It remains an incredible building inside and out. From within, admire vaulted roofs and brightly decorated colonnades, from outside marvel at the slender tower, topped with Renaissance spire (added in 1627), reaching 64m towards the ether. Incidentally, the moustachioed weather vane on top is the symbolic guardian of the city - Vana Toomas! http://www.tallinn-life.com/culture/culture_details/1-Tallinn_Town_Hall Alexander Nevsky Cathedral One of Tallinn's most resplendent monuments, but not one of it's most popular, the spectacular Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built on orders from St. Petersburg during the times of Russian Imperial rule. Supposedly built on the grave of a legendary Estonian hero, Kalevipoeg, on the city's mighty Toompea Hill, the Orthodox cathedral was something of a Russian propaganda exercise at the time and still remains a subject of controversy amongst hardline patriots. Most locals though are
Rossignol very quickly established himself in the royal service. By 1630, his solutions had made him rich enough to build a small but elegant chateau at Juvisy, 12 miles south of Paris, later surrounding it with a charming informal garden designed by Le Notre, the gardener of Versailles. Here Louis XIII stopped to visit the young crypt-analyst in 1634, 1635 and 1636 on his returns to Paris from Fontainebleau. In the swashbuckling court of that monarch, and then in the resplendent one of Louis XIV, Rossignol served with an extraordinary facility. The stronghold of Hesdin surrendered a week sooner than it otherwise would have because he solved an enciphered plea for help, and then composed a reply in the same cipher telling the townspeople how futile their hopes were. How many other towns he compelled to surrender, how many diplomatic coups he made possible, how many betrayals he uncovered among the great nobles in those days of shifting allegiances, he never discussed
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