Partners’ visit to TallinnMarch 2012

Leonardo da Vinci projectCULTURAL TREASURE HUNT

Kultuuriline aardejaht (2010-2012)

Text: Aleksandra Sardi (Croatia)Photos: Aleksandra Sardi

and Leonid Smulskiy (Estonia)

TallinEstoni

a

ONE OF NORTHERN EUROPE'S MOST BEAUTIFUL AND BEST-PRESERVED MEDIEVAL TOWNS.

TALLINN BOASTS MYRIAD CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS AND HISTORICAL SIGHTS,

BUT RETAINS AN ABSORBING INTIMACY AND IS EASY TO EXPLORE ON FOOT.

Pikk Hermann Tower. Built in 1227

In 1285 Tallin (then Reval) became a member of the Hanseatic League - an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe (c. 13th–17th centuries). The members of the Hanseatic League were Low German merchants and the League was created to protect commercial interests and privileges granted by foreign rulers in cities and countries the merchants visited

Fun Fact: The legacy of the Hansa is remembered today in several names, for example the German airline Lufthansa (i.e., 'Air Hansa'),

Starting with trade in coarse woolen fabrics, the League expended to trading timber, furs, resin (or tar), flax, honey, wheat, salt, rye and cloth

Hansa ship‘’Adler von Lübeck’’ the world's largest

ship at its time

German colonists in the 12th and 13th centuries settled in numerous cities on and near the east Baltic coast, such as Elbing (Elbląg), Thorn (Toruń),

Reval (Tallinn), Riga, and Dorpat (Tartu),

which became members of the Hanseatic League, and some of which still retain many Hansa buildings and bear the style of their Hanseatic days

Pharmacy in operation since 1422

The largely pedestrianized Old Town (Vanalinn) is Tallinn's heart. An enjoyable, atmospheric and ultimately addictive jumble of medieval churches, striking cobblestone alleyways, slender steeples, barrel-shaped towers and gabled merchants' houses, ... it was once enclosed by medieval walls, of which significant stretches still survive. Its street plan

is a confusion of curving streets and interconnecting passageways.

XIV city century gate

Town Hall Square (Raekoja Plats)This historic square has served as a marketplace since the XI century and features a pharmacy

that has been operating since 1422.

‘’Fat Margaret’’ It is a round cannon tower, with 155 loopholes, a diameter of 25m & a height of about 20m. It got its name from the fact that it was indeed the stoutest tower in the city wall.

THE TOWERING AND OUTSTANDINGLY WELL PRESERVED LIMESTONE WALLS THAT SURROUND 80% OF THE OLD TOWN ARE A REAL SIGHT TO

BEHOLD.

‘’Maiden Tower ‘’was built in the XIV Century - together with the city wall. At one pint it was used as a prison for prostitutes

Through history, the cannon tower has also served as a storehouse for gunpowder and weapons, and as a prison.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church makes its home in a curious, little, Medieval building, complete with crooked façade and improbably tiny windows.

In addition to being a place of worship it is also a toy & a printing shop that is cleverly hidden in a narrow lane street that follows the old city wall.

The new residence of the Art Museum of Estonia, KUMU (Kunstimuuseum, Art Museum), was built in 2006. It has an encyclopedic collection of Estonian Art

Tallin Opera House

Kings don't usually live in cottages - they tend to favor vast palaces dripping gold and crystal and possessed of more bathrooms than any one person could ever humanly use – but NOT if you suffer from Agoraphobia (fear of wide-open spaces) This humble structure is where Peter the Great and Catherine I stayed during visits to Tallinn in the early 18th century. He had several such homes across the Russian empire

Peter the Great

Height: 2m 14cm

Shoe size: 37 !!!

+ +

Had to use walking sticks

for stability

Birth of

Nordic Walking

=

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich RomanovIn numerous successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented and rationalist system.

Filippo Baltari, a young Italian visitor to Peter's court, wrote:

"Tsar Peter was tall and thin, rather than stout .... For his great height, his feet seemed very narrow. His head was sometimes tugged to the right by convulsions."

While visiting Fredrick Ruysch (a Dutch botanist and anatomist), Peter the Great witnessed an autopsy and was convinced that if he laid flat on his back the stomach juices will travel up the esophagus and cause major damage to his health…. so for the rest of his life he slept sitting up !!!

A:

Q: How did a very tall man sleep in such a small bed?

In 1697 Frederik Ruysch saw the Tsar’s keen interest in science, therefore he taught him how to catch butterflies preserve them. Together they went to see patients, and Ruysch taught him how to draw teeth. Peter the Great was then convinced that he was a dentist and would extract people’s teeth at random!!!

In 1717, during his second visit, Ruysch sold his “Repository of Curiosities" to Peter the Great that included the secret of the liquor and tobacco – thus the hard liquor was introduced to Russia. However their bodies were not able to break down ingested alcohol completely since their liver lacks the genetically coded enzyme that performs this function. A condition called erythema - reddening caused by dilation of capillaries of the face, neck, and shoulder, after consumption of alcohol was - commenced as well.

Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs

were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials, the Boyars, to cut off their long beards and cut short the

long sleeves which were the fashion among them

(the sleeves sometimes swept the floor).a

Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax

of one hundred rubles.

He was especially fascinated by shipyards and factories. He realized that the military might of the west was due to its technological advancement and manufacturing capabilities, therefore he studied shipbuilding in Zaandam and Amsterdam. He was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest shipyard in the world that belonged to the Dutch east India Co. When he returned to Russia, he was determined to advance his own country in a similar direction and put his learning to use in helping build Russian’s navy

Oops … 3000 fathoms / 350 cables here or there – shouldn’t make too much of a difference –

all routs lead to Rome anyway Not a very correct sea route

Fathom: 6 feet. Man's arm span, finger tip to finger tip.Cable :120 fathoms Nautical mile:1852 m/ 10 cables / 6080 feet

In Soviet times it was rumored that the KGB had files on everyone (employees and guests) and that they operated in the Viru Hotel. Later the rumor turned out to be true. Those intrigued by the city's secret history can now take the guided tour at the KGB Museum on the 23rd floor of Sokos Hotel Viru