Tallinn: Old Town in Depth - Part 27

Museum for Puppet Arts NUKU

Visitors get a behind the scenes look at the city' s famous puppet theatre which has operated since 1952, at this mixture of fun and high tech museum. The museum outlines the theatre' s history and displays dozens of the puppets that have starred in its popular plays. Exhibits include puppets from around the world and a ' Chamber of Horrors' where the ' scarier' puppets are safely corralled.

Towers' Square

In 1931-33 the square was turned into a communal park. Now the square boasts playgrounds for children and fitness areas and has become known for the Tallinn International Flower Festival, which takes place here every summer. With nearly 2km of its original city wall still standing, Tallinn boasts one of Europe’s best preserved medieval fortifications. In fact, a large part of what gives Old Town its fairytale charm is the system of walls and towers that surround it.

Kiek in de Kök

This massive, 38m-high cannon tower houses an extensive museum of the town' s fortifications, weapons and medieval-era life. Anyone interested in walls, towers, cannons and the like should drop into this tower turned museum. In addition to examples of medieval firepower, there are displays detailing how the city' s system of walls and towers developed through the centuries as well as exhibits covering crime and punishment and other facets of life in the Tallinn.

Kiek in de Kök is also the starting place for visitors interested in the fascinating system of hidden tunnels, known as Bastion Passages, that run underneath the old bastions of Toompea hill.

The tower' s unusual name literally means “Peek into the Kitchen. ” The structure was so high that medieval guards joked they could see right down the chimneys and into the kitchens of the houses below. Kiek in de Kök was originally built in the 1470s, but quickly expanded and strengthened with walls that are four metres thick. During the Livonian war in the late 1500s, Ivan the Terrible’ s forces managed to blow a huge hole through the top storey, but the tower held. During post-war repairs, a row of four cannon balls was placed in the newly patched stone wall as a memorial. You can still see them on the tower' s south-east side.

While at the museum, be sure to pay a visit to the top floor café where you can get some beautiful Old Town views. Entrance to Kiek in de Kök and Bastion Passages with Tallinn Card is free.

Continued in Part 27