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Tallinn
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Flag of Tallinnsvg
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Tallinn greater coatofarmspng
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Harju County
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Jüri Ratas
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1592
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399,311
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2006
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2,5240
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59°26' N 24°45' E
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59_26_N_24_45_E
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Tallinn_locationpng
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(recent historical name: ''Reval'') is the
Capital city and main
Seaport of
Estonia . It is located on Estonia's north coast to the
Baltic Sea , 80 kilometres south of
Helsinki .
The origin of the name "Tallinn(a)" is certain to be ). However, it could also have come from "''tali-linna''" ("winter-castle/town"), or "''talu-linna''" ("house/farmstead-castle/town"). The element ''-linna'', like
German ''-burg'' and
Slavic ''-
Grad '' originally meant "castle" but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names.
replaced the previously used official German name () in
1918 , when Estonia became independent. In the early
1920s the official spelling of the city name was changed from Tallinna to '''Tallinn''', making the new name notable since Estonian-language place names generally end with a vowel. However, somewhat confusingly to non-Estonian speakers, the word Tallinna still appears in modern Tallinn as the ''-a'' suffix can denote the
Genitive Case (thus ''Tallinna Lennujaam'' translates literally as Tallinn's Airport).
The German and Estonian name of the adjacent Estonian county of ''Rävala''. Other known ancient historical names of Tallinn include variations of Estonian ''Lindanise'' (see
Battle Of Lyndanisse ), such as ''Lyndanisse'' in
Danish , ''Lindanäs'' in Swedish, and ''Ledenets'' in
Old East Slavic . ''Kesoniemi'' in
Finnish and ''Kolyvan'' (Колывань) in Old East Slavic are also other historical names.
Tallinn is situated on the southern coast of the
Gulf Of Finland , in north central Estonia.
The largest lake in Tallinn is
Lake Ülemiste (covers 9,6
Km&2 ). It is the main source of the city's drinking water.
Lake Harku is the second lake within the borders of Tallinn and its area is 1,6
Km&2 . Unlike many of the large towns, the only significant river in Tallinn is located in Pirita (city district counted as a suburb). The river valley is a protected area because of its natural beauty.
A
Limestone Cliff runs through the city. It is exposed, for instance, at
Toompea and Lasnamäe. However, Toompea is not a part of the cliff, but a separate hill.
The highest point of Tallinn, at 64 meters above the sea level, is situated in the district of
Nõmme , in the south-west of the city.
The length of the
Coastline is 46 kilometres. It comprises 3 bigger
Peninsula s: Kopli peninsula, Paljassaare peninsula and Kakumäe peninsula.
of Tallinn]]
falling from the sky during the
Battle Of Lyndanisse .]]
The southern coast of the Gulf of Finland is thought to have been settled by
Finnic -speaking tribes already in the
2nd Millennium BC .
In
1154 Tallinn was marked on the world map of the
Arab cartographer
Al-Idrisi .
As an important port for trade between
Russia and
Scandinavia it became a target for the expansion of the
Teutonic Knights and Kingdom of
Denmark during the period of
Northern Crusades in the beginning of the
13th Century when
Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in
1219 .
In
1285 the city became the northernmost member of the
Hanseatic League - a mercantile and military alliance of
German -dominated cities in
Northern Europe . The Danes sold Tallinn along with their other land possessions in northern Estonia to the
Teutonic Order in
1345 . Medieval Tallinn enjoyed a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between Western and Northern Europe and Russia. The city, with a population of 8,000, was very well fortified with
City Walls and 66 defence towers.
With the start of the reformation the German influence became even stronger. In
1561 Tallinn became a
Dominion of
Sweden .
During the
Great Northern War the Swedish troops based in Tallinn capitulated to
Imperial Russia in
1710 , but the local
Baltic German rulers retained their cultural and economical autonomy within
Tsarist Russia . The
19th Century brought industrialization of the city and the port kept its importance. During the last decades of the century
Russification became stronger.
