finance of Estonia, Juhan Kukk was also responsible for arranging the financing of the Estonian War of Independence. According to Andrus Ansip, Juhan Kukk may also be considered as the father of Estonia’s own currency. At the end of 1918, Juhan Kukk organised the issue of the five percent short-term bonds by the Governmental Payments Office. In circulation, they became, by nature, the first Estonian currency known as kukks (kuked, after Juhan Kukk) and pätses (pätsud, after Konstantin Päts).

In 1917, Juhan Kukk was elected as a member of the Land Council. Later on, he belonged to the Constituent Assembly and the first and second compositions of the Riigikogu. He was the first Minister of Finance of Estonia, then the Minister of Trade and Industry, the President of the first Riigikogu and the Head of State in the years 1922–1923.

The career of Juhan Kukk as an active statesman was short, but meaningful and outstanding. He entered politics together with the birth of the independent Estonian State and left in 1923, when the state had established itself. In 1924–1926, Juhan Kukk served as the Director of the Bank of Estonia.

Juhan Kukk was arrested by the NKVD in 1940 and he died in prison in Russia.

Rein Tammik, the author of the portrait of Juhan Kukk, who is considered to be the first postmodern painter in Estonia, studied at the Tartu Art School from 1964–1974. Rein Tammik lives in Normandy and has held dozens of personal exhibitions in France. His works can be found in museums in Russia, Germany and the US and in private collections in France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Greece, and elsewhere.

Photos of the unveiling of the portrait http://www.valitsus.ee/?id=7840

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