Excursion to the estate of A. H. Benkendorf

30 kilometers from Tallinn is a picturesque place called Keila-Joa. One of the largest waterfalls in Estonia is located here. From a height of 6 meters, the water falls violently along a wide slab ledge, a beautiful ancient park, nature trails, hinged bridges ... Glory to this place brought a famous statesman, the right hand of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, chief of gendarmes, head and founder of the Third Branch (the first secret police in the history of the Russian state) Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf. In 1827 he bought an ancient manor on the banks of the fast Kegel River and for a short time made his estate one of the most fashionable in the Russian Empire. It is called the estate of Fall from the German "fall", because it was the fall of the water of the magnificent waterfall that gave this estate a special beauty. Many historical figures visited this estate. There is a legend that it was here that the adjutant of Benkendorf Alexei Lvov wrote the music of the hymn “God Save the Tsar...” In recent years, the estate has been transformed after a long period of decline. The palace was restored in the neo-Gothic style, outbuildings ... And among the dark forest you can find an ancient cemetery, where the remains of the once powerful nobleman rest.