Founding
Korp! Revelia was founded in 1920. Early Revelians displayed strong national spirit, having fought in the Estonian War of Independence. The founding members were former members of other fraternities such as korp! Sakala, korp! Ugala and korp! Fraternitas Academica. The name “Revelia” was suggested by professors of linguistics and it used to refer to the area around Tallinn in early Estonian history. Our colors were chosen in cooperation with art scholars – black and white from the Estonian and flag, and green from an earlier national flag project of C. R. Jakobson. Green symbolizes hope and the love of work, black stands for honesty and justice, and white represents purity, brotherhood and cooperation with Estonians. The statutes were adopted on the 2nd of November, 1920 and it was approved by the University of Tartu on the 3rd of December,, 1920, which is our official founding date. The student corporation announced itself publicly on the 8th of December, 1920.
Olderman with fuxes.
First decades
After several temporary spaces, fraternity Revelia found its home at Veski 35. There were plans to buy the house, but it was thwarted by the occupation of 1940. Moreover, Revelia did not actively participate in student affairs, the main focus was on refining internal affairs. Revelia, in corpore, joined the Estonian Defence League on the 1st of December, 1924 during the Estonian coup d'état attempt (communist attempted coup). The fraternity had warm relations with other members of the League of Estonian Student Corporations and became a member on the 27th of March, 1930. Korp! Revelia signed a treaty of friendship with Wiipurilainen Osakunta (the oldest organization, est. 1653, of the University of Helsinki) on the 30th of November, 1930.
Revelians during a commercium, 1935.
Occupation
The student corporation was closed down during the occupation and our archive was confiscated. The house was used as a hospital of the Red Army. However, members still had meetings and traded information. The Soviet occupation and the World War were devastating for the fraternity, as many were lost. Only about one fifth of the brotherhood made it out of the Soviet Union – the fight against communism continued in Finland and later a convent was founded in Sweden. Additionally, convents were opened in Canada, the United States and Australia. The convent in Canada remains active to this day.
Revelians in Sweden with ladies.
Re-establishment
Fraternity Revelia was officially re-established in 1989. Initially the collective was small and there was an idea to launch a new student organization, but as fate would have it, this information reached the alumni (traditionally called filisters) of korp! Revelia and it was decided that the original student corporation was to be restored. Members also communicated with other recently-restored student organizations and took part in the restoration of the League of Estonian Student Corporations. The treaty of friendship with the Finnish organization was renewed. In 1990, the fraternity celebrated its 70th anniversary.
Revelians in the 1990s.
Recent decades
Korp! Revelia was active in several different locations until 2008, when the organization finally moved into its current building at Veski 45 in the spring of that same year. Even though the main hub of korp! Revelia is in Tartu, there has always been active communication in Tallinn and a convent in Tallinn was officially opened in 2014. A treaty of friendship was signed with the Latvian student corporation Fraternitas Metropolitana in 2005 and another treaty of friendship was signed with the Lithuanian student corporation RePublica in 2015.
Photo from the treaty signing event with corp! RePublica.
Korporatsioon Revelia © 2017