Tallinn (0)

Tallinn
Tallinn is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, in north -western Estonia.
A limestone cliff runs through the city. It is exposed, for instance , at Toompea and Lasnamäe. However , Toompea is not a part of the cliff, but a separate hill. Coastline is 46 kilometres long.The highest point of Tallinn, at 64 meters above the sea level, is situated in the district of Nõmme, in the south - west of the city.
The first human steps, that archeologists found , are about 5000 years old. Tallinn`s first fortress was built in Toompea, in 1050. As an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia, it became a target for the expansion of the Teutonic Knights and the Kingdom of Denmark during the period of Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century when Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in 1219.
In 1285 the city became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League - a military alliance of German -dominated cities inNorthern Europe . The Danes sold Tallinn along with their other land possessions in northern Estonia to the Teutonic Knights in 1346. Medieval Tallinn enjoyed a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between Western and Northern Europe and Russia. The city, with a population of 8,000, was very well fortified with city walls and 66 defence towers.
During the Great Northern War the Swedish troops based in Tallinn capitulated to Imperial Russia in 1710, but the local self- government institutions retained their cultural and economical autonomy within Imperial Russia as the Duchy of Estonia. The Magistracy of Reval was abolished in 1889. The 19th century brought industrialization of the city and the port kept its importance . During the last decades of the century Russification measures became stronger.
February 1918, the Independence Manifesto was proclaimed in Tallinn, followed by Imperial German occupation and a war of independence with Russia. On 2 February 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed with Soviet Russia, wherein Russia acknowledged the independence of the Estonian Republic. Tallinn became the capital of an independent Estonia. After World War II started, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1940, and later occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941-44. After Nazi retreat in 1944, it was occupied by the USSR again . After that Tallinn became the capital of the Estonian SSR.
Tallinn's population is registered 400,200 (as of May 2007).
Since independence, improving air and sea transport links with Western Europe and Estonia's accession to the European Union have made Tallinn easily accessible to tourists.
Estonia has made rapid economic progress since independence and this is reflected in local prices. Although not extortionate, neither are prices as cheap as in other former Eastern Bloc countries.
The main attractions are in the two old towns (Lower Town and Toompea) which are both easily explored on foot . Eastern districts around Pirita and Kadriorg are also worth visiting and the Estonian Open Air Museum near Rocca al Mare, west of the city, showes aspects of Estonian culture and architecture Toompea.
This area was once a separate town (Dom zu Reval), the residence of the Chivalry of Estonia, Roman Catholic bishops of Tallinn ( until 1561) and Lutheran superintendents of Estonia, occupying an easily defensible site overlooking the surrounding districts. The major attractions are the walls and various bastions of Castrum Danorum, the Russian Orthodox Alexandr Nevsky Cathedral (built during the period of Russian Empire , the church was built on a site that formerly housed a statue of Martin Luther) and the Lutheran Cathedral.
Kadriorg is 2 kilometres east of the centre and is served by buses and trams . The former palace of Peter the Great, built just after the Great Northern War, now houses (part of) the Art Museum of Estonia, presidential residence and the surrounding grounds include formal gardens and woodland .
Pirita`s coastal district is a further 2 kilometres north-east of Kadriorg. The marina was built for the Moscow Olympics of 1980, and boats can be hired on the Pirita river . Two kilometres inland are the Botanic Gardtelevision tower.