MARITIME MUSEUM
Inside Fat Margaret's Tower by the Great Coastal Gate

ST OLAV'S
Once Europe's tallest, still a steep climb to the top.

TOWN HALL
In the Gothic style, in a fine medieval square.

UPPER TOWN
Fine views over the lower town and the new city beyond.

RUSSIAN CATHEDRAL
Exuberantly bright, now forgiven its past sins.

ST MARY'S
Curious graves in the Dome Church without a dome

TOOMPEA CASTLE
The ancient strongold that may have given Tallinn its name.

ST NICHOLAS'
Estonia's most precious medieval works of art.

main sights

Tallinn has one main attraction, its old centre, where the main sights are. People have been living here for at least five thousand years and the first fortress was built on the hill at the end of the 1oth century.

The historic centre is divided into two parts. Cathedral Hill or Toompea is where the aristocracy lived, while a town of tradesmen developed below it. By the 14th century there were already 8 000 people within the city walls, defended by 45 towers.

Both parts of the historic centre are beautifully preserved, not as a museum but as a place where people still live and work. The main sights are best seen simply by walking through the town. The streets are too narrow for buses anyway.

The map shows a simple route (in blue) through the lower town, beginning at the Great Coastal Gate to Town Hall Square and on to Viru Gate, where the modern shopping area begins. It is about 1.2 km (¾ mile) long.

A second route, shown in green, starts and finishes in Town Hall Square and takes in the main sights of the upper town on Cathedral Hill. It is 1½ km, about a mile. The map can be printed by clicking the printer icon at the top of it.

To reach the Great Coastal Gate, see Port of Tallinn. To get a tram back from Viru Gate to the port, see the section on public transport.

GREAT COASTAL GATE
Just outside the old town walls, by Fat Margaret Tower, is the Broken Line (point 1 on the map). It is a monument to the 852 people who lost their lives when the Estonia, a cruise ferry en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, sank in the Baltic in September 1994.

The visor at the bow of the ferry, where cars and lorries were driven into the ship, had broken off under the strain of the waves, and she flooded and capsized. The names of the victims, mostly Swedes and Estonians, are carved into the granite of the monument.

Maritime Museum
Wed - Sun	10:00 - 18:00 ( 6 pm)
Admission	50 crowns

Just inside the Great Coastal Gate of the Old Town is a more cheerful landmark of Baltic history, the Maritime Museum 2 . The museum is inside Fat Margaret Tower, on four floors. You can also take the stairs to the roof for a great view of the harbour in one direction and the Old Town in the other.

ST OLAV'S CHURCH
Starting from the Great Coastal Gate is Pikk, meaning Long Street, which stretches most of the way across the Old Town. Parallel to it is Lai, meaning Wide Street, which is almost as long and of course wider. At the beginning of Lai is the tallest building in Europe.

Or at least it was in 1500, when the spire of St Olav's Church 3 was 159 meters tall. It was built for business reasons, to make Tallinn's harbour easy for merchant ships to find. The spire has been rebuilt several times after being struck by lightning and destroyed by fires visible as far away as Finland. It is now not quite so tall.

The church itself is impressively large but its interior is a disappointment. Most of its decorations, works of art and 25 fine altars were removed during the 16th century Lutheran Reformation, when religious symbols were despised.

For 30 crowns, you can buy a ticket that lets you ascend the 60 metres (200 feet) to the top of the tower. This is not a climb to be undertaken lightly. The passage is steep and dark. The first landing is after 160 steps and there are still 96 more steps to the top.

The view of the Old Town is excellent, but the walkway is narrow. It will not be enjoyed by anyone afraid of heights.

TOWN HALL SQUARE
Just up the road, when Pikk meets Pühavaimu (Holy Spirit Street), is a church that survived the Reformation rather better. The Church of the Holy Spirit 4 still looks much as it did when it was built in the 14th century, and its altar is one of the most precious medieval works of art in Estonia. Outside is a magnificent painted clock, from the 17th century.

A short alley crowded with craft boutiques leads from here to Town Hall Square 5 or Raekoja plats. This is the crowning glory of Old Tallinn, a magnificent medieval square around the only surviving Gothic town hall in the North of Europe. The surrounding buildings are brightly coloured, the limestone Town Hall is gleaming white.

