tallinn
Flower capital of europe
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Tallinn meaning city of the danes is a great place. In fact it's the upper city that is Tallinn while the lower city is Reval. During time the city was called both. It is the oldest city of the 3 baltic capital cities and full of finns. This making it an relativ expensive city, but finns still come to buy cheap groceries and liquor. Some tourists take the same ferry on a day trip to see either Tallinn or Helsinki. But just stay the night and experience to cosyness of the eternal night in summer, you will nor regret it.
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Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is an orthodox cathedral in the Tallinn Old Town, Estonia. It was built to a design by Mikhail Preobrazhensky in a typical Russian Revival style between 1894 and 1900, during the period when the country was part of the Russian Empire. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is Tallinn's largest and grandest orthodox cupola cathedral. It is dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky who in 1242 won the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipus, in the territorial waters of present-day Estonia. The late Russian patriarch, Alexis II, started his priestly ministry in the church.
The cathedral is richly decorated and has eleven bells cast in Saint Petersburg, the largest of which weighs about 16 tons, more than the other ten combined. It has three altars, with the northern altar dedicated to Vladimir I and the southern to St. Sergius of Radonezh. The base of the building is Finnish granite. In the five onion domes, gilded iron crosses are seen. Inside are three gilded, carved wooden iconostases, along with four icon boxes. The icons of the iconostasis and icon boxes were painted in St. Petersburg on copper and zinc plates. The windows are decorated with stained glass. |
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Church of the Holy Ghost
Building of the church probably started sometime during the first half of the 13th century, and the church is mentioned in written sources for the first time in 1319. The fact that the church does not face due east may suggest that it was erected in an already built-up area and had to adapt to the street layout. Originally the church was part of a greater almshouse complex, and dedicated to the Holy Ghost.
The oldest part of the church is the choir, to which the aisle was added sometime in the late 13th century or early 14th century. The original wooden ceiling was replaced in 1360, when the present vaulting, tower and large gothic windows were added. In 1630, the tower received its current appearance, which however is a reconstruction as the tower was ravaged by fire in both 1684 and 2002. The church was the first church in Estonia to hold services in Estonian, and the first extracts of the catechism to be published in Estonian were printed here in 1535. The church has a plain, white-washed exterior with crow-stepped gables, an octagonal tower with the above-mentioned reconstructed renaissance spire and few but rather large Gothic windows with fine stone dressing. The stained glass windows are late 20th century. Most noteworthy in the exterior is the finely carved clock, a work by Christian Ackermann (late 17th century). Of the interior decoration, especially the remarkable main altar, a work by Bernt Notke, is noteworthy. It dates from 1483 and depicts, on the central panel, the descent of the Holy Ghost on the twelve apostles at Pentecost. The galleries in the church are richly decorated with scenes from the Bible, painted in the mid-17th century and probably by different artists. Of more recent origin is the organ, dating from 1929 |
Estonian Drama Theatre
The building of Estonian Drama Theatre is the oldest theatre in Estonia (1910) that has been preserved in its original form. The Nordic Art Nouveau building was designed by architects Nikolai Vassilyev and Aleksei Bubyr from St. Petersburg, whose work was awarded the first prize at the largest international architectural competition of the beginning of the 20th century.
The Estonian Drama Theatre has been operating in the attractive German theatre building located in the centre of Tallinn since 1924 when Draamastuudio Teater was founded by the first graduating class of Estonia’s first theatre school; in 1937, it was renamed the Estonian Drama Theatre. Although the name does not indicate that it is the national theatre, the Drama Theatre has served in this capacity for a long time. |
Estonian Knighthood House
Estonia was occupied by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, a religious order of German nobles (knights), in the 13th century. Since then German nobles were the actual rulers in Estonia. They stayed in power when Estonia was occupied by Sweden in the 17th century and by the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Apart from a few Russians, all magistrates were German nobles. As large landowners they also possessed large parts of the Estonian soil. There were also many German nobles who opted for a career in the Imperial Russian Army.
