Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin and its Tower
Established sometime before 1233 and repeatedly rebuilt since, the church displays a mix of architectural styles. Its vaulted main body dates to the 14th century, while its Baroque tower was an addition from the late 1770s.Historically this was the church of Estonia's elite German nobles, a fact that becomes clear once you step through the doors. The interior is filled with elaborate funereal coats of arms from the 17th to the 20th centuries as well as burial stones from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Among the notables buried here are Pontus de la Gardie, who commanded Swedish forces during the Great Northern War, Adam Johann von Krusenstern, the Baltic-German admiral who led Russia's first expedition around the world, and Scottish-born Admiral Samuel Greig of Fife, rumoured to be Catherine the Great's lover. Christian Ackermann, one of the most skilful and renowned woodcarvers in 17th - 18th century, made the pulpit (1686) and altar 1694-1696). Just inside the main entrance you'll find a large stone slab which reads, "Otto Johann Thuve, landlord of Edise, Vääna and Koonu Ehis grave, 1696 A.D." Thuve, now sometimes referred to as "Tallinn's Don Juan", was an incurable drinker and womaniser. As he lay dying, however, he asked to be buried here at the threshold of the church so that god fearing people, as they kneel to pray upon entering, might eventually save his soul from his sinful ways.
Visitors can climb the 69 meter Baroque bell- tower for amazing views of the city.
Services every Sunday at 11am. On Saturdays half an hour organ music at 12am.
Location: Old Town
Address Toom-Kooli 6
Phone +3726444140
Homepage www.toomkirik.ee
Open
1-28.02, 1-30.04 Tue-Sun 9:30-14:30 1-31.05, 1-30.09 Mon-Sun 9:30-16:30 1.06-31.08 Mon-Sun 9:30-17:30 1-31.10 Tue-Sun 9:30-16:30 1-11.11; 20-31.12 Tue-Sun 9:30-14:30
Ticket - 5.00 €, Child ticket - 3.00 €
Estonian History Museum – Great Guilde Hall
This extensive museum presents Estonia's history from prehistoric times’ right up to the end of the 20th century. Films and interactive displays show how people here lived, fought and survived over the last 11 000 years. The coin cabinet “Making a fast buck” displays sundry ways of payment seen on Estonian soil throughout the history. The cellar rooms “Power of the Elite” showcase the history of the museum building itself. The weapons chamber presents wars and arms through the ages with simulator mimicking the sounds of each weapon displayed. The museum is co-operating with a tactical shooting centre (Kopli 103) which offers actual shooting experience with historical guns. With a museum ticket or Tallinn Card in hand, visitors can ask for 5% discount from the “History” package at the shooting range (www.tacticalshooting.ee). The museum is housed in the 15th century Great Guild Hall, itself a spectacular relic of Tallinn's past. It is no surprise that this hulking, gabled hall with its gigantic porch and lion’s head door knockers belonged to the Great Guild. Members of the guild, who had to be married German merchants, controlled the Town Council. The little passage way Börsi käik exhibit “Road of History” highlighting the most important years in Estonian history. Children can look for the museum’s very own dragon, displayed for centuries on the building’s pillar. Museum’s courtyard presents all things ideal for the little visitors.
Location: Old Town
Address Pikk 17 Map
Phone +3726411630
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.ajaloomuuseum.ee
Open 1.05-31.08 Mon-Sun 10-18 1.09-30.04 Thu-Tue 10-18 12.04.2013 13-18
Ticket - 5.00 €, Child ticket - 3.00 €
Estonian Open Air Museum
This museum lets you travel back in time to the rural Estonia of old. The vast, forested park is filled with thatched, 18-20th-century farm buildings, windmills, a wooden chapel and a village school, with staff demonstrating how people lived and worked in times past. Visitors can buy handicrafts and try out the traditional foods served in the village tavern. The museum is outside of the city and its hectic hubbub in Rocca al Mare area, an ideal place for families to take a picnic and escape from city life. Fun family-oriented theme fairs take place where traditions are passed on to the younger generation through games, songs and dances. The vast open space is ideal for outdoor pass time for families with children at all ages.