On
24 February 1918 the Independence Manifesto was proclaimed in Tallinn, followed by German occupation and a
War Of Independence with Russia. On
2 February 1920 the
Tartu Peace Treaty was signed with Soviet Russia, wherein Russia forever acknowledged the independence of the Estonian Republic. Tallinn became the capital. During
World War II Estonia was first occupied by the
USSR in
1940 -41, by
Nazi Germany in
1941 -44, and then again by the USSR in
1944 . As Estonia was forcibly
Annexed into the Soviet Union, Tallinn became the capital of the
Estonian SSR .
During the
1980 Summer Olympics a regatta was held at Pirita, north-east of central Tallinn. Many buildings, like the hotel "Olümpia", the new Main Post Office building, and the Regatta Center, were built for the Olympics.
In August
1991 an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established and a period of quick development to a modern European capital ensued.
Tallinn has historically consisted of three parts:
- the Toompea (''Domberg'') or "Cathedral Hill", which was the seat of the central authority, first the ruling bishops, then the Teutonic Order, then the Baltic German nobility; it is today the seat of the Estonian government and many embassies and residencies.
- the Old Town, which is the old Hanseatic town, the "city of the citizens" - this was not administratively united with the Hill until the late 19th century. It was the centre of the medieval trade on which it grew prosperous.
- the Estonian town forms a crescent to the south of the Old Town, where the Estonians came to settle. It was not until the mid-19th century that ethnic Estonians replaced the local Baltic Germans as the majority amongst the residents of Tallinn.
Historically, the city has been attacked, sacked, razed and pillaged on numerous occasions. Although extensively bombed by Soviet air forces during the latter stages of World War II, much of the medieval Old Town still retains its charm. The Tallinn Old Town became a
UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in
1997 .
At the end of the
15th Century a new 159 m high
Gothic spire was built for
St. Olav's Church . Between
1549 and
1625 it was the
Tallest Building In The World . After several fires and following rebuilding, its overall height is now 123 m.
For and
Statute s.
Each district government is managed by an Elder ( and after having heard the opinion of the Administrative
Council s. The function of the Administrative Councils is to recommend, to the City Government and Commissions of the City Council, how the districts should be administered.
The population is about 500,400 (2000), registered 401,694 (March 2005).
According to during the period of
Soviet control (
1944 -
1991 ) brought large numbers of non-Estonians, mostly
Russians , to Tallinn and other areas of Northern Estonia. Many of these immigrants and their offspring do not qualify automatically for Estonian citizenship.
According to the Estonian Statistical Office, ethnic Estonians comprised 55 percent of Tallinn's residents in 2006, while ethnic Russians comprised 37 percent of the city's population.
In addition to the native
Estonian Language (which is of the
Finno-Ugric group, closely related to the
Finnish Language ), Finnish,
Russian and
English are widely understood in Tallinn.
In addition to longtime functions as seaport and capital city, Tallinn has seen development of an
Information Technology sector in recent years; in its 13 December 2005 edition, ''
The New York Times '' characterized Estonia as "a sort of Silicon Valley on the Baltic Sea".
Skype is the best-known of several Tallinn IT start-ups, and a first
Venture Capital firm was founded in 2005. Many are housed in the Soviet-era
Institute Of Cybernetics , which is said to been one of the seeds for Estonian adoption of computing technology. Despite this, the most important economic sectors of Tallinn are the light, textile, and food industry, as well as the service and government sector.
Tallinn is the location of
Tallinn University Of Technology , as well as other institutions of higher education and science, including:
Since independence, improving air and sea transport links with Western Europe and Estonia's accession to the
European Union have made Tallinn easily accessible to tourists. The picturesque old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the current novelty of the destination attract many tourists and facilities (hotels, restaurants) have developed to meet their needs. English is widely spoken within the tourist areas.
The local transport system is good (see "City transport", below).
Note that Estonia has made rapid economic progress since independence and that this is reflected in local prices. Although not extortionate, neither are prices as cheap as in other former Eastern Bloc countries.
The local tourist office sells the "Tallinn Card" which gives the holder free local public transport and entry to most attractions. Although the economics of this may be marginal, it is convenient to use. Local walking tours offer short-cuts to understanding the city.
