Tallinn Legends - an amusing trip into the past
Tallinn, with its long and fascinating history, is known for many fascinating legends. Ancient stories came from the distant times of the Middle Ages to our days, carrying both human greatness and diabolical baseness. However, for the first time, both citizens and guests of the city themselves will have the opportunity to get into the Middle Ages, feel the breath of time, experience the joys and sorrows of people of those immemorial years, feel love and hate, as medieval townspeople felt.
Tallinn Legends combines the city's history, left behind the shadow of centuries, lively acting skills and state-of-the-art special effects - all this creates an authentic illusion of time travel and everyone who enters the gaming reality of Tallinn Legends will find themselves among fascinating events, forgetting everything other things and become part of the revived history.
Tallinn Legends is an adventure that cannot be put into words. The feeling that arises when racing into the past in a time machine must be felt for yourself. Only in the magical world of Tallinn Legends can you climb the high tower of the newly built Oleviste Church, walk through the streets devastated by the plague, go down into the deep cellars of the Inquisition Court, listen to an amazing song coming from the mermaid well, together with the girl immured in the Maiden's Tower, cry about the frailty of an elusive young life, attend the execution of the arrogant baron Johann von Uexküll, discover marzipan in the workshop of a gloomy alchemist, and sing a daring battle song together with hired soldiers. Traveling in time is made special by the fact that Mr. Satan himself will personally accompany the guests to the gloomy secrets of ancient Tallinn as a guide. The presence of such a high and powerful face guarantees an unforgettable experience.
LOCATION
Tallinn Legends is located right in the heart of the old city, next to the oldest town hall in Europe, at Kullasepa 7.
LEGENDS
The construction of Olevista and the curse placed on the church
At one time, the Church of Oleviste was the tallest building in Europe. This amazing temple of God ascending to the sky began to be built in 1267 and the construction lasted for a whole hundred years.
It seemed to contemporaries that it was the Impure Himself who interfered with the work. The builder, who placed his hopes on the church and installed the cornerstone, fell from the high scaffolding and fell to his death. Things were no better for the next six masters, who tied their fate with the construction of a magnificent building. Only the eighth construction master, whose name was Olev, was able to complete the work. But his life was also short-lived. Decorating the church tower with a wreath on the occasion of the completion of construction, Olev heard someone calling to him from below, bent down to look, but fell and crashed, like his predecessors.
On June 29, 1625, lightning struck the church tower and the gigantic building caught fire. After that, lightning bolts hit the House of the Lord thirteen more times.
You will visit the Olevista Tower, cast a glance at the city from there and, together with lightning bolts, go down, falling into the deep Middle Ages.
The terrible secret of the Maiden Tower
In medieval Europe, there was an unshakable idea that if a living girl is walled up in a fortress tower or castle wall, the building will stand unshakable until the end of time. Tallinn was no exception in this regard. When, in 1360, the fortress wall of Tallinn began to be supplemented with a new quadrangular watchtower, in order to strengthen it, they decided to immure the immaculate girl in the wall of the first floor of the tower. The unfortunate maiden had to give the tower unprecedented strength at the cost of her life.
The lot fell on the beautiful Grete, who, despite all the efforts of her parents to save her daughter, was secretly taken away from the house and immured in a small stone niche. For a few more nights, those passing by the tower heard a quiet cry, but then it stopped, and the people's rumor began to call the new watchtower the Maiden's Tower. The tower really survived all the wars and trials that befell the city and to this day adorns the skyline of Tallinn.
You sympathize with the doubts and fear of death of a young girl and follow the fragile figure of the beauty with your eyes until the cold stones swallow her up.
Plague
Like most cities, Tallinn was repeatedly visited by a terrible plague epidemic that killed thousands of people. A terrible disease was considered a punishment of the Lord, help from which they sought in fasting and prayers, locking their houses and running away from the city, cleaning the premises with juniper smoke and washing themselves with herbal infusions, but nothing helped - the Black Death moved from house to house, from street to street its terrible way, leaving not a single castle, not a single hut untouched. Death has made people equal. But at the same time, when the streets were filled with corpses, among which doctors dressed in strange costumes curing for the plague were maneuvering, lecherous and drunkards gathered in one of the houses, who spent their days in obscenities and copious libations, but the plague did not touch them. Obviously, these playboys were too sinful even for death itself.
The artist Berndt Notke commemorated the monstrous plague of the 14th century in a painting he called "The Dance of Death". This famous painting is located in the Niguliste church in Tallinn and reminds of the times when half of the city's inhabitants died out, from infants to noblemen.
You see the plague-ravaged streets, the carts of refugees leaving the city. And suddenly Death itself appears, which pulls you into a deadly dance, at the end of which nothingness gapes.
Retribution
Medieval people were afraid of retribution, which awaited all sinners. The unfortunate fell into hellfire, but you could get there already on earth if the zealous servants of God believed that you had violated church canons.
The coat of arms of the Dominicans depicts a dog carrying a torch. The monks considered themselves the dogs of the Lord, whose task was to light the way for the righteous and subject the sinners to suffering. It was not difficult to fall into disgrace with the holy fathers - as soon as some neighbor sent a denunciation to the monastery - and the apostate was seized to be presented before the harsh court of the holy fathers. For those who at least once appeared before the church court, the path of salvation was cut off. Witches burned at the stake, the brides of Satan were drowned in ice holes in winter, the townspeople who colluded with unclean forces disappeared at midnight and never returned home.
You will pass through the high monastery gates and appear before the holy judicial review, where the all-seeing eye will weigh your sins. Fortunately, there is an opportunity to escape from this scary place, and you will do it, hearing the menacing barking of dogs and the ringing of prison shackles behind you. This time you will come out unscathed - what luck!
Alchemist
When death is raging around and life is not worth a penny, there is a desire to find a formula for immortality. In 1420, when the population of Europe had halved as a result of wars and plagues and the future seemed bleak, hundreds of alchemists began searching for a formula for immortality. give to the townspeople eternal life. The whole night, he fiddled with strange experiments, and from time to time flames were seen from the window and clouds of smoke fell from the chimney, but in the morning the alchemist disappeared. A recipe was found on the table, and according to it, the city pharmacist made an unprecedentedly tasty substance, which they began to sell as a means of stimulating male abilities. The substance was called marzipan and indeed - many children began to be born in Tallinn and the townspeople inherited eternal life.
Superstitious people still claim that in the room where the alchemist compiled his incredibly useful recipe, Satan himself celebrated the wedding. The Lord of Evil allegedly left a recipe in order to lure people to the path of sin. Well, everyone looks at the world from his own bell tower.
You will be present together with the alchemist during dangerous experiments, as a result of which marzipan will be born. If you are lucky, the miraculous power of marzipan will also touch you, and your family life will become unprecedentedly unanimous and fruitful. This is a bonus that you will receive by visiting Tallinn Legends.
