he Soviet occupation and the Second World War brought about a decline in heritage management. The repairs and conservation work, which had been disrupted for a longer period of time, began again in the mid-1950s. The necessary documentation was compiled in autumn 1954, and conservation work began in 1956 under the supervision of Rein Zobel. In the same year he was joined by Villem Raam, who had been deported to Siberia and had returned to Estonia. Villem Raam became the general supervisor of research and conservation at Padise.
The first measures taken were to prevent any further decay of the ruined complex. Before the Second World War the northern and eastern ranges were protected by a roof, which was severely damaged. In 1956 the northern and eastern ranges received new asbestos roofs on timber frames. Traditional roof tiles were not used as they would have added more pressure to the walls, and the clay tiles were of poor quality so roofing would not have been weatherproof.
During the conservation and restoration work carried out in the following years the same methods were used as at Pirita in the 1930s. This was probably an intuitive choice, as there were no other models or guidelines to follow. There was almost no information about restoration activity in the rest of the world. At the same time the solutions had been effective, as the walls conserved about twenty years earlier were in a good state of preservation.
In addition to the roofs, the visible sections of the wall were also repaired. First, work started in the church, were the alterations and additions, which had been done when it was converted into a manor house, were demolished and some structural joints were restored. In those days large areas of ruins were covered with earth: in the courtyard on the north side it reached as high as the church portals, the western and sourthern ranges were completely concealed (except for the outer wall of the southern range) and the western courtyard was buried under the earth as well. The next step was to uncover the whole cloister and the adjoining buildings. In 1957 work started at the gate tower and the western courtyard and continued until 1960. At the same time the cleaning of the western range and the garth started, work proceeded on the southern range, the probable chapel at the south-western corner and the adjoining defensive structure in the west. The excavations continued until 1969. Digging was mostly done manually, in some places the earth was removed by the excavator.
After the walls had been uncovered, they needed to be conserved. Also, there were tall trees within the monastic precinct and their roots had damaged the wall considerably in some places.
The methods used in conservation were basically the same that had been used under the supervision of the Swedish specialists earlier, in the 1930s at Pirita. A new feature – the Swedish model was followed again – was the installation of curved concrete caps on the walls which were then turfed.
However, even with this approach there were some details that needed rebuilding and, half a century later, we must say that some of these reconstructed parts do not seem compatible with the context. For example the regular rows of formeret arches show that there were cloisters on the courtyard side of the northern and western ranges. Looking at the pre-restoration photos we can see that the reconstruction of the formeret arches was based on the supposition that there were vaulted cloisters in Cistercian monasteries. A special timber formwork was used for building formeret arches in the western range.
While assessing the previous conservation treatments we have to take into account the circumstances in those days. Lime produced in Estonia was of low quality, and mortar mixed with concrete was used. Sometimes building activity was carried out in winter when cement mortar was used.
In the second half of the 1950s – even before the Venice Charter (1964) – a new principle of restoration began to spread in the western world: new additions should not imitate the old details, but should be clearly distinguishable. Contemporary materials and techniques can be used. The pioneer in this field in Estonia was Rein Zobel. In 1961 he designed a slightly curved reinforced concrete slab to cover the main entrance. Another reinforced concrete slab was cast to protect a section of the western range where a well-preserved hypocaust furnace was situated.