landscape protection area. In Tõlliste Area: Paju Manor, Paju Memorial Monument. In Õru Parish: Lota Manor in Lota Village, the birthplace of the poet Friedrich Kuhlbars in Uniküla Village, the birthplace of the veterinary scientist Elmar Roots in Priipalu Village, the birthplace of a painter Kristjan Teder, Uniküla caves in Uniküla Village. Culture Literature There are many people from Valga County who have changed the literary landscape. Their creation and activity in the 20th century is related to Valga County. The best-known writer of Valga County is Hella Wuolijoki (1886-1954) from Ala Village, known world-wide by her plays written in Finnish, giving an overview of life in Finland. In her first works she talks a lot about Valga County. A poet, play-writer and literary critic Henrik Visnapuu, one of the activists and central figures of a literary group Siuru was born in Helme. The plot of the novel "Toomas Nipernaadi", written by August Gailit (1891-1960), is not factually related to the birthplace of the author but the main character has the local prototype from Valga County. August Gailit, the founder and leading figure of Siuru, was born in Kuiksilla, near to Sangaste Manor. In his youth he moved a lot within Valga County. His family moved from Sangaste to Laatre Manor and from Laatre Manor to Tsirguliina Town in 1906. Herta Laipaik (1921-2008) was born in Hummuli in Kaprani farm. Many of her books contain folklore about Helme Parish or the history of Helme. The story of her novel "Hallid luiged" ("Grey swans"; 1986) takes place in a small town called Tõrvatu (Tõrva) and in Valga. One of the most famous short story writers of Estonia, Mats Traat, was born in 1936 in Palupera Parish, Meema Village. Many of his books are about Valga County. His characters often speak Estonian Otepää dialect. The most popular author of modern science fiction literature is Indrek Hargla, born in Hargla in 1970. He chose his writer-name by his birthplace. The series of his criminal novels about the pharmacist Melchior are the present-day masterpieces of the Estonian science-fiction literature. The plots of short stories "Meeting in Taagepera" and "1969", written by Mehis Heinsaar (born in 1973), take place in Taagepera. Jakob Hurt, a folklorist and a linguist, also the excitor of the Estonian public life, worked as a teacher in Otepää in the years 1872–1880. A Finnish-Swedish writer Ester Ståhlberg (1870-1950) wrote about Jakob