Mermaid
To this day, on Rataskaevu Street, you can see the old well, which is associated with a legend about a beautiful girl found on the seashore. The girl was brought to the city, dressed up like a princess and decided to marry a rich young man, but on the first evening she disappeared from the house. Unearthly singing sounded over the city all night, and in the morning, when they went to see what had happened, the girl was found in the well. The water called her to itself. And the next night the same thing happened, only now the singing came from the city towards the sea and called at dawn into the abyss of waves. For the one who gave himself to the waters will never get rid of longing for the quiet depths of the sea.
The girl was never seen again in the city. But in the hearts of those who heard her singing, there remained an incomprehensible thirst for love, which all Tallinners inherited. And today, with love, they come to the seashore to admire the moonlight, and lonely souls, overcoming the sea winds, find comfort and hope on the shore that a meeting with their beloved is not far off. However, there are those who, having gone ashore, never come back, as happened with the beautiful mermaid.
You will hear a delightful unforgettable song and feel the intoxicating call of the waters. You will have a magical story about longing and love, and you will immediately understand that, despite the harsh times, wars and illnesses, there were moments in the Middle Ages when people felt truly happy.
Execution of Johann von Uexküll
The time of the Middle Ages was ending, and the value of human life began to increase. The establishment of the Lübeck city law significantly increased the self-consciousness of the inhabitants of Tallinn. Free artisans and merchants lived here, and a peasant who managed to hide in the city for one year and one day was freed from the serfdom. The city grew and became stronger. The knighthood was no longer subordinate to the supreme authority, but was independent.
Baron from Riisipere Johann von Uexküll, who secretly made his way to Tallinn in 1535 together with a detachment of thugs, found his fugitive peasant here, took him away by force and killed him. The townspeople, outraged by the arbitrariness, demanded justice from the town hall, then the city authorities arrested the baron and sentenced to death for murder.
On May 7, when they wanted to carry out the court sentence on a country hill with a gallows, the baron's henchmen arrived at the scene with the intention of freeing their master. In order to prevent a bloody confrontation, Uexkull was executed between the lowered city gates. The executioner cut off the head of a nobleman, and thus the law prevailed over prejudices, and the time of the Middle Ages in Tallinn ended.
You will see a proud baron mocking city law and how an arrogant man will be broken in the face of death. Together with the inhabitants of ancient Tallinn, you will celebrate the victory of justice and live through the moment when the criminal's head is put on a stake.
The journey will take place through 9 centuries, from the very beginning of the Middle Ages, ending with the first trial, as a result of which Baron von Uexküll was executed. What marks the end of the Middle Ages in Estonia. These 9 legends, which we have selected in Tallinn Legends, are connected with real places such as the churches of Oleviste and Niguliste. Also the Marzipan House and the Witch's Well. We will also talk about Pontus Delagardi, who was the governor of Estonia in the Middle Ages and won the 7-year northern war.
Performance duration - 40 minutes
The performance can be in one of four languages - Russian, Estonian, English or Finnish.
The number of people in a group is up to 15 people.
Patency - a new group every 15 minutes.
Opening hours - daily, from 11:00 to 19:00 (last group at 21:00)
Age restrictions - children under 10 years old are not recommended.
Ticket price - 15 euros / adult, 10 euros / child, 35 euros / family (2 adults and 1 child under 16)
To understand Tallinn, you need to feel its spirit, walk through the streets and squares of the city, breathe in its air, listen to the stories and legends of Tallinn. So we alternated our acquaintance with the city by reading the legends of old Tallinn and walking around old Tallinn. Legends passed down from generation to generation, folk epic, always mysterious, funny, a little naive and charming, added an unforgettable touch to our trip to Tallinn.
I will continue my story about the main sights of Estonia, included in the UNESCO list.
With the history of the emergence of Tallinn, and old center of Tallinn This first point of unesco in Estonia, can be found in my article.
Second point t is Struve geodesic arc(on the list since 2005).
It is named after the Russian astronomer Struve. In 1816, on an arc of 2820 kilometers, 265 points were placed with cubes buried in the ground to determine the shape of the Earth, its size and parameters, as well as the distances between the stars. Currently, there are 34 points left in the Scandinavian countries, Russia, the Baltic States, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. One point is located on the territory of the University of Tartu and we will definitely visit it.
UNESCO Estonia.
Additional list of UNESCO - also two items.
The first item of the additional list – Baltic Glint or a ledge, the beginning of which is located on the island of Öland, Sweden, and the end at Lake Ladoga in the Leningrad Region. It stretched across the whole of Estonia at a distance of 1200 kilometers, we will observe it in old Tallinn. The height of the ledge in some places reaches 60 meters.
The second item of the additional list – Forest on the island of Saaremaa, episcopal castle in Kuressaare on the same island, we decided to postpone it for the next time, so that there would be a reason to come to Estonia somehow.
Legends of Tallinn.
Let's start our journey through the legends of Tallinn from the bishop's castle and this island.
At the end of the 18th century, a Russian engineer decided to make a plan for the bishop's castle in the city of Kuressar, on the island of Saaremaa. When measuring rooms in the eastern part of the castle, he discovered a walled cellar. Opening it, the engineer found a skeleton in clothes, sitting on a chair at the table. The engineer only had time to make a sketch of a drawing from the skeleton, when, at an accidental touch, the skeleton fell to the floor and crumbled into small pieces. According to the drawing and the remaining parts of the clothes, the engineer decided that in front of him was the skeleton of a knight of the 16th century, the period of the reformation.
The legend of the knight.
After examining the annals of the castle, the engineer discovered interesting story, as a local Catholic bishop turned to the help of the Pope in the fight against the Protestants. The Pope sent a knight from Spain, who proved to be steadfast, pious and devoted to the church. Local Protestants decided to convict the knight of disbelief. The Protestants went to the trick, and persuaded the beautiful blonde of easy virtue to test the knight. It happened that the knight fell in love with the girl and she fell in love with the knight. The bishop, learning about this, ordered the girl to be tonsured and locked up in the monastery. The knight sent the girl a note, which he hid in bread, but instead of the monastery, the letter ended up with the bishop. The bishop got angry and locked the knight in the basement of the castle. This is how the history of the chronicle found its confirmation. During a tour of the castle, you can see this cellar, which was later called the cellar of the immured knight.
This legend is very close to reality, but the next one is very similar to a fairy tale.
The Legend of Raymond.
Once upon a time, a guy named Raymond lived in the city of Kuressar. During the day he fished, and in the evenings he made various ornaments. It was hard for him, because in addition to himself, he also had to feed his younger sister and old mother. Once, while selling jewelry near the castle, he decided to inspect the castle and found himself near the cellar of a walled-in knight...
Tallinn Airport is the center of Tallinn.
Let's break away from the legend of Raymond a little, because our bus appeared on the horizon. Due to the large delay, I had to go in a fairly crowded cabin. In order not to be loaded with the purchase of a transport card and replenishing it, especially since we will not have to travel much, it was decided to purchase tickets from the driver. All information on prices and a transport map can be obtained. From January 1, 2013, everyone registered in Tallinn can use transport for free - this is where communism hid. We got on bus number 2, there are five stops to the center, we get off at Laikmaa. Immediately in front of us is a large shopping center Viru Keskus, behind it begins Old city and the continuation of our story.
Continuation of the legend.
