Tallinn (3)

Tallinn English College
English
Sergo Vainumäe
9A
TALLINN
Report
Supervisor:
Inge Välja
Tallinn 2006
Order of contents:
1. Introduction
2. Toompea
3. Lower Town
4. Kadriorg and Pirita
5.Museums
1. Introduction
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, lies on the Baltic Sea. It is on almost the same latitude east St. Petersburg in Russia , Stockholm in Sweden and Stavanger in Norway, and covers 158 sq km.
Tallinn was first marked on a map of the world by the Arab geographer al- Idrisi in 1154, its name then being Kolyvan (probably derived from the name Kalev). In the 13th - century Chronicle of Henricus de Lettis the town was called Lyndanise. Later came Reval (presumably after the old county of Rävala), the name used by the Germans who ruled the country for seven centuries . Russians then modified Reval to Revel. For Estonians , the town came to be called Tallinn from Taanilinn (Danish town) after Danish conquest in the 13th century. Over the course of time, Taanilinn was shortened to Tallinn
The place is believed to have been settled by Finno-Ugric peoples about 2500 BC.
The Danes, led by King Valdemar II, conquered northern Estonia in 1219. Legend has it that one day, when the Danes were about to lose a bloody battle, the sky suddenly opened and a red flag with a white cross on it dropped down upon them from the heavens. This is allegedly how the Danes obtained their national flag, the Dannebrog – in a battle against the Estonians.
In the middle of the 14th century Denmark sold its possessions in Estonia to the German Teutonic Order. Toompea became the seat of the German-born gentry. A wall was built to separate the Upper Town and the Lower Town.
In 1285 Tallinn joined the Hanseatic league and became a junction of trade between East and West . Tallinn is said to be built on salt , as it was an important trading commodity.
In the 16th century Tallinn had a population of about 7,000 – 8,000 making it one of the biggest cities in northern Europe . In 1629 Sweden took control of the whole of Estonia. Though hard times continued, the period that followed is known as the “ good old Swedish era”: foundations were laid for the Estonian school system, the privileges of the nobility were curtailed, local peasants were granted the right to own property, and so on.
Peter the Great wanted to open a window onto Europe for Russia so he started the Northern War in 1700. Estonia remained under Russian rule and the Baltic-German nobility vowed allegiance to the Tsar ; the barons were restored their former privileges.
In 1870 a railway line was opened from St. Petersburg to Tallinn. Tallinn grew into a major port and an industrial centre . Estonians became conscious of their national identity. Tartu was the centre of the movement of national awakening .
On 24 February 1918, Estonia was proclaimed an independent democratic republic . Tallinn developed into a modern European capital. A period of prosperity followed, but independence only lasted for 20 years .
During World War II Estonia was occupied by both German and Russian invaders, and Tallinn suffered heavily. The bombing of the city by the Soviet air forces on 9 March 1944 left over 20,000 people homeless. During the Russian occupation which followed (and which lasted for five decades) attempts were made to Russify the local people. Large scale industry was developed in Tallinn, workers were resettled from Russia and new blocks of flats sprang up on the outskirts to provide housing for the newcomers. Tallinn was the biggest grain- handling port in the Soviet Union. Russian speakers outnumbered Estonians in Tallinn.
Estonia re- established its independence on 20 August 1991. There is still a large block of granite on Toompea which recalls the days when people barricaded Lossiplats ( Castle Square ) to prevent Soviet tanks gaining access.
Today , Tallinn is the largest city in Estonia, with a population of about 400,000. Tallinn boasts a wonderful medieval Old Town where the atmosphere of the 15th and 15th centuries can still be strongly felt . Its narrow cobbled streets, medieval buildings with various decorative elements , attractive weather -vanes and soaring spires are very special and draw visitors in large numbers. Only a few town in northern Europe have medieval districts as well preserved as in Tallinn. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.
The rest of the capital could be called the New Town, dating mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tallinn is a mixture of the modern and the medieval where tradition goes hand in hand with the most recent trends . Its cross-cultural history has given the city a special charm . It has about 30 museums, 25 galleries and 15 exhibition halls. Among its many twin towns and partners are Helsinki in Finland, Schwerin and Kiel in Germany, Stockholm and Malmö in Sweden, Gent in Belgium, Venice in Italy and Odessa in the Ukraine .
