Hey everyone and welcome to World Heritage Journey, where today we're at the Historic
Centre of Tallinn, Estonia.
So today we're in the historic city of Tallinn, which was founded in around the 10th or the
11th century as a Viking trading outpost between the Scandinavian countries and Constantinople.
Over the centuries it grew into its role, and eventually joined the Hanseatic League,
making it one of the most powerful trading cities in the entire north of Europe.
There's still a whole heap of stuff to see here, including a beautiful old town and a
large fortress, and walls as well.
Let's have a look around.
So the historic centre of Tallinn is separated into two areas: the Upper Town, and the Lower
Town.
The Upper Town, known as Toompea, sits on a hill, and it's historically where the government
of the day has been located.
These days of course it's the Estonian Parliament and the Prime Minister, but it has been home
to the Soviets, the Swedes, and the Danes as well.
Down in the Lower Town, we have houses, shops, markets and harbours.
But because it was such an important trading post it was very heavily fortified, with massive
stone walls, bastions, and towers, and of course a moat too, and you can see plenty
of that behind me.
There's just so much left here, and it's in really good condition, that it's a big part
of why the city is on the World Heritage List.
So behind me you can see the massive Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and it's devoted to the
Russian folk hero and saint, Alexander Nevsky.
He of course led a Russian peasant army to victory against German crusaders on a frozen
lake, not far from here.
Now the Cathedral was built during the Russian period, in the 1890s, but after Estonian Independence
in 1918, they came to see it as a symbol of Russian imperialism, which I suppose it is.
It was scheduled to be demolished but they didn't have enough money because it's so solidly
built, and when it was part of the USSR after World War 2, they just sort of left it to
ruin.
Since the second Estonian independence in 1991, they've restored it and it looks absolutely
beautiful.
Behind me you can see the Great Guild Hall, and it was finished in 1410 - it's one of
the best preserved medieval buildings in the whole city.
And it housed the Great Guild, the wealthiest merchants from where the Town Council was
selected.
It was their festival hall, they would have meetings here and banquets as well, and it
served this purpose right through until the 19th century when it became a stock exchange,
though it's now a museum.
So this building here is known as the Guild of the Black Heads building, and for fairly
obvious reasons too.
Now it dates from the medieval period, around the 14th century, and it's on a street that's
just lined with these old guild houses and it's really, really beautiful.
What I find fascinating as well is that these were also utilitarian places, they often had
warehouses and storage space up in the roof, and many of the buildings have lifts still,
on the outside - manual lifts of course!
So this is the Church of Saint Olaf, and it's dedicated to King Olaf of Denmark who brought
Christianity to Estonia.
Now the church was originally built in 1267 though it has been rebuilt a couple of times
after fires.
But it's still one of the oldest buildings remaining in the city.
Now for several hundred years it was claimed to be the tallest church in the entire world,
though that claim is disputed and I'm a bit dubious of it myself.
One thing I find fascinating though, is that it's certainly the tallest landmark anywhere
around here, and the top of the spire was actually used by the KGB during the Cold War
as a listening post.
And finally we come to the Town Hall here in Tallinn.
It was built in the 1390s, finishing in 1404 making it the oldest town hall anywhere in
the Baltics or Scandinavia.
And it's still here at the heart of town, there's a market square here happening and
there's a whole market on today with traditional music and handicrafts, and it's really nice.
And it's a really cool old city here in Tallinn, I've really enjoyed the day and I'd strongly
recommend coming and checking it out.
But that's it from me, thank you so much for watching, don't forget to Like and Subscribe!
I'm Joel on the Road, and I'll see you at the next World Heritage Site!