The present building is the fourth Knighthood House. The first two were lost in fire and the third House soon became too small. The present building in Renaissance Revival style was designed by the architect Georg Winterhalter (1822-1894) and built in the years 1845-1848. In 1920, when Estonia had become independent, all privileges of the German Knights were cancelled. The building was then put into use as Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 the country had no Ministry of Foreign Affairs of its own anymore. Between 1948 and 1992 the building functioned as National Library of Estonia. Since it has been art gallery and home for the art academy |
Estonia Theatre
The Jugendstil building was designed by Finnish architects Armas Lindgren and Wivi Lönn. It was built as a national effort with the leadership of Estonia society in 1913 and was opened to the public on 24 August. At the time, it was the largest building in Tallinn.
The opera house was heavily damaged in the Soviet air raid on Tallinn on 9 March 1944. It was reconstructed in a classical and Stalinist style, and reopened in 1947. The building has two large auditoriums in two separate wings. It now houses the Estonian National Opera and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. A chamber hall was opened in 2006. |
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Fat Margaret
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Fat Margaret was built in the early 16th century (from 1511 to 1530) during the reconstruction of the medieval city gate system. The etymology of the tower's name derives from the fact that it was the largest part of the city's fortifications with walls measuring 25 metres in diameter, 20 metres in height and up to 5 metres thick. Apart from being a fortification against would-be invaders to the port of the town, it was also built to impress outside visitors arriving by sea.[3]
The tower is a defensive structure at the end of Pikk tänav (Pikk Street). Together with the Suur Rannavärav (Great Coastal Gate), a sixteenth-century arch flanked by two towers, it served to defend the harbour of Tallinn. Later, it was used as a storehouse for gunpowder and weapons, and then transformed into a prison, and was the scene of an outbreak of violence during the 1917 Revolution, when the prison guards were murdered by a mob of workers, soldiers and sailors. The tower now serves a more peaceful function of housing the Estonian Maritime Museum which looks at the nation's seafaring history with a collection of nautical paraphernalia that spreads over four stories and a view of the old town and Tallinn's harbour and bay from its rooftop viewing platform. |
Great Guild
The Great Guild (Estonian: Suurgild) was a guild for merchants and artisans, operating in Tallinn from at least the 14th century until 1920. It was based in the Great Guild hall, a Gothic building in the historical centre of Tallinn, today housing the Estonian History Museum.
The building was erected in 1407-1410, with the interiors finished in 1417. The façade is decorated with blind arches, and has a typical, prominent portal. Inside, the main hall especially retains the medieval atmosphere. It is a large (365 square metres (3,930 sq ft)) room, supported by a range of pillars with decoratively carved capitals. The Great Guild hall is considered a typical example of medieval Tallinn architecture. |
House of the Blackheads
House of the Blackheads, or House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads, in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is a former headquarters of the Brotherhood of Blackheads. Historically this was a professional association of ship owners, merchants and foreigners dating from the 14th century. They were active in Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia) but fled to Germany during the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States in 1940. The House of the Blackheads was visited by several Russian Emperors including Peter I, Paul I and Alexander I who also became honorable members the Brotherhood.
The building was acquired by this organization in 1517. In 1597 it was renovated under supervision of the architect Arent Passer. The façade was rebuilt in the style of Renaissance architecture from the Low Countries. The painted doors date from the 1640s. A Maure, a symbol of Saint Maurice, the patron saint of the Brotherhood, appears both carved in wood and sculpted in stone above the door. The House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads today comprises three separate buildings, and has four halls and several other rooms which are used for a variety of events. The White Hall was built in 1531-32, but was remodelled during reconstruction work between 1909 and 1911.[3] St. Olaf’s Guild Hall, whose interior architecture comes from the early 15th century, was purchased by the Blackheads in 1919 and was remodeled between 1919 and 1922. |
Kiek in de Kök
Kiek in de Kök (Low German: Peep into the Kitchen) is an artillery tower in Tallinn, Estonia, built in 1475. It gained the name Kiek in de Kök from the ability of tower occupants to see into kitchens of nearby houses. The tower is 38 m high and has walls 4 m thick. Cannon balls dating back to 1577 are still embedded in its outer walls.