.... Suddenly, out of nowhere, an old woman appeared and barely audibly whispered to Raymond: “Raymond, you are kind, decent and good man so you will be happy. Touch me, the soul of a Roman knight lives in me, he never managed to meet his beloved. His pure love will touch your soul and you will meet your love. To find it you have to go a long way to the city of Tallinn. In the temple of the Holy Spirit you will see a girl, your love.”
Raymond believed the old woman and began to get ready for the journey. He had many adventures on the way to the city. After several days of wandering, Raymond approached the Virus Gates of Tallinn in the evening. The guards did not let him into Tallinn, but suddenly a miracle happened - the guards disappeared and Raymond found himself in Tallinn among houses and people ... ..
It is symbolic that we, like Raymond in those distant times, entered old Tallinn through the Virus Gates.
Viru gate.
Virus gates, the beginning of construction in the 13th century, are a symbol of the city, a portal to the past. Would you like to admire the city panorama from the tower of the Viru Gate? Click .
In fact, the two turrets are only part of the Virus Gate, which survived the demolition of the gate in the 17th century, when powerful fortifications no longer saved from heavy artillery. From a modern city with skyscrapers and other attributes of modern life, we immediately find ourselves in a medieval city, which is not a time machine.
Viru street is probably the busiest street in Tallinn. Once upon a time, part of the territory of present-day Estonia was called Virumaa, Maa - in Estonian land, that is, the land of Viru, hence Viru is most likely the old name of Estonia. Through the gates of Viru, we went to it and among the large crowds of tourists went to look for our apartments. It wasn't hard to find them. They were located at the intersection of Viru and Vene streets, Vene means Russian in Estonian. Our apartments in the yellow house Baltik Amber.
Liquor Vana Tallinn.
Interestingly, the national drink in Estonia is a strong liquor infused with herbs called Vanna Tallinn, translated as Old Tallinn, and due to the fact that this drink is popular among Russians, it was nicknamed Vene Tallinn (Russian Tallinn).
Ten minutes after talking with the apartment manager on the phone, we received the keys to them, a view of the roofs of old Tallinn and a sense of satisfaction that the desired was achieved.
Weather in Tallinn.
Clouds came running from somewhere, it started to rain and it became cold. The weather in Tallinn is so changeable that it is almost impossible to guess with clothes, the GISMETEO forecast has never been true. Already sitting in a cafe next to our apartment and drinking French wine, we had to urgently go home for umbrellas and warm clothes. It’s good that the cafe had a canopy and they give warm blankets, which was very pleasing. Looking ahead, I will say that the Tallinn service was a pleasant surprise. Mostly young people work in restaurants and cafes, the treatment is very polite and respectful, when serving dishes they tell stories about the origin of these dishes. Coffee is a separate song, we have a tradition to drink at least a cup of coffee once a day, it hurts too tasty there.
Food in Tallinn.
Food in the old city at a price, of course, differs greatly from food in the food zone shopping center located nearby. But the very atmosphere of the Middle Ages, inherent in old Tallinn, accompanied by scenery and attendants in national costumes, must be felt.
But do not forget about shopping centers. The proximity of two super-shopping centers is amazing: Viru Keskus and Solaris Keskus, where you can buy almost everything. The choice on the counter is such as we have not seen in Spanish supermarkets, it is very worthy of respect. The Solaris Keskus shopping center is located directly opposite the Estonian National Opera House. In the center of the self-service restaurant struck by the choice and quality of dishes. The price is very budgetary, very tasty, I recommend, there are a lot of tables, you won’t be left without places.
Under umbrellas, we chaotically walked around the old town, not far from the apartments. Our first day of stay in Tallinn ended with a visit to the shopping center, an information office on NIGULISTE 2 (Nikolai) street and the purchase of products.
ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT TALLINN?
Have you been to the Town Hall Square more than once and all the cafes "relatives and friends"?
Do you know what is under the Town Hall Square?
WE WILL SURPRISE YOU!
"Legends of Tallinn" is one of those projects that are usually called unique, wonders of the world, the pride of the city and the country.
This exposition is hidden in intricate labyrinths deep underground right next to the town hall square. The labyrinth consists of 10 interactive rooms full of history, legends and life of the Old City Barons and mermaids, innocent girls and mighty knights, cruel judges and miserable people - fear or death awaits everyone!
You descend deep into the dungeon, and your 40-minute journey begins or, one might say, a difficult test through the centuries of history. Professional actors, mechanical robot puppets and fantastic video projections will accompany you from room to room and present "live" 9 of the most creepy and poignant legends of old Tallinn.
In the labyrinths of "Legends of Tallinn" you:
- take the elevator to the spire of the ancient church,
- hear the voice of the devil and the song of the mermaid,
- survive the invasion of enemies and plague,
- feel the horrors of the Inquisition and war
- learn about forgotten discoveries.
"Legends of Tallinn" is located in the very center of Tallinn near the Town Hall Square at the address: st. Kullasepa d.7
Working mode:
Mon-Sun from 11:00 to 19:00.
Program duration:
40 minutes
Visit cost:
- full ticket (adults) - 13 EUR per person
- reduced ticket (children under 18, students, pensioners) - 10 EUR with human
- family ticket (2 adults + 1 child) - 30 EUR
La douleur passe, la beauté reste (c) Pierre-Auguste Renoir
In one of the most attractive tourist areas of Tallinn, a lot of mysterious things happen at night. There is the Executioner's House and the Pillory, as well as many haunted houses.
They tell a legend about the ghost of the von Brevern house, which is located at Toomkooli 13. Allegedly after the war, in 1918, this house was bought by a very wealthy gentleman, who sold it two years later. The fact is that at night the ghost of a demonically laughing woman appeared to him. The deal was canceled because it turned out that the seller had not warned the buyer about the ghost, and the money had to be returned. It now houses the Canadian embassy and a restaurant.
House number 13 on Tallinn's Toomkooli Street is not distinguished by its architecture, is not considered remarkable, but mysterious phenomena are associated with it ... If you look at the Toompea Fortress from the side of the Baltic Station, then to the left of it you will see a house over a cliff. But from the side of Toomkooli Street, it will be somewhat difficult to find this mansion, which once belonged to Count Manteuffel. The story will be about him.
The events that took place in ancient times in this house made an indelible impression on the writer August Friedrich Ferdinand Kotzebue, and he based them on one of his novels. For several centuries, people who lived in this house claimed that they never left the "sense of presence" of something bad. Despite the redesign of the building, the ghosts that inhabited this house stubbornly passed through the wall in the place where there had been a door before.
Bad fame has established itself behind one room on the first floor. She was considered uninhabited. Next to her at Manteuffel was a guest room. Visiting friends of Manteuffel spent the night in it, as well as the count's guests who stayed up late for maps. There, as they said, no one managed to avoid encounters with aggressive ghosts.
Many saw, to their amazement, moving furniture. Once, Baron Taube, who stayed overnight, noticed with surprise that the doors to the next room began to open by themselves, and there ... an armchair waltzed. Taube, without hesitation, shot at him - and almost died himself, as the bullet, bouncing off the chair, ricocheted towards the baron, but he dodged it in time, dodging to the side.