The main attractions are in the two old towns (Lower Town and
Toompea ) which are both easily explored on foot. Eastern districts around
Pirita and
Kadriorg are also worth visiting and the Estonian Open Air Museum (''Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum'') near Rocca al Mare, west of the city, preserves aspects of Estonian rural culture and architecture.
This area was once the home of the nobility and bishops of Estonia, occupying an easily defensible site overlooking the surrounding districts. The major attractions are the walls and various bastions, the
Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (built during the period of
Russification by the
Tsarist Russian government) and the
Lutheran Cathedral (''Toomkirik'').
This area is one of the best preserved old towns in Europe and the authorities are continuing its rehabilitation after years of neglect. The "must see" sights include Raekoja plats (Town Hall square), the town walls and towers (notably "Fat Margaret" and "Kiek in de Kök") and St Olaf church tower (124 metres).
This is 2 kilometres east of the centre and is served by buses and trams. The former palace of
Peter The Great , built just after the
Great Northern War , now houses (part of) the Estonian Museum of Art, presidential residence and the surrounding grounds include formal gardens and woodland.
This coastal district is a further 2 kilometres north-east of Kadriorg. The marina was built for the
Moscow Olympics Of 1980 , but for the less capable, boats can be hired on the Pirita river. Two kilometres inland are the Botanic Gardens and the
Tallinn Television Tower .
The city operates an extensive system of bus,
Tram and
Trolley-bus routes to all districts. Fares are reasonably-priced and a flat-fare system is used. Payment is made either by pre-purchase of tickets at street-side kiosks or to the vehicle driver (but this is more expensive) - tickets must then be cancelled using machines on the vehicle. The Tallinn Card is a way of pre-paying for local transport.
holding a press conference
{Link without Title} in the terminal's public toilets to publicise the poor state of the facilities.
Several airlines (eg,
EasyJet ,
Estonian Air ,
Finnair ,
KLM ,
LOT ,
Lufthansa and
SAS ) operate between Tallinn and European cities such as
Amsterdam ,
Berlin ,
Brussels ,
Copenhagen ,
Helsinki ,
London ,
Kiev ,
Milan ,
Moscow , and
Stockholm .
In addition, there is an hourly
Helicopter service to Helsinki operated by
Copterline at
€ 189 one-way and advertised as the fastest capital-to-capital link in the world. More modestly priced advance bookings for less than
€ 50 are available. Copterline leaves from
Linnahall , an events hall on the outskirts of the old town.
The
Edelaraudtee railway company operates train services from Tallinn to
Tartu ,
Valga ,
Türi ,
Viljandi ,
Tapa ,
Narva ,
Orava , and
Pärnu . Buses are also available to all these and various other destinations in Estonia, as well as to
St Petersburg in
Russia and
Riga in
Latvia . The
EVR Ekspress company operates a daily international sleeper train service between Tallinn and
Moscow .
Tallinn also has a commuter rail service running from Tallinn's main rail station (''Balti jaam'') in two main directions: east (
Aegviidu ) and to several western destinations (
Pääsküla ,
Keila ,
Riisipere ,
Paldiski ,
Klooga ). These are electrified lines and are used by the
Elektriraudtee railroad company. The trains are a mixture of modernised older Soviet EMU's and newly built units. The first electrified train service in Tallinn was opened in
1924 from Tallinn to Pääsküla, a distance of 11.2 kilometres.
The
Via Baltica motorway (part of
European Route E67 from
Helsinki to
Prague ) connects Tallinn to the
Lithuanian /
Polish border.
Frequent and affordable long-distance bus routes connect Tallinn with other parts of Estonia.
Several ferry operators,
Viking Line ,
Silja Line ,
Linda Line Express ,
Tallink and others, connect Tallinn to
The most popular passenger lines connect Tallinn to Helsinki (approximately 80 kilometres north of Tallinn) in less than one hour and twenty minutes by hydrofoil or 4 hours by conventional ferry. The fares are reasonably priced.
Tallinn participates in international
Town Twinning schemes to foster good international relations. Partners include:
Battle Of Lyndanisse ,
Eurovision Song Contest 2002 ,
Legends Of Tallinn ,
Tallinn TV Tower
