Tallinn: Old Town in Depth - Part 10

You should now keep going along Pikk Street. Architecture fans will enjoy several fanciful facades along here, including the boldly Art Nouveau #18 on the left, reminiscent of fellow Baltic capital Riga. Today this building houses one of Tallinn’s leading cutting edge architecture firms and also in the colourful, eclectic building across the street with the pointy gable. On the left, at #16 is the famous and recommended Maiasmokk, “Sweet Tooth”, coffee shop, which has been in business since 1864. It still remains one of the best spots for a cheap coffee and pastry break. Just as you are about to move ahead pause at the big yellow building on the right at #17.
Great Guild Hall (Suurgildi Hoone)

With its wide and therefore highly taxed front, the Great Guild Hall was the epitome of wealth. You must remember that this was the home of the most prestigious of Tallinn’s Hanseatic era guilds. Today it houses the worthwhile Museum of Estonian History, offering a concise, engaging, well-presented survey of this country’s story. Across Pikk Street from the Great Guild Hall is the Church of the Holy Ghost.

Church of the Holy Ghost (Pühavaimu Kirik)

Stands out with an outdoor clock from 1633. This pretty medieval church is worth a visit. The plaque on the wall just behind the ticket desk is in Estonian and Russian, but not English; this dates from before 1991 when things were designed for “inner tourism” from within the USSR. The church retains its 14th-century design. Flying from the back pillar, the old flag of Tallinn, which is the same as today’s red and white Danish flag and recalls 13th-century Danish rule. The Danes sold Tallinn to the German Teutonic Knights, who lost it to the Swedes, who lost it to the Russians. The windows are mostly from the 1990s. The church hosts English language Lutheran services on Sundays at 15:00
If you were to go down the street to the left as you face the church you come to the Tallinn City Museum which we will talk about later.

Alongside the church is the tiny Saiakang lane the translation of this means “White Bread”. Indeed you will find that bread, cakes, and pies have been sold here since medieval times and this takes you to Town Hall Square.

Town Hall Square (Raekoja Plats)

A marketplace through the centuries, with a mixture of fine old buildings, this is the focal point of the Old Town. The square was the centre of the autonomous lower town, a merchant city of Hanseatic traders. Once, it held criminals chained to pillories for public humiliation and knights showing off in chivalrous tournaments. Today it’s full of Scandinavians and Russians drinking cheap beer, children singing on the bandstand, and cruise-ship groups following the numbered paddles carried high by their local guides.

The 15th-century Town Hall (Raekoda) dominates the square; it’s now a museum, and climbing its tower earns you a commanding view.

Continued in part 11