According to rumors, Count Manteuffel was a big sinner. No wonder they say: gray hair - in a beard, and a demon - in a rib. In old age, the count liked the maid, and she paid him zero attention. He did this and that, and caress, and threats - to no avail. Once the girl, unable to withstand the harassment of the count, even tried to strangle him. For this, they said, Manteuffel ordered the maid to be walled up alive in the wall. From that time on, a ghost began to appear in the house - a young woman in a gray dress, very unfriendly to men.
Here is what one of the visitors, who spent the night at Manteuffel's, said. As soon as the guest entered the bedchamber and had just managed to throw his coat on an armchair near the old fireplace, he heard a terrible noise. Something transparent appeared on the wall, the outlines resembling a human figure. It smelled of perfume, and the ghost quickly took on a real form: a young woman in gray was in the room. She began to approach the guest. Her eyes burned like coals and flashed lightning. Long hands with black nails reached out to the man and seized him by the throat in a death grip. Cold as ice, the lips of the ghost dug into the lips of the guest, and he lost consciousness. Only a few days later the guest came to his senses...
Having been in such and similar troubles, even the closest acquaintances of Count Manteuffel then bypassed his house.
The stokers did not stay long in this house either. In the "enchanted" room, "someone invisible" pushed them and knocked them down... But gradually the "ghostly" phenomena in this house began to "fade out" and, in the end, stopped altogether.
Another ominous place is located at 16 Rataskaevu Street. Once, a city dweller squandered his fortune. In that moment of despair, a stranger came to his house. The guest asked permission to have a wedding on the top floor. The stranger promised a reward, but warned that no one should go upstairs. Anyone who sees a secret wedding is waiting for a quick death. The city dweller, who, because of the ruin, was ready for suicide, immediately agreed. All night long, lights were burning on the top floor of the house, music was playing, and the clatter from the dances of the guests was heard.
One servant could not resist his curiosity and climbed the stairs to look at the secret ball. Soon the unfortunate man died, but managed to say that he saw the Devil's wedding that night.
Near the house where the evil spirits celebrated the wedding, there is a "cat's well". Now it is a copy of a medieval well from the 14th century.
According to legend, a mermaid lived in this well, at night she got out and went hunting. The townspeople, in order to appease the mermaid, threw cats into the well. In the Middle Ages, cats were considered messengers of evil spirits, so they did not feel pity for them. In the 19th century, the well was demolished and covered up, fearing an epidemic.
A copy of the well was installed in 1980 on the eve of the Olympics. Cats are no longer thrown there.
In the house at Vene 12, a long time ago there was a printing house in which strange things happened at night. People actually worked on the graves - the floor was laid from gravestones, the inscriptions on which were no longer legible. Now there is a restaurant.
In the 16th century, the commander Pontus Delagardi lived, famous for his cruelty. It was said that he gave orders to rip off the skin from the prisoners, from which the craftsmen made boots, bags, saddles. Puntsa (as Pontus was called by the Slavs) inspired fear even in Ivan the Terrible.
Pontus is a French military man, he entered the service of the Danish king, fought against the Swedes. Once in Swedish captivity, he immediately changed sides. He was accepted into the service of the Swedish king Eric XIV. Pontus succeeded not only in battles, but also in court intrigues. He helped Prince Johan overthrow his brother, King Eric. In gratitude, Johan appointed Pontus as steward of his coronation in 1569.
As a reward for his service in 1571, Pontus was granted a baronial title, and in 1580, the 60-year-old commander married Sophia, the illegitimate daughter of the king (she died three years after the wedding).
The commander died in 1585 at the age of 65, when he was returning from another campaign. His boat, following the Narova River, ran aground near the Narva Fortress. According to another version, a cannon ball hit the boat, which saluted in honor of the commander's arrival.
"Damn it!" - said the people about the death of Pontus.
Pontus Delagardie was buried in Reval, where his restless spirit roams at night.
According to legend, when the commander died and approached the gates of the underworld, the Angel of Death did not let him in. Pontus will be able to find peace when he sells all the things that, on his orders, were made from human skin. Every night from midnight until morning, Pontus must roam the streets of Reval in search of buyers. Since then, at night, a man in armor on horseback appears on the streets of the old city and asks in an afterlife voice: “Buy leather! Buy leather!
And at the address Ruytli, 18 (according to other sources, in the courtyard of houses 22,24,26), the Executioner lived. In society, he was an outcast, neither he nor his wife could attend church. The executioner's daughter could only marry another executioner. If people met the Executioner on the street, they crossed to the other side. Now there is a gift shop.
Historian Jüri Kuuskemaa says that the site of the current Swedbank office on Liivalaia Street used to be the Execution Ground, where people were executed. Moreover, in the book "Tallinn in Legends" it is said that execution by chopping off the head was a privilege for the upper class. They wheeled people, broke all their bones, and then left them alive to be eaten by birds. Female child killers were buried alive. Witches and beastmen were burned at the stake. Counterfeiters were fried in boiling oil.
Cross of Liberty. And 101 million crowns were invested in it, and the Czechs were connected, because apparently we don’t have good specialists, and we did warranty repairs several times - but still it doesn’t shine. The panels began to become covered with some kind of greenish mold, cracks appeared, and it seems that the Ministry of Defense gave up on him altogether. Because the Cross was built in a cemetery - and, as we see, digging other people's graves is fraught.
The Dome Cathedral
Everyone who visits the Dome Cathedral involuntarily tramples on the grave of a sinner, about whom many stories are told. Entering the cathedral through the main portal and getting into the southern nave of the temple, the visitor finds himself on a large slab, along the edges of which is carved: OTTO JOHANN THOUVE the landowner Edize, Väena and Koonu - his grave. In the year 1696.
Tradition says that Tuva, who was buried under the slab, was an Estonian by origin, because his surname means "dove" in translation. For his merits, he was granted the nobility. He was an extremely cheerful and light-tempered man, he liked to eat a lot and tasty, drink hard, and most importantly, he was known as a ladies' man and a great conqueror of hearts. Before his death, he repented of his sins and bequeathed to bury himself at the entrance to the Dome Cathedral. Tove hoped for forgiveness if he showed humility and humility, and the parishioners would trample his ashes.
Indeed, five centuries ago, the Tuve clan settled in Edize Castle in northern Estonia. They also owned the neighboring estate of Jõhvi, where a church was erected at the end of the fifteenth century. On the bell tower of the church there is the coat of arms of the Tuve family.
The character of men of this kind is told by the legend about the church in Jõhvi, which is very similar to the legend about Don Juan in Tallinn:
There once lived two brothers. The elder brother went to war, and the younger one had to build a fortified castle. The older brother returned from the war, a quarrel broke out between the brothers, and in a duel the younger was killed. The older brother was seized with sadness and deep regret about what had happened, he ordered, in atonement for his sins, to build a church on the site of the duel and bury himself in front of the entrance, so that all believers would trample on his sinful ashes.
Grave of old Kalev and founding of Tallinn
Old Tallinn consists of two parts: the Upper Town, located on the Toompea hill (from the Estonian Toompea - which means "cathedral hill") with steep edges, and the Lower Town.
