Võru County
| Võru County | |||
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| County of Estonia | |||
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| Country | Estonia | ||
| Capital | Võru | ||
| Government | |||
| • Governor | Andres Kõiv | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 2,305.44 km2 (890.14 sq mi) | ||
| Population (Jan 2016) | |||
| • Total | 33,973 | ||
| • Density | 15/km2 (38/sq mi) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | EE-86 | ||
| Vehicle registration | V | ||
| Website | www |
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Võrumaa, or Võru maakond (English: Võru County, Estonian: Võru maakond, Võro: Võro maakund) officially, is a county in Southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga County and Põlva County and is the only Estonain county bordering two different countries - Latvia (in the South) and Russian Federation (in the East).
The territory of Võrumaa covers 2,305 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. In January 2013 Võru County had a population of 32,806 – constituting 2.5% of the total population in Estonia. The county is subdivided into 12 rural municipalities and 1 urban municipality - Võru town.
In Võru County, there are 95,2% Estonians, 3,4% Russians and 1,4% other nationalities.
Two indigenous ethnic groups live in Võru County – the Võro people and the Setos. Both ethnic groups have their own dialect and cultural heritage in traditions.
The Võro Institute is established for the preservation and promotion of the Võro language and culture, which are tightly connected with its historic centre, the rural and mostly agricultural South-Eastern Estonian county of Võromaa.
The Võro Institute was founded by the Estonian government in 1995. The Institute is engaged in a wide range of activities, including establishing school programs, conducting linguistic and regional research, preserving place-names and their corresponding stories, publishing Võro-language scholarship and school textbooks, and organizing annual language conferences etc. The aim of these activities is to encourage the Võro people to speak their own language and to preserve their characteristic life-style.
In 2014, the smoke sauna tradition in Võrumaa was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. Smoke saunas along with sauna rituals are a part of traditional life and cultural heritage of the Võro people. A smoke sauna is an old-fashioned rural sauna, which has no chimney.
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