Location: Rocca al Mare
Address Vabaõhumuuseumi tee 12 Map
Phone +3726549100, Fax +3726549127
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.evm.ee
Open
23.04-28.09 Mon-Sun 10-20 29.09-22.04 Mon-Sun 10-17
Ticket - 3.00 €, Child ticket - 2.00 €, Family ticket - 12.00 €
Kadriorg Palace – Kadriorg Art Museum
A trip to Tallinn isn’t a trip to Tallinn without a visit to this magnificent northern Baroque palace, built by Peter the Great for his wife, Catherine I, in 1718. Designed by Italian architect Niccolo Michetti, the grandiose palace and surrounding manicured gardens are a humbling example of Tsarist extravagance, but just as important a reason to visit is that this is also home to the foreign art collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. The Kadriorg Art Museum displays hundreds of 16th- to 20th-century paintings by Western and Russian artists, as well as prints, sculptures and other works. While here, don't miss the decadent, two-storey main hall, with its elaborately painted ceiling and stucco work, or the room used as an office by Estonia's head of state before the nearby Presidential Palace was built. Surrounding the Palace are several interesting palace side buildings. For example the restored kitchen building is now occupied by a cosy art museum called the Mikkel Museum, and the humble summer estate is the Peter I House Museum. The palace governor’s house (the castellan’s house) is now home to the Kastellaanimaja Gallery and the Eduard Vilde House Museum.
Location: Kadriorg
Address A. Weizenbergi 37 Map
Phone +3726066400, Fax +3726066401
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.kadriorumuuseum.ee/et/
Open
01.05-30.09 Tue-Sun 10-17; Wed 10-20 01.10-31.12, 09.02-30.04 Thu-Sun 10-17; Wed 10-20 30-31.12 Mon 10-17 Tue 10-14
Ticket - 4.80 €, Child ticket - 2.80 €
Kiek in de Koek
Those interested in walls, towers, cannons and the like should drop into this museum of the town’s defences. Visitors of this museum will see examples of Medieval fire power, displays detailing how the city's system of fortification walls and towers developed through the centuries and an exhibit on crime and punishment in old Tallinn.The name of this massive, 38m-high cannon tower literally means “Peek into the Kitchen.” It was so high that Medieval guards joked they could see right down the chimneys and into the kitchens of the houses below. Kiek in de Kök is also the starting place for visitors interested in the fascinating system of hidden tunnels (Bastion tunnels) that run underneath the old bastions of Toompea hill. Make sure to pay a visit to the top floor café for beautiful Old Town views. Kiek in de Kök was originally built in the 1470s, but quickly expanded and strengthened, now the walls are four metres thick. The investment paid off: During the Livonian war in the late 1500s, Ivan the Terrible's forces managed to blow a huge hole through the top storey, but the tower held. During post-war repairs, a row of four cannon balls was placed in the newly patched stone wall as a memorial. You can still see them on the tower's south east side.
Location: Old Town
Address Komandandi tee 2 Map
Phone +3726446686
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.linnamuuseum.ee/kok
Open
01.03-31.10 Tue-Sun 10.30-18 01.11-28.02 Tue-Sun 10-17.30
Ticket - 4.50 €, Child ticket - 2.60 €
KUMU Art Museum
The complex itself is a work of art - it was opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of planning and construction, and is considered a modern architectural masterpiece. Curves and sharp edges mark out the copper and limestone structure, which is built into the side of a limestone cliff. Kumu's exhibition aims to appeal simultaneously to a diversity of audiences. Exhibitions display both classical and contemporary art and everything in between. The museum programme features art from the 18th century until today, Estonian art until the Second World War, art of the Soviet era and a temporary exhibition programme of contemporary art. In 2008 European Museum of the Year Award was given to Kumu Art Museum. The European Museum of the Year Award is organised by the European Museum Forum that is operating under the auspices of the Council of Europe. Note! Free entrance to Kumu Art Museum on every last Thursday of the last month of each quarter.
Location: Kadriorg
Address A. Weizenbergi 34 Map
Phone +3726026000
Fax +3726026002
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.kumu.ee
Open
1.05-30.09 Tue, Thu-Sun 11-18; Wed 11-20 01.10-30.04 Thu-Sun 11-18; Wed 11-20 30-31.12 Mon 11-18 Tue 11-15
Ticket - 5.50 €, Child ticket - 3.20 €
Niguliste Museum
Founded by German merchant/settlers from the island of Gotland sometime around 1230, the sturdy church was designed to double as a fortress in the days before the town wall was built. The building survived the Reformation looting of 1523, but wasn't so lucky in the 20th century when it was destroyed by World War II bombs. Since its restoration in the 1980s, St. Nicholas' has functioned as a museum specialising in works of religious art, most famously Bernt Notke's beautiful but spooky painting Danse Macabre (Dance with Death). Exquisite altarpieces, baroque chandeliers and Medieval burial slabs are also on display, while the Silver Chamber is home to stunning works by members of town's craft guilds. The building's acoustics also make it a prime concert venue, with organ or choir performances held here most weekends.