Surprisingly, these two settlements have lived completely different lives throughout their centuries-old history. In the castle of Toompea and in the houses of Vyshgorod, foreign nobles and rulers lived their lives, and in the lower one - merchants, artisans, etc.
The first settlement on the territory of old Tallinn was a wooden fortification on Toompea Hill, presumably founded in the 11th century.
According to one of the legends, Toompea Hill is the grave hill of the powerful and glorious hero Kalev, the first leader of the freedom-loving Estonians, built of huge boulders by his inconsolable widow Linda. And only one stone, the largest, could not hold Linda, he fell out of her hands and rolled down. The widow wept bitterly, and her tears were so plentiful that a lake was formed from them, which received the name Ülemiste - Upper (the very one where Järvevana lives). Clean as a tear, the lake waters Tallinn. The “Linda Stone” has survived to this day, it lies in clear water near the shore (now only its upper part is visible). And you can even see the legendary Linda - here she is, bowing sadly, sitting on a stone. Such a widow of the glorious Kalev was depicted by the sculptor August Weizenberg in 1920. This beautiful sculpture is located here, on the slope of Vyshgorod, in the square, which is now called Lindamyagi - Linda's hill.
About a thousand years ago there lived a king in Denmark, whose son and daughter were inflamed with forbidden love for each other. The king, having learned about this, decided to expel his daughter from his country, since he considered her the main culprit. He came up with a cruel punishment - he ordered to put the princess on a ship without a rudder, and send this ship to the open sea so that his daughter would never return home.
The ship wandered on the waves for a long time until a storm washed it up on the northern coast of Estonia. The princess ordered the anchor to be dropped and went in a boat to the shore. After some time, she noticed a hill on the coast - the grave of old Kalev. The princess liked this place so much that she wished to build a city here. The exile brought with her from her native country a lot of gold and silver, and this good was transferred from the ship to her tent on the hill. The princess called the people together and ordered for her gold and silver to build first a luxurious castle, and around it a city. Those who showed courage and zeal, she favored at home. So, over time, many people gathered around the castle, and the city grew noticeably, became beautiful and rich, and people in it lived calmly and happily.
Soon news reached the king of Denmark about the beautiful city that his daughter had founded. And he had an irresistible desire to subjugate this city. Having conquered his pride, the king went to bow to his daughter. The princess, unaware of her father's insidious plans, forgave him and arranged a magnificent meeting.
However, the inhabitants quickly realized what was on the minds of strangers. They immediately drove them away and remained masters in their city. The people began to call it Tanlin, the Danish city, from which the current name Tallinn came about over time.
The poor widow mourned her beloved husband Kalev for many months, giving vent to complaints and bitter tears. And she began to bring stones to his grave in order to erect a worthy monument to Kalev and preserve his memory for posterity. In Tallinn, you can still see this tombstone of Kalev - Toompea Hill. Under it, the king of the ancient Estonians sleeps with eternal sleep, on one side of the hill the sea waves rustle, on the other, native forests rustle.
One day Linda was carrying a large boulder to the grave. She hurried up the hill of Lasnamägi, carrying on her back in a sling woven from her hair, a whole rock.
Then the widow stumbled, and a heavy stone rolled from her shoulders. Linda could not lift this rock - from grief, the poor thing dried up, lost its former strength of hands. The woman sat down on a stone and wept bitter tears, complaining about her widow's share.
The good wind fairy gently stroked the silk of her hair and dried her tears, but they kept flowing and flowing from Linda's eyes, like streams on a mountain slope, gathering into a lake. This lake grew larger and larger until it turned into a lake. It is still located in Tallinn on the Lasnamägi hill and is called Ülemiste (Upper). There you can also see the stone on which the weeping Linda sat.
And if you, a traveler, happen to walk past Lake Ülemiste, stop and remember the glorious Kalev and his inconsolable Linda.
The story of a monk in love - a Franciscan
In Tallinn, on Lai (Shirokaya) Street, there is a house with two old lindens in front of it, which is almost six hundred years old. People still vaguely remember some story about a young girl and a Franciscan monk in love with her, associated with this house.
In the old days, its residents often heard someone's shuffling steps in a large and dilapidated building, the creaking of floorboards, the knock of an invisible hand on shutters and doors. Once, when the maid was sweeping the floor, someone hit the old woman so hard on her legs that she dropped the whisk from her hands. Sometimes at night it was heard as if someone was whipping a rope on a wooden bed. Residents have witnessed a terrible picture more than once: paint and plaster are disappearing from the wall of the house, laying of gray flagstone is clearly visible, and a pale and mournful face looks out from some opening with mortal longing in his eyes.
... 1464. Monk Johann von Hilten from Lower Saxony, a tall, handsome man of about forty-five, appeared in Tallinn. He was going to build a monastery of the mendicant order of the Franciscans here, but the magistrate did not give his consent to this. Then Hilten, violating the charter of the Catholic Church, began to preach his own doctrine, gathering around him a secret circle of followers. A man of strong will, he, among other wealthy merchants, members of the Great Guild, subjugated the recently widowed Ratman Herman Greve.
The sermons of the Franciscan fell at that time on fertile ground. In August 1464, a plague broke out in Tallinn, brought to Livonia on ships from Lübeck. Many fled with their families outside the city in search of salvation from the black death. Friends also advised Greve to leave the city, but under the influence of a monk who trusted in God and fate, he remained with all his children in Tallinn. The first to fall ill was his stepdaughter, eighteen-year-old Margarita, the eldest in the family. At the instigation of Hilten, the father allowed the rest of the children to visit the sick woman. All twelve children were swept away by the plague, one by one, to the grave. Margarita gradually recovered and thus became the only heiress of her wealthy stepfather - a circumstance of no small importance for our story.
Among the monk's students was a young but poor apprentice from Bremen, Diederik Zierenberg. Margarita and Diderik fell in love and decided to unite their destinies. But at that time, Margarita's trustee and uncle returned from Flanders, who was looking for a groom there for his niece and concluded a marriage contract with a certain young Fleming, giving him a deposit in money. He resolutely opposed the marriage of his ward to an apprentice from Bremen, fearing, probably, to lose the deposit given to the Fleming. The stepfather, under pressure from the monk, blessed the young, and in January of the following year they got married.
But since then, everything has changed. Happy young people stopped listening to Hilten. The monk fell hopelessly in love with Margarita, wrote tender letters to her with his own blood. The monk's love was not reciprocated and was rejected by Margarita. Now, unlike beautiful legend, Hilten's heart burned with a thirst for revenge, and he began to set Greve, obedient to him, against his stepdaughter and son-in-law, trying to deprive them of their inheritance and shelter. The monk also hoped to earn money from the sale of Greve's houses, which were to be inherited by Margarita, for living, as well as for the construction of a monastery in Tallinn.
Margarita then turned to her uncle for help, and a long thirty-year lawsuit began, which continued with varying success even after the death of all its participants, already between their distant descendants.
