Category Archives: Tallinn

Tallinn, Estonia 2013: Old Town

Recently I went to a conference in Tallinn (Click here to read about the European Early Childhood Education Research Conference as a whole or here to see what I did at the conference). See what Tallinn has to offer here.

While in Tallinn, I wandered the streets of the Old Town (where Medieval costumes are a theme of Old Town life).  Within minutes you’ve seen several historic buildings.20130828_14160920130828_134620

Viru Gates (Above): 14th century towers now represent a symbol of the town and lead people from the modern city into the Old Town.

Hellemann Tower (Below): This three-story tower allows visitors to walk the 200 meter path of the wall. Over time it was a prison and weapons storage area, but today houses an art gallery. 20130830_120046

Town Hall Square & Town Hall (below): Which has the best preserved Gothic town hall in Northern Europe. 20130828_141132

Epping Tower (Below): Built in the 1470s (38 meters), this tower is now home to a museum with medieval weapons and armour. Walls are up to 4 meters thick.20130828_143634

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Kiek in de Kök and Bastion Tunnels (Below): Inside the Epping Tower is a museum of the town’s fortifications and houses hidden tunnels that run under the city (about 4 Euros to enter). This has loads of fun interactive exhibits for children (and adults who like Medieval weapons will love this as well).

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Kalev Marzipan Room (Below): A historic shop/museum where marzipan creations are hand-made and displayed. I wasn’t completely thrilled at the intricacies of the designs, as I’ve seen much fancier ones made in Sweden. Screen Shot 2013-09-03 at 2.03.09 PM

There are lots of churches in Tallinn.

Some of them are: 20130828_144003

 St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Above): A very Russian-looking church that was built in 1900 and it’s the most popular place to worship in Tallinn today for Russian Orthodox people.

St Nicholas' Church

St Nicholas’ Orthodox Church (Left): A church built in the 1820s.

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St Olav’s Church (right): From 1549 – 1625 this 14th century Gothic church was the tallest building in the world at 124 meters (407 feet). The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is today’s tallest building at nearly 830 meters (2722 feet).

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Hotel Viru & KGB Museum: The KGB used to operate out of this hotel and today there’s a museum inside the hotel on the 23rd floor. Unfortunately though it’s not always open and you have to be aware of what times tours take place and in what language. When I was there, there were two tours per day given in English (8 Euros).

Freedom Square (Below): Notes the War of Independence that was fought during 1918-1920.

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