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Fraternitas Liviensis

Established 28.01.1918

Device – Brotherhood, Honesty, Diligence


Fraternitas Liviensis Fraternity is an organization of male students of Estonian origin uniting students and alumni of all ages. The students in Fraternitas Liviensis are concentrated in active fraternities in Tartu and Tallinn. After graduation, the members stay connected through the alumni association. Fraternitas Liviensis Fraternity is an organization based on lifelong membership.

Today, the members of Fraternitas Liviensis Fraternity are approximately 200 Estonian men around the world. An essential part of its activities is carried out in Estonia, but alumni association chapters operate in USA and Canada as well. The members of Fraternitas Liviensis have fraternity houses in Tartu on Jakobi hill and in Tallinn in Kadriorg. The fraternity works actively towards the development of young students by organizing both academic and social events. Cooperation with other student organizations in Estonia and in adjacent countries is close: in 1935, a treaty of friendship was concluded with a student organization Keskisuomalainen Osakunta in Helsinki and a cartel agreement was concluded with Fraternitas Livonica Fraternity in Riga in 1993 and with Ventonia Fraternity in Jelgava (Latvia) in 1996.

Fraternitas Liviensis was founded in 1918 by seven pharmacy students, and in twenty years it grew to an organization of approximately 300 members – a considerable and distinctive one beside the other fraternities of the time. In the beginning, the purpose was to bring together students in the same specialty area (pharmaceutical science) and to develop relations with future colleagues in a corporate form. Soon enough, it became clear that a specialty-centered organization cannot grow enough, membership applicants were from other departments as well. As a result, in 1925, male students of all specialties were allowed to become members of Fraternitas Liviensis. This was followed by the affiliation with the Union of Estonian Student Fraternities in 1930.

After the Tallinn University of Technology was opened in Tallinn and the students of the Department of Engineering who studied in Tartu went to study there, the department of Fraternitas Liviensis was established in Tallinn in 1936. Unfortunately, in 1940, fraternities were banned in Estonia. The assets were hidden in the homes of alumni or given to museums for safekeeping. The members of Fraternitas Liviensis (as well as the members of other Estonian student organizations) had to continue their activities in exile or secretly in Estonia. For 50 years, the former students in Estonia and abroad kept the traditions of Fraternitas Liviensis so that in 1988, they could be passed on to the young students in Tartu who wanted to restore the activities of the fraternity. On 29 December 1988, an establishment meeting was held in Tartu and half a year later (6 May 1989), the fraternity was restored also in Tallinn.

The fraternity, by its nature, is a closed organization which above all focuses on its members. Weekly colleges for the development of young members, mutual discussions between the students and alumni of different specialties, the provision of mental and moral support to each other are the fraternity’s main activities. The purpose of the fraternity today is the same as it was in 1918 – to help young students to become valuable, ambitious, and good men and citizens. As a result of these activities, we have members who are active researchers, active people in culture, rulers of the country and also businessmen in our society. This is the greatest contribution of the members of Fraternitas Liviensis to the development of Estonia and its society and also worldwide.