What was the further fate of the monk? Shortly after the events described, Johann von Hilten was expelled from Livonia and sent to a monastery in the city of Weimar, where he spent about a quarter of a century under supervision. Before his death, Hilten was transferred to the Eisenach Monastery, where he died around 1500. The holy church considered the monk's actions - secret gatherings of disciples, fanatical sermons and home masses - dangerous, she did not forgive him for his failure to build a monastery of the Franciscan order in Tallinn and his forbidden love for Margarita Zirenberg.
The old house on Lai Street is a silent witness to the drama that played out here in the fifteenth century, greed and cunning, love and hatred of the people who lived in it. This house is also associated with a legend about a monk immured in the wall, whose spirit wanders restlessly at night in eternal search and expectation of his beloved who has rejected him.
The Adventures of the Mummy Duke
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In the first half of the nineteenth century in the church of St. Nicholas (Niguliste) an amazing exhibit was exhibited. In one of the chapels, on a hearse, stood a coffin with a glass lid, and in it was a mummy dressed in a black velvet camisole with snow-white lace, legs covered with silk stockings, and a curled wig on her head.
The church watchman, who received considerable income for showing the mummy, touchingly took care of its safety. When the mummy began to be overcome by mice, he brought a cat in the church. Once, on a rainy and gloomy autumn evening, the organist was playing chorales when suddenly he heard shuffling footsteps. From the darkness, in the light of a swinging lantern, a mummy appeared. The horrified organist noticed, however, that the mummy was not moving by itself, but was being carried. It turns out that the roof in the chapel leaked, the mummy got wet, and the ingenuous watchman decided to dry it by the stove.
Whose mummy was this? Duke Carl Eugene de Croix was born in the Netherlands and had royal blood in his veins. He served first in the Danish army, then in the Austrian troops, and then in Poland. When the Northern War began, de Croix joined the Russian army. Peter I promoted him to field marshal general and appointed him commander-in-chief of the Russian troops near Narva. Having lost the battle, the duke was taken prisoner and brought to Tallinn by the Swedes. Here he was released on parole. De Croix quickly got used to Tallinn, made an extensive circle of acquaintances among the local nobility and wealthy merchants. Not only did the doors open before him, but also the wallets of the Tallinners, and the duke was a true master of living in debt. He drank a lot, played dice, his debts grew and grew. Everything was going great.
And suddenly - like a bolt from the blue - the news: the duke ordered to live long. Disappointed creditors gathered for a meeting. Someone remembered that according to the Lübeck law of the Hanseatic cities, Tallinners can forbid the funeral of a debtor until they receive their money in full. The meeting decided not to give the body of the dead duke to the city authorities - the only guarantee of his large debts. The authorities, on the other hand, showed unexpected compliance, apparently fearing the large expenses for the funeral, befitting the title of duke. Having agreed with them, the lenders put their "deposit" in the coffin and took it to the basement of the church of St. Nicholas for storage. It was in 1702.
The duke's mummy was found ... a hundred and twenty years later, and even then by accident. The people believed that the body of the duke was preserved thanks to strong drinks, which the deceased greatly appreciated. Pundits explained mummification by the fact that the mortar that held the foundation masonry contained rock salt.
So the mummy of the Duke de Croix turned into a landmark of the Niguliste church, competing with the famous altar painting by Bernt Notke. In the middle of the last century, the authorities ordered to stop showing the noble effigy, but they buried him only in 1897. Thus ended the adventures of the duke's mummy - two hundred years after his death.
Monastery of St. Birgitts
Once Tallinn was besieged by detachments of pagan Lithuanians. A certain rich Tallinn resident had a prophetic dream: the city would be saved if the humble virgins from the Cistercian monastery of St. Michael will follow in a solemn procession along the seashore until they meet a white cow feeding three white kids with her milk. A new monastery should be built on this site.
The next day, the nuns set out on their journey and found everything that had been predicted. When the procession returned to the city, the Lithuanians attacked the nuns and took away such a seductive prey to a military camp.
There Udo, the son of a pagan prince, saw among the novices the beautiful Mechtgilda, the daughter of the very man who had a dream. Mechtgilda, faithful to the Catholic Church, rejected the marriage of a handsome prince, but at her request, the Lithuanians released all the nuns.
Soon, friendly Danish troops liberated the exhausted city. Everyone forgot about the defeated enemy, only the novice Mechtgilda often remembered the prince.
After some time, Udo entered Tallinn with his faithful comrades and tried to kidnap the noble maiden from the monastery, but the daredevils were caught. Some of them were killed, some were thrown into a deep dungeon. Udo had been languishing there for almost a year when the news reached him: Mechtgilda von Jungingen, at the request of her father, was one of the first to enter the monastery of St. Birgitts. One night, when he could not sleep again and was already completely desperate, the prisoner noticed a mole that stuck its muzzle between the stone slabs of the floor. And so Udo, together with his comrades, did a backbreaking job, breaking through under the ground and by the sea, a passage to the monastery a whole mile long. In this he was helped by hope, faith and love.
Finally, on a summer evening, Udo found himself at the side gate of the monastery, where Mechtgilda was just distributing alms to the poor. When everyone had gone, her eyes fell on the stranger. The girl happily recognized the Lithuanian prince, who began to ardently persuade her to run away with him. But this time, Mechtgilda did not betray the holy faith, and Udo, in despair and anger, returned to his pagan homeland, where he sought oblivion in endless military campaigns. However, this did not help the prince either - the image of the beautiful Mechtgilda stood before his eyes day and night.
He was advised to take his soul and take revenge on heartless Christians. Udo, destroying everything in his path, approached Tallinn with his army. But fate overtook him on the outskirts of the city. In a bloody battle, the Lithuanians were defeated, and Udo was left wounded, almost lifeless, lying on the battlefield. He was picked up by Riga merchants passing by and brought to the Tallinn Dominican monastery.
Mechtgilda found out about this and began to visit Udo every night to leave him. Everyone considered this nun an angel who flew to save a stranger. A year later, Udo was baptized, took the vows under the name of Deodatus as a monk, and a few years later became the abbot of the Dominican monastery. He became famous for his piety, and he was patronized, as they said, by heaven itself.
Years passed. One evening, Deodatus looked in vain for his usual midnight visitation. The next morning, the sounds of the bell of the monastery of St. The Birgitts - Mother Superior Mechtgilda was buried there. He did not live long after the sad event of Udo, his orphaned heart broke. According to his last will, he was buried in the church of St. Nicholas, next to the one he loved.
Writes:
St. Brigid Monastery and Pirita Old Cemetery, Tallinn
Saint Brigid (Birgitta Gundmarsson of Vadstena) (1303-1373) founded a new monastic order, later named after her, in 1370, and in 1391 she was canonized. In 1405, three merchants from Tallinn decided to establish a new monastery near the city and name it after Brigid. The building permit was obtained in 1407, and Heinrich Svalberg became the builder and architect. The foreign name Brigitte was transformed into Pirita - this is the name of the river on the banks of which the complex stands, and the surrounding lands. The decline of the monastery began only during the Livonian War (1558-1583), when the Swedish soldiers, and the townspeople themselves, repeatedly robbed it. Significant damage to the monastery buildings was caused by a fire in 1564. The monastery also suffered during the first siege of Tallinn by Russian troops in 1570. It was finally destroyed in 1577 by the troops of Ivan the Terrible (hence - here you can read the details about the excavations).