Throughout its working life, the tower was extensively remodeled. Work in the 16th and 17th centuries saw the two lowest floors become hidden by earth works and the upper floors receive new gun openings and the uppermost floor a new outer wall and ceiling. By 1760, the tower had become obsolete. At this time it became a repository for archives and some floors were converted to apartments. Twentieth-century restoration work saw the tower and surrounding area returned to a more historical look. The tower now serves as a museum and photographic gallery. |
Rosen Palace
This is one of the city's most splendid buildings, which was built in the Old Town at the time when Tallinn was under Swedish rule, in 1670. Builder and first owner was Axel von Rosen, who was the son of the governor of the province. The parcel had been an dilapidated house, which was demolished in 1670 and at the beginning of the end of the year the building was finished. Axel von Rosen had a beautiful palace of joy over a long time, he died in 1679, and was buried in St. Olav's Church in Tallinn. The house bequeathed to his younger son Bengt Gustav von Rosen, who in turn bequeathed it to his daughter. At the end of the 18th century it was sold to Vice Admiral Andrei Polyansky of Russia's Baltic Fleet and the house was used in Tallinn as the Russian Admiralty of the Baltic Sea Fleet . Nowadays, the building is the embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden.
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st catherine's guild
An Medieval Merchant's House where you today can buy handcrafted products. In the building begins the the St Catherine's passage (Katariina Käik). The building is from the 15th century, and includes, in accord with the style of the time, a large diele, which was later rebuilt into a narrower corridor, one side of which houses Kübarakoda (Hattery), the other Ehtekoda (Jewelry Studio). The limestone flooring, the wooden wall panels, and the ceiling beams are original. The building had, in the middle ages, a large chimney, part of which is now discernible in the closet of Lapikoda (Patchwork). Nahakoda (Fine Leatherwork) and Tekstiilistudio (Textile Studio) occupy former storehouses that have undergone relatively little renovation but have seen the addition of decorative elements. In 1937, in the course of renovating the buildings to house W. Langebraun’s porcelain factory, workers discovered the 17th century stone column, richly carved with grapevines, that now graces the window of Tekstiilistuudio; it is reputed to be among the loveliest of the Old Town’s columns
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St. Catherine's pAssage
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The buildings of Katariina Käik comprise a long and narrow passageway connecting Vene and Müürivahe streets and adjacent to the Dominican monastery, established in 1246 when the monks left Toompea to house their order here. Historians are not certain of the originality of the present facades of the Katariina Käik buildings. It is also uncertain whether the buildings belonged originally to the order or were at the founding already in private hands, but the year of the founding of the monastery dates settlement of the area to that early time.
The complex of buildings and land between Vene and Müürivahe streets is listed as a whole in the city real estate registry already in 1366, when the city of Tallinn transferred it to the patrician Johann Hamer, thus indicating its status as a private holding. Further mentions are of a prosaic nature, as that the rainwater from one specified building may fall into someone else’s yard, or the location of a specific wall and its belonging equally to all concerned, or that buildings may be erected against the designated wall but without breaking through openings for windows. The tombstones exhibited on the south wall of the church are from the 14th to 15th centuries and are among the unique landmarks of Katariina Käik. |
St Mary's Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin in Tallinn (also known as the Dome Church) was first mentioned in records in 1233. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary seven years later.
Worthy of attention inside the church are the gravestones from the 13th-18th centuries and the coat of arms epitaphs dating from the 17th-20th centuries. The most famous people to be buried in the church include renowned Swedish military officer Pontus De la Gardie; his wife, Swedish King Johann III's daughter Sophia Gyllenhelm; Admiral Samuel Greigh; and Admiral Adam Johan von Krusenstern - the first man to lead a Russian round-the-world voyage.ere. You can climb the tower as well |
St. Nicholas' Church
St. Nicholas' Church (Estonian: Niguliste kirik) is a medieval former church. It was dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron of the fishermen and sailors. Originally built in the 13th century, it was partially destroyed in Soviet Bombing of Tallinn in World War II. It has since been restored and today houses a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia, focusing mainly on ecclesiastical art from the Middle Ages onward. Here you will find medieval gravestones, unique altars and Tallinn’s most famous work of art: a fragment of Bernt Notke’s painting, The Dance of Death. In addition, a silver chamber with the silverware that belonged to the guilds and church is opened to the public in the vestry.
The former church is also used as a concert hall. |
St. Olaf's Church
St. Olaf’s Church (Estonian: Oleviste kirik), is believed to have been built in the 12th century and to have been the centre for old Tallinn's Scandinavian community before Denmark conquered Tallinn in 1219. Its dedication relates to King Olaf II of Norway (a.k.a. Saint Olaf, 995–1030). The first known written records referring to the church date back to 1267, and it was extensively rebuilt during the 14th century.
