Kaur Alttoa

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Kaur Alttoa, born 14 September 1947 in Tartu, is an Estonian art and cultural historian. He finished Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in 1966 and studied at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1972 with an art history degree; his diploma was about Vastseliina Fortress.

Alttoa studies medieval Estonian architecture, including forts and sacred buildings. He earned a master's degree in 1995 with a thesis on medieval brick buildings in southern Estonia and led archaeological excavations at Viljandi Castle, Hermann Castle, Vastseliina Castle, and other sites. He worked as a researcher at the Tartu Branch of Estonian Construction Municipalities (1971–1990), taught at the Estonian SSR State Art Institute (1975–1980), and joined the University of Tartu in 1977, later becoming a lecturer and, from 2005 to 2007, head of the Department of Art History. He was head of the Anton Starkopf Museum in Tartu and edited the Castella Maris Baltici series, which publishes international bird surveys. From 1968 to 1972 he was part of the Visarid art group in Tartu as a theorist and translator.

In 1980, Alttoa signed the Letter of 40 Intellectuals, defending the Estonian language and protesting Russification and government crackdowns after protests in Tallinn. He is the son of Villem Alttoa, a literary scholar, and Aino Alttoa (née Liit); his wife is conservator Eve Alttoa.