The Brigitte sisters have been living on this land again in a new monastery building, built right next to the ruins of the old ones, since 2001. Official site .
vegetable garden
On the walls - apparently, tombstones that were found during excavations. 
The peasant cemetery in front of the church dates from the 17th century. Those inscriptions that can still be made out date back to the 19th century. 
Cemetery Kopley
The Kopli cemetery (German: Friedhof von Ziegelskoppel or German: Kirchhof von Ziegelskoppel; Estonian: Kopli kalmistu) was the largest Baltic German Lutheran cemetery in Estonia, located on the outskirts of the Kopli district in Tallinn. Currently, the territory of the former cemetery is a park.
Founded in 1771-1774 and used.
Between 1771 and 1772, Catherine II, Empress of the Russian Empire, issued a decree by which she decreed that from that moment on, none of the dead (regardless of their social status and origin) should be buried in the crypt of the church or in the church cemetery. All burials should take place in new cemeteries that were planned to be built throughout the Russian Empire, located outside the city limits.
These measures were aimed at overcoming the overload of city crypts and church cemeteries and were caused by several outbreaks of contagious diseases associated with a lack of burial practices in urban areas, especially the Black Death, which led to the plague riot in Moscow in 1771. In this regard, in 1774 a cemetery was founded in Kopli on the outskirts of Tallinn. The cemetery was divided into 2 parts: the western part was used for the burial of the parishioners of the church of St. Nicholas, and the eastern part was intended for the parishioners of the church of St. Olaf.
The cemetery performed its functions for 170 years for almost all Baltic Germans who died in the city between 1774 and 1944. In 1939, there were thousands of well-preserved graves of many famous residents of Tallinn in the cemetery.
Last burials in 1939-1944
Burials in the cemetery declined sharply after Hitler's forced relocation of tens of thousands of Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia in late 1939 to areas of western Poland in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Burials in the cemetery continued, but on a much smaller scale, until 1944 mainly among those Baltic Germans who refused to leave the region.
Destruction after 1945
Shortly after World War II, the outskirts of Kalamaja (due to its strategic location as a Red Army base on the Gulf of Finland) was turned into a no-go zone for Soviet troops and was closed to the public. Around 1950-1951 the cemetery was completely destroyed by the Soviet authorities. Gravestones were used to build walls along ports and coastlines in other parts of the city. Soviet troops also destroyed the 17th and 18th century cemeteries on the outskirts of Kalamaja and Myigu, which belonged to communities of native Estonians and Baltic Germans. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox cemetery in the south of the Old Town of Tallinn, also founded in the 18th century, in the south of the Old Town of Tallinn, remained intact.
Current status
At the moment, the territory of the former cemetery is a public park without any visible traces of its former status. The only surviving evidence of those who were buried there consists of entries in the burial registers and some old maps of the area in the archives of Tallinn. Wikipedia
“The cemetery park is located between the school where I studied and not far from the house where I lived, between the tram stops Maleva and Bekkeri.
Arriving in Tallinn in 1952, we found beautiful tombstones made of white marble and granite there. The cemetery itself already bore traces of destruction: many tombstones were broken, the crypts were filled up. We, the children, loved to walk there among the centuries-old trees, tall grass and wild flowers, trying to read the inscriptions on the monuments that were incomprehensible to us, but in the evenings we were even afraid to walk along it. After some time, a dance floor was built at the cemetery, then they began to build a summer stage with benches. It was a terrible sight: uprooted graves, lying here and there, skulls, bones, coffin boards, and the boys scattered all this in wild mischief around the park. Then a pub was built.
The park was popularly nicknamed "the park of the living and the dead." Arriving in Tallinn in 2001, I went to my district. In front of me was a park with mowed lawns, where nothing reminded either of the cemetery that used to be here, or of the pub with a stage and a dance floor.
Cemetery of Kalamaja
(German Fischermay Kirchhof or Fischermay Friedhof, Estonian Kalamaja kalmistu) is a cemetery in Tallinn, Estonia. It was one of the oldest existing cemeteries, located on the outskirts of the Kalamaja district in the north of the city. There were thousands of graves of native Estonian and Swedish inhabitants of Tallinn in the cemetery. The cemetery existed for at least 400 years, from the 15th or 16th century until 1964, when it was completely destroyed. The territory of the former cemetery is currently a public park "Kalamaja kalmistupark".
The period of formation of the cemetery is not exactly known, but historians attribute it to the XV-XVI centuries. It was the burial place of native Swedes and Estonians who lived in the Tallinn area.
Cemetery of Alexander Nevsky
with an area of 13.01 hectares. This is the oldest of the cemeteries still in operation in Tallinn, coevals of which were the cemeteries of Kopli and Mõigu. For 200 years, tens of thousands of people have found their last refuge in this cemetery, including many famous historical and cultural figures.
The cemetery was founded at a time when more than fifty years had passed since the end of the Northern War, victorious for the Russian state, and 65 years after the capitulation of Tallinn. Probably this victory, which was of great importance for the entire Baltic region, gave the name to the cemetery as well. In 1856, at the expense of the Tallinn merchants Alexander Ermakov and Ivan Germanov, a small stone church dedicated to Alexander Nevsky was built in the cemetery. It was destroyed on March 9, 1944 due to Soviet bombardment. Not far from the place where the church was located, a building of a red brick chapel has been preserved. At first, the cemetery belonged to a hill, stretching into the distance behind the church. Its main part served as an army cemetery, so there are preserved old tombstones on the graves of the military, many of which are taken under state protection as historical monuments.
forest cemetery
(Est. Metsakalmistu - Metsakalmistu) - a cemetery in the city of Tallinn, where the largest writers, artists, sculptors, architects and politicians of the republic are buried. Located in Kloostrimetsa (Kloostrimetsa tee, 36). total area 48.3 ha.
The Forest Cemetery was founded in 1933 in Kloostrimetsa by decision of the city authorities, and the opening ceremony took place in 1939.
Initially, the area of the cemetery was 24.2 hectares, but later it was expanded and currently occupies 48.3 hectares. 
Metsakalmistu is a cemetery of natural appearance, and the requirements for its design imply a ban on the installation of memorials and grave fences. Initially, the requirements for a memorial slab were 80 by 60 cm, but later the standard for the length of the stone was increased to 1.5 m.
In 1936, a chapel was erected at the cemetery according to the design of the architect Herbert Johansonai. Burned down by arson, the chapel was restored in 1996 with the support of the city authorities.
In 2006, a columbarium appeared at the cemetery.
Cemeteries:
Metsakalmistu (Forest Cemetery)
Military cemetery in Tallinn
Liiva cemetery
Rahumäe Cemetery (including the Jewish Cemetery of Tallinn)
Siselinna Cemetery: Alexander Nevsky Cemetery
Vana Kaarli cemetery
Pärnamäe cemetery
Cemetery of Pirita
Hiiu Rahu Cemetery
Cemetery Kopley
Katarina Lane
Katarina's alley connects Vene and Muurivahe streets and the entrance to it from these streets is inconspicuous arches, which are very easy to pass by if you don't go there purposefully.
