Just2 / 2 at the southern edge of Tallinn lies Lake Ülemiste. According to a legend, on the darkest autumnal night each year a mysterious old man climbs out of the Ülemiste depths, knocks on the city gates and asks whether the construction of Tallinn has been completed. The little man has sworn that, should it one day be finished, he will release the lake’s waters and drown out the whole city. The knowing guards therefore always answer, “No, good sir! There’s still a great deal of construction taking place. Please be so good as to come again after a little while.” That’s why Tallinn will never be completed. Though already eight centuries old, it’s still a work in progress, forever growing and reinventing itself while never forgetting its unique heritage. On Town Hall Square you can find a humble apothecary that’s been operating for nearly 600 years. Just a few steps away, there’s an old- fashioned café where specialists make marzipan figurines by hand – edible symbols of Tallinn’s fairytale charm. Nearby, in other cafés and lounge bars, the city’s residents are tapping away at their laptops and surfing the Internet in their iPhones. Historic. Romantic. Friendly. Relaxing. Modern. Daring. This is Tallinn. Toomas Tuul Toomas TALLINN • 2 / 3 Closer than you think Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, a small, forward- thinking, Nordic country. Tallinn sits on the southern The city shares a nearly During Estonia’s White This is a green city, proudly shore of the Gulf of Finland, identical geographical Nights in June the sky here boasting 40km2 of parks just 83 km south of Helsinki. latitude with Stockholm. stays bright from 4 am until and forests with a 2km A ferry trip between the around 11 pm. stretch of sandy beach cities takes just 2 hours bordering its bay. or less. 83 km from Helsinki Kaido Haagen Kaido Tallinn is a popular cruise Thanks to its small size and Lennart Meri International destination bringing close to compact layout, Tallinn Airport is only 5 km from 400,000 passengers to the is extremely easy to get the city centre. Depending town each year – as many as around. on traffic, a taxi ride from there are citizens in the city. the airport to a downtown hotel can take as little as 15 minutes. 15 min from the airport Volmer Toomas TALLINN • 4 / 5 A singing nation With Finno-Ugric roots that run thousands of years deep, Estonians pride themselves on being a society rich in music and creativity. This creative energy forms the local concerts, art exhibitions, festivals, plays and other events. The Estonian national identity Kadriorg, a quiet area of Built in 1913, the grand Estonia Like that of its Nordic neigh- is entwined in folk song. Every Baroque gardens, ponds and Theatre is Tallinn’s prime bors, Estonian design has five years, as part of fountains, is the city’s cultural venue for opera, ballet and long been known both for a tradition that goes back nexus. This is the site of the symphonic performances. its simplicity and its fresh, to 1869, Tallinn hosts the Tsarist-era Kadriorg Palace, Most famously, it’s home to off-beat style. On the Estonian Song and where the nation’s collection the Estonian National Opera, traditional end of the Dance Celebration, which of foreign art is on display, Estonian National Ballet and spectrum are the beautiful involves as many as 37,000 as well as the vast, new Estonian National Symphony handicrafts that are prized performers and more than Kumu Art Museum, where Orchestra, which is run by by visitors from far and wide. 200,000 spectators. the best of Estonian works, Neeme Järvi. During his long At the same time, modern from the historic to the and successful career, Järvi Estonian designs, as well as modern and funky, can be has conducted several of the architectural trends, have seen. In warmer months world’s prominent orchestras created an enviable splash Kadriorg is the setting for and has become one of classical in Europe’s art scene and a variety of outdoor concerts. music’s most recorded garnered considerable praise conductors. He is known for from critics. playing the works of another Estonian classical music figure, composer Arvo Pärt. One of the absolute giants of classi- cal music, Pärt gave the world a compositional style called Tintinnabuli, which, like many Estonian creations, is both minimalist and mystical. Mari Kadanik Tallinn’s regular events and festivals: Just before the Christmas In summer Tallinn hosts season starts Tallinn hosts the Old Town Days festival the Black Nights Film and Medieval Days, both Festival, the largest film of which celebrate the city’s event in the Baltic states. centuries-old heritage. For