2. Toompea
For centuries Toompea was always inhabited by the ruling classes. In the Middle ages, it was the place where the bishops and the nobility resided. Here the landed gentry built their beautiful town houses . Most of the remaining buildings were erected after the big fire on Toompea in 1684 .
Historically, the fortress on Toompea consisted of two parts : the small fortress (today’s Toompea Castle) and the big fortress (The rest of Toompea).
Pikk Hermann is the best -known corner tower among the three surviving ones of Toompea Castle. It is 46 metres high and serves as one of Estonia’s landmarks. Tall Hermann was a traditional name given to the main towers of German castles. After the 50- year long Soviet occupation, the Estonian blue- black -white tricolour was once again hoisted on Pikk Hermann on 24 February 1989.
The Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin (Toomkirik or the Dome Church ) was consecrated as a single -nave church with a rectangular chancel in 1240, and rebuilt into a Gothic basilica thereafter. The church suffered in the fire of 1684 and was largely reconstructed. A baroque tower was added in the 18th century and the dated weather- vane (1779) crowning the spire is the only original one on Toompea today.
The church has a valuable collection of Baltic German noblemen’s coats of arms, since it was the Baltic nobility’s parish church. Many of them were carved from wood by the famous Tallinn wood carver Christian Ackermann in the 17th century. Among other functions , the church served as a burial ground for the rich and the noble . The church also features grave slabs , an oaken Baroque altar by Christian Ackermann and a number of monuments to famous people (e.g. Pontus de la Gardie, Karl Horn and Otto Uexküll, all Swedish military leaders; Admiral Samuel Greigh, a hero of Russo-Turkish sea battles ; and Admiral Adam Johann Krusenstern , a Baltic German who was the first Russian citizen to sail round the world.
The church organ, built in Germany in the 19th century, is one of few in Europe today with a specific romantic sound. Nowadays , the church has an Estonian Lutheran congregation and also serves as a concert hall.
3. Lower Town
The Town Wall encircling the Lower Town is one of the greatest medieval treasures of Tallinn. It was begun in the 13th century, completed in the 14th and constantly improved and strengthened thereafter. The walls were 2.5 metres thick on average , over 2 km long, and their height reached 15-16 metres.
The wall was fortified by 27 towers, 18 of which have survived. In Tower Square you can admire several of them. The strongest are the cannon towers Fat Margaret and Kiek in the Kök ( Peep into the Kitchen ). Many towers in the Town wall have been restored as fine restaurants, cafés and intimate concert calls. Two-thirds of the old wall have survived, making it one of the most special medieval sights in Tallinn.
The Tallinn Town Hall
The Town Hall, the centre of administration and judicial power, was definitely the most important public building in the Middle Ages. The Tallinn Town Hall was first recorded in 1322, but there must have been some kind of a hall in the last quarter of the 13th century already , as Tallinn got its urban rights in 1248 .
The present Town Hall was built in 1401-1404, but was renovated in the 17th century. The last renovation took place in the 1970s when it got its original appearance. The weather vane was put on the spire in 1530. (The original vane is now a museum -piece). The main facade overlooks Town Hall Square and rests upon an open arcade.
The Town Hall is a 2-storeyed structure with a basement and 11 rooms in all. The ground floor accommodates the present vestibule, it was called a wine cellar in the Middle Ages and it may have been a trading hall as well. The room next to the vestibule was a torture chamber according to the legend, but no evidence has been found to prove it.
The main or the first floor was made up of the Citizens’ Hall, the Council Hall, the office, the kitchen and the toilet. In the Council Hall the town councillors held their official meetings. They also had their parties and receptions there.
Town Hall Square
In the Middle Ages it was the real centre of the town, the focus of its social life and the most crowded part of Tallinn in those days. There were dwelling houses of the merchants and craftsmen at the side of the square. Numerous shops and stalls stood in front of them where tradesmen sold their goods . The square was a market place already in the 11th century and served as such until 1896. It was called Suur Turg and got its present name – Raekoja Plats only in 1923. On one side of the square, there was the House of Weights and Measures where all imported goods were weighed and measured before they got into the shop .
