Sgraffito
Not listed as a cultural monument

Karepa’s sandy beach temped vacationers to construct extravagant holiday villas between its pinetrees already at the end of the 19^th century. The Villa Taormina, Villa Dombrovka, and Pink Villa that have survived in Karepa to this day were all constructed by the de Soucantoni noble family. The tradition of vacationing continued, and artist Valli Lember-Bogatkina, too, had her summer home-atelier built in Karepa. The modernist Villa Valli was constructed on the shore of Selja River in the 1960s, after Allan Murdmaa’s design. Bogatkina often spent her summers in Karepa and actively associated with the local people.

In 1938, a natatorium brought from Rutja was assembled in Karepa during a communal work gathering. The Falun-red building became Karepa Community Centre – a place that became the venue for cultural celebrations, gatherings, initiative circles, and all kinds of community events. In the summer of 1967, it was decided to make some rearrangements in the community centre, and one room of what is now the library was divided in two with a partition. After completion, however, the plastered wall dividing the room did not seem as effective as initially imagined. Valli Lember-Bogatkina, who was currently at her summer house, was contacted regarding the wall’s mute and foreign impression. Bogatkina agreed to help, and decided to cut a sgraffito into the drying plaster layer. And so the decorative painting introducing the milieu of the Karepa fishing village was born, in a race with drying plaster.

Despite the rushed creation process, the sgraffito has remained in great condition to this day. An important role in this is definitely played by the fact that Valli Lember-Bogatkina and her legacy are held in high esteem in Karepa, and the locals present the sgraffito with great pride.

Anu Soojärv