several weeks each winter Tallinn Maritime Days, Ain Avik Tallinn’s Town Hall Square held each summer, is a huge, is filled with an elaborate sea-faring festival involving Christmas Market where all sorts of water-related visitors can buy gifts, listen to attractions. concerts or drink hot, spiced wine. Every August the city welcomes the Birgitta Spring in Tallinn starts off Festival, several days of with the sound of jazz, outdoor concerts set namely the Jazzkaar Inter- amid the stunning ruins national Jazz Festival. of St. Bridget’s Convent. Sigrid Viir TALLINN • 6 / 7 The heart of Tallinn is its Medieval Old Town, a fairytale neighborhood of gabled houses, Gothic spires and cobblestone streets that dates in the 13th – 16th centuries, the days when this was a thriving, Hanseatic trade centre. At the beginning of the Underneath Tallinn At the centre of Old Town The Old Thomas One of Old Town’s 16th century, Tallinn there are hundreds of stands the impressive, weather vane that prime attractions is St. had the largest and metres of underground early-15th-century Town stands atop the Town Olav’s Church. With its sturdiest defense passage ways, mostly Hall, the best preserved Hall Tower is a much- 159-metre spire, it was system in Northern built in the 1600s during Medieval town hall in loved symbol of the once the tallest building Europe. The wall that the time of Swedish Northern Europe. city. The original dates in the world. surrounded the city was rule. During World War to 1530. up to 15.9 m high, 3 m II, Tallinn residents used thick, and 3 km long, the 17th-century tunnels and was dotted by under Old Town as bomb 46 towers. Today, 2 km shelters. Nowadays a full of the original wall and 380 m of the tunnels are 26 of the towers are open to the public as a still intact. tourist attraction. Allan Alajaan Allan Records show that The Raeapteek on Town The Alexander Nevsky On the façade of the In 1997 UNESCO added merchants from the Hall Square is Europe’s Cathedral atop Toompea 14th-century Church the Old Town into the Brotherhood of Black oldest continuously Hill is Estonia’s main of the Holy Ghost, World Heritage List, Heads guild installed operating pharmacy. Russian Orthodox you’ll find an elaborately acknowledging its unique a spruce on Town It has been open since place of worship. Built painted clock that’s value and noting the Hall Square in 1441. This 1422. in 1900, when Estonia the oldest public importance of preserving it. became one of the first was part of the tsarist timekeeper in Tallinn. public Christmas trees Russian empire, the in Europe. cathedral was originally intended as a symbol of the empire’s dominance – both religious and political – over this increasingly unruly Baltic territory. Pre-Christian Times Danish Conquest and Beyond 6000 b.c. – 1219 a.d. 1219–1342 hough traces of human settlement in ccording to legend, Denmark’s na - the Tallinn area date back about 5,000 tional flag originated right here in years, not much is known about life Tallinn. During a battle to conquer here before the Northern Crusades in the ear- Estonia in 1219, it “floated down from the ly 13th century. The first mention of Tallinn heavens” spurring the Danes on to victory. in historic records comes in 1154, when Arab Whether it was really divine encouragement cartographer al-Idrisi marked it on his world or, as some claim, the arrival of Slavic mer - map. Sometime around the start of the second cenaries that decided the day’s outcome, that millennium locals had begun using the spot as battle with the Danes marked the beginning a market and fishing port, and built a wooden of seven centuries of foreign rule in Estonia. fortress on Toompea Hill. Though various crowns reigned here, the city was settled by ethnic Germans and was known throughout most of its history by its German name, Reval. Mari Kadanik Toompea Castle A wooden fortress built on Toompea Hill sometime in the Annika Palvari 10th or 11th century was prob- ably the first structure in what Treial Andres Great Guild Hall later became Tallinn. Foreign An excellent place to learn more invaders replaced it with a stone Danish King’s Garden about prehistoric Tallinn is the building in 1227–29, and over the One of Tallinn’s most popular Anu Vahtra Great Guild Hall, an impressive, centuries it developed into to- tourist spots is this slope of Medieval structure that now day’s Toompea Castle. Since its Toompea hill where, legend in- Dominican Monastery serves as the Estonian History early days, the castle has served sists, the Danish flag came into Still seeming to echo with the Museum. Films and interactive as the local seat of power for any being in 1219.