There were also two pillories – the big and the small one in the square. The culprits and those who were sentenced to death were brought to the pillory. The small pillory (for smaller criminals) was fixed to the wall of the Town Hall. Both pillories were used when people were birched. The punishment was carried out by the hangman and his assistants and was considered a great shame and dishonour. The pillories were still in use in the 19th century. 72 peasants who had taken part in the disturbances of Kose-Uuemõisa in 1806, were birched in the small pillory (a number of them were later sent to Siberia). A round stone slab in the square signifies the place of the pillory.
Town Hall Square was not a place of execution, but there was one exception. At the end of the 17th century a priest , being drunk in a pub, had killed the maid in anger. After that he went to the Town Hall and confessed to the crime . Usually murderers were hanged on the Gallows Hill , but he was sentenced to honourable death by the hangman’s sword, as he “ had been affected “, when he committed the crime. The priest was beheaded in the square. Two stones are placed in the shape of the letter L. These are actually the remnants of a cross placed into the pavement to commemorate the place of his death.
The Town Councils Apothecary’s
Raeapteek was first mentioned in 1422 and is this one of the oldest in Europe!
The history of the apothecary’s is closely connected with the Burchart family, who first leased it in 1585 and later bought it from the Town Council. It remained in the hands of the same Hungarian family until the 20th century.
St. Mary’s Cathedral
The church contains a large number of monuments, for example the tomb monument of the Swedish Commander-in- Chief Pontus de la Cardie and his wife which is the oldest (1589), the tomb monuments to two Russian admirals (neither of them Russian by nationality) – Samuel Greigh and Adam Johann v. Krusenstern (the first Russian circumnavigator).
The altar and the pulpit were made by the well- known 17th cent. master Christian Ackermann. He is also the author of the majority of the epitaph coats of arms in the church.
St. Nicholas Church
During the Reformation in 1524 many valuable works of art were destroyed in Tallinn. The locks on the doors of St. Nicholas Church had been poured full of molten lead and they could not be opened. Therefore it was the only church where masterpieces of the 14-15th century painting, woodcarving and stone-carving survived.
The Church of the Holy Ghost
There are 57 paintings on the wall of the gallery known as The Bible of the Poor . It starts with Adam in the Garden of Eden and end with the New Testament illustrations. The church had the oldest bell in Tallinn (until 2002). It had been joined to the clock at some time and the inscription on it read: I strike the right time for the maid and manservant, for the mistress and the master, and nobody can reproach me for that.
The Church of the Holy Ghost became the first Estonian church after the Reformation in 1524, the majority of the of the congregation had been Estonian already before.
4. Kadriorg and Pirita
Kadriorg ( Catherine ’s Valley), one of the oldest and largest parks in Estonia, covers about 70 hectares . Originally it was an are on the seashore featuring low meadows, shrub land and a few manor houses. In the 17th century most of the land was in the possession of Fonne, the Town Council’s secretary . At the time the park was called Fonnenthal. A century later the name was changed to Yekaterinenthal after Yekaterina, wife of Peter I.
Kadriorg Palace was designed in Baroque style by the Italian Niccoló Michetti and built in the 1720s on the order of Peter the Great in honour of his wife. The tsar himself is known to have laid three bricks in the foundation of the building. The palace was also planned to serve as a summer house for the tsar’s family.
For a long period, Kadriorg Palace housed the Art Museum of Estonia, but after thorough repairs over quite a few years it was finally opened as the Museum of Foreign Art in the summer of 2000. There is also a Baroque-style garden behind the palace.
The Swan Pond and the area round the palace are the oldest parts of the park.
The President ’s Residence does not lie far from Kadriorg Palace. The house was designed as an administrative building by Alar Kotli in the 1930s .
The Peter the Great Museum at 2 Mäekalda Street is the cottage Peter I bought in 1714 and occupied on his visits to Tallinn while the palace was being built. Visitors can admire several of his possessions.
Russalka (The Mermaid) on the seashore is considered one of the most beautiful monuments of Tallinn. It was made by Amandus Adamson in 1902 and commemorates the Russian armoured ship (of the same name) and her crew which sank in the Gulf of Finland in 1893.