From the square's south-east corner, a passage leads to Viru Street, the main shopping street of the Old Town. Just before Viru Gate, there is a well preserved section of wall 6 . The new central shopping area, and a tram stop for the return trip to the harbour, lie just beyond.

THE UPPER TOWN
On foot, the best way to reach Cathedral Hill, or Toompea, is from Town Hall Square. There are two streets that lead up there, Pikk jalg meaning the Long Leg, and a short, steep alley called Lühige jalg or Short Leg.

With a few exceptions, the upper town is not as interesting architecturally as the lower town but, high on a hill, it offers platforms 8 with fine views over the lower town and the new city beyond.

Most of its buildings on Cathedral Hill are related to government and administration. There is little to buy and it falls quiet in the early evening, when the pubs and clubs of the lower town are just getting going.

RUSSIAN CATHEDRAL
Long Leg Street emerges into the upper town behind the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral 7 , brightly coloured and topped by cupolas. It is a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1894-1900, when Estonia was part of the Russian Empire.

It is dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, an early Russian prince who was later made a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church although he was far better at slaying his enemies than showing Christian forgiveness. In any case, building a Russian church on this spot was a slap in the face for Estonian nationalists, who got it scheduled for demolition after the country gained its independence in the 1920s.

Fortunately the demolition order was not carried out. Since Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cathedral has been carefully restored. It is far more attractive than another in-your-face orthodox cathedral that the Russians built in Helsinki, across the Gulf, in the 19th century.

LUTHERAN CATHEDRAL
The other large church on the hill is far older and dates from the time when the Danes controlled this area. The stone church, completed in 1240, is now the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin. It is more commonly known as the Dome Church 9 because its name in Estonian is Toomkirik. Actually toom means cathedral and the Dome Church does not have a dome.

Various notables are buried here, including two unlikely foreigners, Pontus de la Gardie and Samuel Greig. The first was a mercenary born in France who fought for the Swedes, the second a Scot in Britain's Royal Navy who became an admiral for the Russians. Their crowning achievement, it seems, was to die in Estonia, the old sea dog in his bed in Tallinn but the Frenchie carried off by the River Narva.

TOOMPEA CASTLE
The other notable building on Cathedral Hill is Toompea Castle 10 which is used by the Parliament of Estonia for its sessions. It has been built, extended and rebuilt many times. One of the early buildings on this spot, Taani linn meaning "The Danish Castle", is probably the origin of Tallinn's name.

Security considerations prevent tours of the parliament building, but it has a pleasant garden open to the public, with a fine view to the west. From Castle Square the short cut back to the Lower Town is via Lühige jalg or Short Leg Street.

Museum of the Occupations
Tue - Sun	11:00 - 18:00 ( 6 pm)
Admission	20 crowns

If time allows, there is an interesting museum at the bottom of Toompea Street, about 320 meters (1000 feet) away, down the hill. The Museum of the Occupations 11 is devoted to showing what life was like in Estonia in 1939-91, when the country was controlled first by Germany and then for a much longer period by the Soviet Union.

It is in a modern building with nothing of great interest in the neighborhood, so it's best to return the same way, back up the hill to Castle Square.

ST NICHOLAS'
If your appetite for churches has not yet been completed ruined, there is one more en route to Town Hall Square. The Church of St Nicholas or Niguliste Kirik 12 dates from around 1230 and was completely untouched by later Lutheran reformers, so it still contains major medieval works of art.

St Nicholas' Church
Wed - Sun	10:00 - 17:00 ( 5 pm)
Admission	50 crowns

The most famous is Danse Macabre, a painting by the Lübeck master Bernt Notke, showing the skeletal figures of Death seizing the high-borne as well as the humble.The High Altar of the church also originated in Lübeck in the 15th century. St Nicholas' is now used only as a museum and, because of its acoustics, a concert hall.

From the church on Chevalier Street or Rüütli, it's a walk of a kilometer or about half a mile back to the Town Hall Square and out of the Old Town via Viru Gate.