Re-levelling and stabilizing the soil of a subsided monument

Pirogov Park and Toome Hill in Tartu are among most important park areas in Tartu. A few years ago, park underwent renovation, but in the course of construction, one side of the monument erected to Nikolai Pirogov, former professor of Tartu University, started to sink. Considering that there was no building documentation available regarding the monument, its stabilisation and lifting was a challenge for URETEK Baltic team, because they had to work by trial and error. Besides absence of documentation, performance of works was complicated by the fact that in pre-war years, Pirogov Park was the location of cinema Central and a café that were bombed and their ruins formed a base for hillslope. This in turn meant that the slope contains old foundations, cellars, passages and storages.

As the monument lacked any structural engineering documentation, stabilising and lifting the monument was a challenge for the URETEK Baltic team, as the work had to be done on a trial-and-error basis. In addition to the lack of documentation, the work was made more difficult by the fact that before the war, the Central cinema and café was located on Pirogov Square, which was hit by a bomb and its ruins were levelled into a hillside. This in turn meant that the hillside hid old foundations, cellars, passages and vaults.

However, soil under the monument was stabilised and sunken side lifted to its former height.