In origin, St Olaf's was part of the united western tradition of Christianity, whose polity continues in the Roman Catholic Church today. However, from the time of the Reformation the church has been part of the Lutheran tradition. Eventually proving surplus to the requirements of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tallinn, St Olaf's became a Baptist church in 1950. The Baptist congregation continues to meet at St Olaf's today. From 1944 until 1991, the Soviet KGB used Oleviste's spire as a radio tower and surveillance point. In 1590, the total height of the church tower was 115–125 m. The tower has been hit by lightning around ten times, and the whole church has burned down three times throughout its known existence. According to some sources it was the tallest building in the world from 1549 to 1625, but this claim is controversial: one account of the final rebuilding states the church was formerly "ten fathoms" higher, but paintings depict a spire similar in proportions to the current one; moreover, several different fathoms were in use in Estonia at the time and it is uncertain which was meant. After several rebuildings, its spire is now 123.7 meters tall |
St Peter and St Paul's Cathedral
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Catholicism was introduced to Estonia by force via the Northern crusades and dominated religious life during the Middle Ages. However, following the Reformation during the 16th century, Lutheranism took its place as the dominant faith, and during the time of Swedish rule in Estonia, Catholicism was banned.
Following Sweden's loss of Estonia to the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War, religious freedom was introduced by the new authorities. In 1799, the Catholic parish had grown large enough to be granted the former refectory of the long-since closed St. Catherine's monastery as a place of worship on the site of the present church. In 1841, designs were made for a proper new church building for the site, which had grown too small. The architect was the well-known St. Petersburg architect Carlo Rossi. He designed a neo-Gothic basilica, without an apse, with a neo-classical exterior. Between 1920 and 1924, the main, western façade received its present look, a work by architects Erich Jacoby and Franz de Vries somewhat deviating from Rossi's original façade. The interior of the church still reflects Rossi's design, however the wooden, neo-Gothic decoration has been removed. The cathedral incorporates several works of art, including works by local Baltic German artists Carl Friedrich Sigismund Walther, Robert Johann Salemann and a copy of a painting by Guido Reni. The cathedral has undergone a series of renovations, the latest in 2002–2003 |
Three Sisters
Three spectacular merchants houses built in 1362 were renovated and joint to a hotel Kolm Õde (Three sisters) in 2003. Modern interior offers up-to-date comfort with a retrospect to medieval history. Situated inside the 16th century town walls in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Tallinn Old Town, the hotel Kolm Õde offers you a chance to gaze old Hansa city’s wall cracks but still with style, comfort and luxury.
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Toompea Castle
Toompea Castle was erected on the foundations of the crumbling eastern wing of the fortress built on the site in the 13th and 14th centuries. Eyecatching for its late baroque facade, the castle was built between 1767 and 1773.
The history of Toompea is the story of the rulers and conquerors of Tallinn, each of whom moulded and reinforced the place to their own needs and according to their own taste. Today the castle is home to the Riigikogu (the Estonian parliament). The blue, black and white of the national flag can be seen flying on top of the 45-metre Tall Hermann tower as the symbol of Estonia's independence. |
Town Hall
Completed in 1404, this is the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe. Inside, you can visit the Trade Hall (housing a visitor book dripping in royal signatures), the Council Chamber (featuring Estonia’s oldest woodcarvings, dating from 1374), the vaulted Citizens’ Hall, a yellow-and-black-tiled councillor’s office and a small kitchen. The steeply sloped attic has displays on the building and its restoration.
Occasionally the building is used to host prominent visiting art exhibitions, in which case the entry fee may be considerably higher. |
Viru Gate
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The barbican of Viru Gate was part of the defense system of Tallinn city wall built in the 14th century.
By the 16th century, it had 8 gates that consisted of several towers and curtain walls connecting them. The main tower of a gate was always square and the barbicans were equipped with one or two small round towers. As the entrances to the Old Town were widened, several gates were demolished. The Viru Gate had to pay its dues to a horse-drawn tram route that connected the Old Market with Kadriorg. However, the corner towers were preserved; also, you can still see a part of the bastion that is called Musumägi. In 1898, its southern tower received a small Neo-Gothical addition. |