Location: Old Town
Address Niguliste 3 Map
Phone +3726314330
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.nigulistemuuseum.ee/et/
Open Wed-Sun 10-17
Ticket - 3.50 €, Child ticket - 2.00 €
St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
This spectacular, onion-domed structure perched atop Toompea Hill is Estonia's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. Built in 1900, when Estonia was part of the tsarist Russian empire, the cathedral was originally intended as a symbol of the empire's dominance – both religious and political – over this increasingly unruly Baltic territory. It's also by far the grandest, most opulent Orthodox church in Tallinn. The cathedral was dedicated to the Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, who led the famous Battle of the Ice at Lake Peipsi in 1242, which halted the German crusaders' eastward advance. It was deliberately placed in this prominent location right in front of Toompea Castle, on the same spot where a statue of Martin Luther had previously stood. Now with the controversy long since faded, what's left is simply an architectural masterpiece. Designed by respected St. Petersburg architect Mikhail Preobrazhenski, the church is richly decorated in a mixed historicist style. The interior, filled with mosaics and icons, is well worth a visit. The church's towers' hold Tallinn's most powerful church bell ensemble, consisting of 11 bells, including the largest in Tallinn, weighing 15 tonnes. You can hear the entire ensemble playing before each service. Services in Russian from Monday to Saturday at 8:30am and on Sundays at 10am.
Location: Old Town
Address Lossiplats 10 Map
Phone +3726443484
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.hot.ee/nsobor/
Open
01.05-30.09 Sun-Fri 8-19 Sat 8-20
St. Olav’s church and tower
Once upon a time, from 1549 to 1625 to be precise, this 14th century Gothic church was the tallest building in the World. But it’s gigantic, 159-metre spire, meant as a signpost for approaching ships, also turned out to be a very effective lightning rod. Throughout the church's history lightning hit the spire repeatedly, completely burning down the structure three times. Nowadays its smaller, 124-metre spire still dwarfs most of Tallinn’s buildings and remains an important symbol of the town. From April to October, visitors can make the vigorous climb to the top of the stone portion of the tower for magnificent and dizzying views of Old Town, Toompea hill and the port area. The church itself dates back to at least 1267 when it is thought to have served a group of Scandinavian merchants who settled in the area. Various legends insist the church got its name from either the giant or the mysterious stranger who built it, however it was in fact dedicated to King Olaf II of Norway. Its current shape and size were set in the 16th century. Inside are high, vaulted naves and a historicist interior design that dates to after the 1830 fire. Services on Sundays at 10am and 12am.
Location: Old Town
Address Lai 50 Map
Phone +3726412241
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.oleviste.ee
Open
20.04-30.06 Mon-Sun 10-18 01.07-31.08 Mon-Sun 10-20 01.09-31.10 Mon-Sun 10-18
Ticket - 2.00 €, Child ticket - 1.00 €
Seaplane Harbour (Lennusadam)
With the help of modern multimedia, the Seaplane Harbour in the wooden architecture suburb Kalamaja tells exciting stories about the Estonian maritime and military history promising a “sea full of excitement” for the whole family on an area that would take nearly 2 million A4 paper sheets laid down side by side. The museum’s display, that comprises of more than a couple of hundred large exhibits, revitalizes the colourful history of Estonia. British built submarine Lembit weighing 600 tones is the centrepiece of the new museum. Built in 1936 for the Estonian navy, Lembit served in the World War II under the Soviet flag. It remained in service for 75 years being the oldest submarine in the World still in use until it was hauled ashore in 2011. Despite its long history, Lembit is still in an excellent condition offering a glimpse of the 1930s art of technology. Another exciting attraction is a full-scale replica of Short Type 184, a British pre-World War II seaplane, which was also used by the Estonian armed forces. Short Type 184 has earned its place in military history by being the first aircraft ever to attack an enemy’s ship with an air-launched torpedo. Since none of the original seaplanes have survived, the replica in Seaplane Harbour is the only full-size representation of the aircraft in the whole World. Simulators mimicking a flight above Tallinn, around-the-world journey in the yellow submarine, navigating on the Tallinn bay make this museum heaven for kids or adventurous adults. Seaplane Harbour operates in architecturally unique hangars built almost a century ago, in 1916 and 1917, as a part of Peter the Great sea fortress. These hangars are the World’s first reinforced concrete shell structures of such a great size. Charles Lindbergh, the man who performed the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landed here in 1930s. In 2012 the hangars were rewarded with best concrete building of the year title. On the outdoor area visitors can tour a collection of historic ships, including the Suur Tõll, Europe's largest steam-powered icebreaker. Location - Kalamaja
Address Vesilennuki 6 Map
Phone +3726200545
E-mail [email protected]
Homepage www.lennusadam.eu
Open
01.05-30.09 Mon-Sun 10-19 01.10-30.04 Tue-Sun 11-19 6., 7., 13., 14., 27., 28.03.2013 12.15-19.00. 3., 10., 17., 20., 21., 24., 31.03.2013 11-16.30. 3., 4., 10., 17., 18., 24., 25.04.2013 12.15-19.00. 7., 14., 21., 28.04.2013 11-16.30.
Ticket -10.00 €, Child ticket - 5.00 €