Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast. Tallinn’s population is about 400 thousand people

The Legend of the Foundation of Tallinn

Once a year in autumn at dark and gloomy midnight a grey-haired old man Yarvevana comes out of Yulemiste’s lake, goes down the hill to the city gates and asks the guards:

- So, is the city ready yet, or is it still being built?

In big cities there’s always enough work for the construction workers, if no new buildings are being build, then the old ones make trouble. You have to fix this, repaint or reconstruct that – the work never stops and there hasn’t been one day, when everybody was relaxing. However, if this happens, this old man of the lake should not know about it. The guards at the city gates are ordered to tell him the same old answer:

- The city is not ready. A lot of time will pass, until all the work is done.

The old man, then, shakes his head angrily, mumbles something indistinctively, and quickly goes back to the lake, his eternal habitat.

But if the old man of the lake receives an answer that the city is ready and there nothing to build out there, then the waters of Yulemiste will go down from the hill Lasnamyagi to the coastal lowland and flood Tallinn

(Riga has a similar legend, which means that it is long before these cities are completely built)

Short Historical Sketch

A precise date of Tallinn’s foundation is not known. It is known, however, that by the year of 1154, Tallinn became a relatively strong city and under the name of “Olvree” was marked on the world map by an Arabic geographer and traveler Abu-Abd-Idrisee.

During the Crusades it was captured by the Danish king Valdemar the Second in 1210. Later the city became known as “Reval” or “Revel” and attracted German merchants, who settled down in Downtown. Revel became a member of Ganzen trading cities union. The city owes its strong fortifications to the Livonian order, who bought the city from Denmark in 1343.

At the beginning of 16th century Tallinn reached its peak of medieval strength. During the Livonian war the city swore allegiance to the king of Sweden. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the city was twice under siege from the Russian forces in 1570 and 1577, but successfully withstood the assault. In 1710 during the North war the city swore allegiance to Peter the Great, but retained all its trading privileges and, partially, its self-government. Unlike other parts of the Russian Empire, the Estonian territories – Estland, Liftlan and Kurland, even after becoming part of it, retained their spirit and their “Germanic” way of life for a very long time.

Tallinn’s convenient position led to a rather early high industrial growth – just in the beginning of 19th century. Numerous manufacturing buildings and factories of older times, which can be seen in Tallinn quite often, serve as a proof of it.

Tallinn’s Sights

(please look at a more thorough description in the Sights section)

• Uptown throughout all historical epochs was considered to be the symbol of the political power. Today, the Estonian government and parliament are located there.
• Alexander Nevsky’s Orthodox Cathedral is situated in the Uptown near the parliament building.
• Dome Cathedral in Tallinn is believed to be the oldest temple in Estonia. Tombstones of the 13-18th centuries and epitaph emblems of influential noblemen are of particular interest.
• Rocca al Mare Museum presents a fine exhibition of Estonian farm-stead architecture.
• Oleviste Church was the highest building in the medieval Europe until 1625. The first mentioning of this Gothic-style church dates from 1267.
• Baron fon Glen’s Park, located on the slope of Mystamyae in the region of Nymme, was founder by an eccentric landlord Nikolas fon Glen. The most eye-capturing object in this park is without doubt fon Glen’s castle, which build in 1886.
• Park and Palace of Cadriorg. The complex features a beautiful palace built in baroque style and a majestic park of Cadriorg. This is one of the best creations of 18th century masters, built by the order of Peter the Great during the times of the North war.
• Niguliste Church is named after St. Nicolas, the patron of seafarers, and was build by the German merchants in the 18th century
• Castle Maaryamyagi’s Historical Museum was formerly a summer residence of earl Orlov-Davydov. Today Estonian Historical Museum is located in this Castle.
• St. Catherine’s Dominican Monastery is the oldest building in lower Tallinn. Today the monastery functions only as a museum.

Tourism Information

Information point for tourists in Tallinn:

Niguliste 2 / Kullasepa 4, Phone: +372 645 77 77 Fax: +372 645 77 78

E-mail: turismiinfo@tallinnlv.ee

• Tallinn’s City Portal ( EST, EN, RU)
• Tallinn tourism department’s web-site (EST,EN,FIN,SWE,RU)

Transport

• Tallinn’s airport - air traffic schedule (EST, EN)
• Tallinn’s bus station - Estonian bus traffic schedule (EST, EN, RU)
• Estonian island ferry traffic schedule ( EST, ENG)

Public Transport

• Tallinn’s suburban electric train schedule (EST)
• Thorough city public transport schedule (EST, RU,EN,LT,LV)