The Song Festival Dais, built in 1960, is the site of the famous Estonian song festivals . The stage was designed for a choir of more than 30,000. The biggest audience (300,000, which was approximately a third of Estonians in Estonia at the time) gathered in 1988 for the most special of all song festivals, called the Singing Revolution, while Estonia was still a Soviet Republic.
There is also a monument to the centenary of the song festival (unveiled in 1969) and a stone wall carrying memorial plaques for all the festivals.
Pirita
Pirita is a picturesque area situated about seven kilometres away from the centre of Tallinn. There is a beautiful sandy beach stretching for two kilometres. Pirita is also a yachting centre and a place for motor -cycle races .
One of its attractions is the ruin of St. Birgitta’s Convent . The founder of the convent was the Bridgettine Order whose principal house was at Vadstena in Sweden. The convent was dedicated to Birgitta Gudmarsson who was canonized in 1391.
The construction was started in 1407 and it was sponsored by wealthy citizens and the knighthood of the provinces of Harju and Viru as well as by some rich people of Sweden.
The convent was divided into three parts. The central part was the church with its 34-metre-high gable. The left wing was for the nuns and the priests lived in the right wing. The church building was completed and consecrated in 1436. Other buildings took longer to build – they were completed at the beginning of the 16th century.
The number of nuns was not to exceed sixty according to the regulations of the Order.
A girl who wished to become a nun had to be at least 18 years old. The priests could not be younger than 25.
The decline of the cloister began during the Livonian War (1558-1583). The fire of 1564 caused considerable damage to the buildings. The convent suffered its final destruction in 1577 at the hands of Ivan the Terrible.
5. Museums
Kiek in de Kök is a tower in the Town Wall that stands on Harjumägi (Harju Hill), a former bastion on the slope of Toompea, and was built in the late 15th century. Today, it houses a branch of the Tallinn City Museum. It is an excellent example of medieval fortification techniques. It tells visitors the story of the settlement and development of Tallinn, including the most important military events between the 13th and 18th centuries.
The Tallinn City Museum in Vene Street surveys the history of the town from the 13th century to 1940. The interior of a typical medieval merchant’s house adds a special charm to the display .
The tower of Fat Margaret houses the Estonian Seafaring Museum, whose varied displays on its four floors tell visitors about navigation, old and modern ships, lighthouses and more, describing the development of Estonian seafaring and fishing traditions.
The Estonian Open-Air Museum at Rocca al Mare is actually the Estonian Village Museum, covering 84 hectares around Kopli Bay. It displays the rural architecture of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Other museums in Tallinn are the Marine Museum, Kumu , The Museum of Applied art and the Museum of Foreign Art.
6. Different parts of modern Tallinn
Tallinn is divided in to 8 different districts, each with its own character and sightseeing spots.
Haabersti - mainly residential area with large panel buildings of Väike-Õismäe, built during the 70s. Lake Harku and an extensive beach area at Kakumäe, also the Kopli Gulf all make it a great recreational place.
Kesklinn - this serves as a home to the Old Town and port suburbs. Practically the city centre, it is a very expensive place. A lot of last century wooden and stone houses can be seen here, most renovated. A tourist gem, so to say. De-industrialization of the area is on its way.
Kristiine - just next to the centre, it presents 2- storey apartments that date back to 30s and single family houses dating back to 50s. The industrial part of this area is rather extensive. Southern part is given to the Tondi area of military barracks.
Lasnamäe - the biggest by both population and area. This section of Tallinn is the most inefficiently built. There are large industrial warehouses to the South . Mostly migrants reside here.
Mustamäe - is the oldest residential region , large panel houses dwell here from the 60s, and it is also the home of Tallinn Technical University and numerous scientific institutions . A part of Kadaka industrial region is also located in the district .
Nõmme - dating back to the end of the last century, this area used to be a separate city until 1940 when it was united with Tallinn. The area is covered with sand and pine groves and has mainly single family houses. It is considered as one of the most prestigious areas of Tallinn.
Pirita - another most prestigious area in Tallinn, this place has seaside beach, river , yachting port and a lot of sporting opportunities.
Põhja-Tallinn - this area is the most architecturally, historically and socially diverse - another tourist gem. This serves as home to Kalamaja, with 1 to 2-storey wooden houses, and Pelgulinn, with more modern wooden buildings and areas of multi-storey houses. This is also the area of railway station , ports and various industrial buildings.