The name of this lane was given by the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, built in the 13th century in the Dominican monastery, founded on this site in 1246. True, the first Dominicans appeared in Tallinn in 1229 and founded a monastery on Toompea Hill, they also laid the first stones of the Dome Cathedral, but during the conflict with the knights of the Order of the Sword in 1233, the monks died, and their first monastery was destroyed.
The Order of the Dominicans was founded by St. Dominic, born in 1170, and the name of the order consisted of two Latin words "Domini" and "canes", which means "dogs of God". The Dominican Order played an important role in the life of Europe at that time and was engaged in education. Talented children were selected for the school at the monastery, and after 13 years of study at the monastery, the most successful were three years of study at one of the universities in Europe. Many philosophers and educators of medieval Europe belonged to the Dominicans.
At one time, the Church of St. Katarina was the largest of the churches in Tallinn - the length of the building was 67.7 meters. It was a three-aisled hall church with a high façade and a gable roof. The architecture of the temple echoed the church in the monastery of St. Brigid in Pirita.
The Reformation, which began in 1517, quickly spread to the Baltic countries, and the loyalty of the monks to Rome made it impossible for them to live in a hostile environment.
The monastery ceased to exist in 1525, after the reformation, and, soon, in 1571, was damaged by fire. The church of Katharina was also almost destroyed. Now from the church, which was once a huge basilica, there are walls 4 meters high and portals on the western side. Of the monastery buildings, the courtyard and the surrounding cross passages have been preserved. This small playground, surrounded by ancient buildings, takes you back seven centuries, to a time when the Dominican Order was still strong.
Katarina Lane runs along the southern wall of the Church of St. Katarina, on which, in the middle of the 19th century, tombstones of influential figures buried in the church, belonging to the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a large guild and members of the Tallinn magistrate, were installed.
@mood: The post uses two spellings of the name of the city. I thought that it was not worth correcting the spelling of the authors
Tallinn is one of the oldest and most mysterious cities in Europe. Its atmosphere has always been imbued with a mystical spirit. It is not surprising that there are so many legends about ghosts and other otherworldly phenomena here.
Executed on the Town Hall Square
The Town Hall Square in the old days was used as a market place and was the heart of the Old City. All important city events were held here, including the execution of criminals.
It is authentically known about two cases of the death penalty on the square. The first executed was the pastor, who in a fit of anger broke the skull of a tavern maid who brought him a burnt omelet, and himself came to the Town Hall with a confession. The second is the ratman, who blabbed to his wife some state secrets that were discussed at a meeting of the magistrate in the Town Hall (this was prohibited by law). As punishment, the ratman was forced to put his wife on his back and run on all fours around the Town Hall building. Both - the murderous pastor and the ratman gossip - were beheaded. Since then, their phantoms sometimes appear on the Town Hall Square.
Towers of the Old City
Promotional video:The tallest tower in Old Tallinn is called Kiek-in-de-Kök (“Look into the kitchen”). They say that from its top it was possible to see what each of the townspeople was preparing for dinner. Neytsitorn ("Maiden") Tower from the 14th century. served as a dungeon for girls who refuse to go down the aisle with the suitors chosen for them by their parents. They were kept there until they submitted to their parental will. Although, according to another version, seamstress girls lived and worked there, and there were no special dramas.
However, after a cafe-bar with a mulled wine room was opened in the Neitsitorn tower in 1980, the ghost of a man dressed in a medieval fashion in a raincoat and a beret with a visor began to visit there. Once, the headmistress of the cafe watched a male silhouette disappear into the wall… Another time, in front of everyone’s eyes, invisible hands removed candlesticks with burning candles from the counter of the bar counter… Repeatedly, glasses and cups on the tables began to move right in front of the visitors… And in the evenings, in an empty footsteps, conversations were heard in the room, someone invisible slammed heavy forged doors and clicked metal bolts. All this made the institution very popular with the so-called "ghost hunters".
And here is another legend. Once upon a time there lived in the vicinity of Revel (that was the name of Tallinn until 1919) a couple in love - a peasant son Herman and a fisherman's daughter Margarita. In the evenings, holding hands, they walked around the city, but before midnight they had to part and leave the city, as some kind of curse hung over them.
Once, lovers forgot about time. When the clock began to strike midnight, they rushed in different directions, but did not have time to cross the border of the city. And then Herman turned into a tower (she was nicknamed "Long Herman" because the young man was slender and tall). The fat Margarita (her name is “Fat Margarita”) also became a tower. Both towers stand at opposite ends of the Old City, where the fatal hour overtook the lovers ...
Vampire Maid
Another attraction of Tallinn is house number 13 on Toom Kuli Street, where the Canadian embassy is now located. The writer August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue, who in 1785 was appointed president of the Reval magistrate, in one of his novels recounted its history in detail.
According to von Kotzebue, Count Manteuffel once owned the houses. He singled out one of the rooms on the first floor for the guests who stayed overnight. And everyone who had to stay there for the night later told about the ghost of a young woman in black.
According to legend, the ghost girl during her lifetime was the count's maid, who lusted after her. After she resolutely rejected the harassment of the lustful owner, he, furious, allegedly ordered her to be immured in the wall of that very room. By the way, one of the guests who visited the count's house said that as soon as he sat down by the fireplace, a very beautiful girl in a black dress appeared from somewhere, who approached him, put her hands around her throat and dug her lips into his lips. The man lost consciousness and came to his senses only three days later ...
Damn wedding
The following story is told about Rataskaevu Street (translated as “Wheel Well”). One person lived in house number 16. He managed to spend all his fortune and get into debt. In desperation, the owner of the house decided to commit suicide. But at that moment, when he was already making a noose for his neck, a certain gentleman appeared to him and promised a bag of gold coins for permission to play a wedding in his house. The only condition was not to tell anyone about this and not to leave your room during the celebration. Of course, the man happily agreed.
The next evening, hundreds of carriages arrived at the house. Lights went on in all the rooms, music began to play. The whole house was shaking, as if there were at least a thousand people dancing in it. But as soon as the clock struck midnight, everything was quiet, and the lights went out.
Going out into the hall where the wedding was walking, the owner saw traces of hooves on the floor ... In the middle of the room stood the promised bag of gold. The man rushed to him, barely managed to touch him - and fell down dead ...
According to another version, the owner took the gold and began to revel more than ever. But his servant, who secretly watched the wedding, really soon died, having managed to tell the priest about everything before his death ...
Now this building houses a hotel. And the window of the room where the devil allegedly played a wedding was walled up just in case.
Water from Ülemiste
There is also a water tank in Tallinn. They say that from time to time a gray-haired old man comes up to passers-by on the streets of the city with the question: “Has the city been completed?” This is Järvevana, a water spirit that lives in Lake Ülemiste, located not far from the Tallinn Airport. According to legend, if the answer is yes, the lake will burst its banks and flood the city. Fortunately, there is always at least one unfinished object in Tallinn...
Irina Shlionskaya
