Curious Traveler

- This proudly independent capital city was built on medieval trade between east and west.

It has a UNESCO status Old Town with some curiously named towers and alleys.

It is time to get (speaking in foreign language) about Tallinn, Estonia.

(upbeat music) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following.

(peaceful music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Tallinn, the capital of Estonia has a unique feel to it.

That is because of the many countries that have ruled over it over the centuries.

From Denmark to Sweden, to Germany, to Russia to of course the years of Estonian independence.

We will explore all that history today through its massive medieval fortifications.

Its many forms of architecture, and of course those picturesque cobbled streets.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia lies along the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.

Estonia is one of the three Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Once ruled by Russia at other times, by Denmark, other times still by the Teutonic knights and lived in and occupied by Germans, Russians, Swedes and other Nordic neighbors.

Estonia got its independence from Russia in 1918 and then again from the Soviets in 1991.

(upbeat music continues) But the influences from all those other European countries and cultures can still be felt today.

(upbeat music continues) So here's what I'm curious about in Tallinn.

(upbeat music) Who is old Thomas and why is he way up here?

What are the three blue lions of Denmark doing on the Tallinn coat of arms?

Where can you find some 14th century tombstones attached to a wall?

Why was this Russian Orthodox church built here?

And this Norwegian church built here?

When did some German and Scandinavian merchants live here?

And how do you get to Toompea Hill?

Who, what, where, why, when, and how?

So much to be curious about in Tallinn Estonia.

(upbeat music continues) We begin our exploration in the UNESCO status Old Town which is a living monument to its medieval trading heritage.

Plus it's really cute around here too.

(hooves clicking) Also called Rataskaevu Platz, the always lovely cobbled square is surrounded by soaring pretty pastel colored buildings from the 15th through the 17th centuries.

A testament to the wealth of the city.

Its claim to fame is being the oldest town square in northern Europe.

There is so much to see and do here in town hall square.

You gotta be careful that you don't miss out on the small curious details.

So right here on this pink building, if you look in the center there there is this beautiful solar clock from the 18th century and then moving your way around to this yellow building with all the bright red flowers.

Look up at the top there and there's a very important symbol the three blue lions of the coat of arms of Estonia.

But it gets even better.

You wanna guess where that coat of arms came from?

Well, they sort of inherited it or borrowed it from the coat of arms of Tallinn.

And you can see that right here over the doorway at town hall.

Now staying on town hall, look up to the rooftop here.

And you see two dragons.

Don't worry, they're good guys.

They ward away all the bad spirits.

But if you really wanna know who's truly protecting the town, you gotta look all the way to the top of the spire of town hall to see Old Thomas.

Yep, standing proudly atop the oldest city hall in northern Europe is Old Thomas.

In legend, Old Thomas is the proud guardian of Tallinn.

In reality, he's a weather vane, just don't tell him that.

Legend says that when old Thomas was a young Thomas he came from a poor family.

But one day he entered an archery competition reserved only for the noble families and of course he won.

Then instead of getting a trophy, he was given the lifetime job of city guard for his beloved city.

Many years later, this weather vane was put on top of town hall and the townspeople named it Old Thomas.

Once the original got a bit rusty, he retired down here to the town hall basement where the weather is not so weather-y.

So the one you see today is a newer one.

So I guess we should call it the new Old Thomas.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music) Next, we hop from the town square in the lower town all the way up to the upper town, in a place called Toompea Hill, for an important piece of Estonian history that also happens to be a stunning work of art.

(upbeat music continues) Toompea means dome hill or cathedral hill and this is where Talin began.

According to legend, the ancient Estonian hero named Kalevi was buried here.

When he died, his widow cried so much that her tears formed a lake.

In honor of Kalevi in the 10th or 11th century, a castle was built over his burial site and named Toompea Castle.

(upbeat music continues) This pink building is the Estonian parliament which is built right into that old castle.

The Parliament building style and the style of these surrounding mansions and government buildings came about after 1710 when Estonia became part of the Russian Empire.

Catherine the Great ordered major construction on the castle and had the government buildings added.

That Russian rule which lasted 200 years, explains Toompea Castle's neighbor, the stunning Russian Orthodox Church.

(upbeat music continues) Tallinn's upper town was reserved only for the noble families mansions.

And today, as you wander through you will see all these beautiful bright colors.

But a lot of the buildings have this beautiful, similar cohesive style except for this building behind me.

This is obviously a Russian Orthodox church.

It is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and it opened in the year 1900 back when Estonia was still part of the Russian Empire.

And today, with those iconic onion domes at the top and beautiful gold detailing throughout, stands as a monumental example of one of the most beautiful Orthodox architecture in all of Tallinn.

(upbeat music) The cathedral is named for Alexander Nevsky, the patron saint of St. Petersburg, who was a 13th century Russian prince and military hero.

But this church was built in the 19th century to honor Russian czar Alexander III.

The style, as you can see, is the same style as all Russian Orthodox churches with those iconic onion domes at the top, symbolizing a candle.

A distinctly vertical feel to the church where it almost appears to be taller than it is wide.

And of course, those intricate mosaics at the top.

Featuring important biblical and historic figures.

Just look at all that gold.

But there is a tragic beauty to this work of art, to Estonians it was and still is a symbol of Russian oppression.

In fact, in the 1920s after Estonian independence there was a campaign to have the church torn down.

(upbeat music continues) As you can see, that didn't happen.

So this controversial beauty glitters on, here on Toompea Hill.

(upbeat music continues) But this Russian Orthodox Church is just the beginning of the beautiful churches here in Tallinn, each telling a different part of Estonian history.

And perhaps none prettier than the stroll down a medieval path.

Today, a darling spot for cafes and little shops.

(upbeat music) All this modern cuteness, is along a narrow little street, with some curious little arches crossing it.

This is St Catherine's Passage one of the most picturesque little alleyways here in Old Town, with buildings that look a whole lot like they did back in the Middle Ages.

It is named for this building, which used to be St. Catherine's Church.

And one of the most amazing things you'll see are these beautiful, huge tombstones which date back to the 14th century.

These tombstones are so ornate because they belong to the most important townspeople of medieval Tallinn, including its governors and its wealthiest merchants.

At one point in the tombstones history they were actually used as floor tiles for a barn, believe it or not.

But fortunately, they were later rescued and put up on display here at the church, like the works of art that they are.

(upbeat music) Next, there's one more church that's pretty important to Tallinn's history.

It is the tallest structure in Tallinn and sticks out of its pretty skyline.

You can't miss it, just look up.

Behind me here is the beautiful St. Olaf's Church built in the 13th century and at one point in its history, believed to be the tallest church in all of Europe.

Why was it built so tall?

Well, so that sailors coming in from the Gulf of Finland could see it as a landmark as they were approaching Tallinn.

But you may be asking yourself, why was a church dedicated to the patron saint of Norway and not Estonia?

Well, that's because this church was built and intended for Scandinavian merchants and craftsmen and not so much for those Estonians.

And that speaks so much to the history of Tallinn, forever being occupied and built for other countries and cultures.

(peaceful music) It's the same story here at another church, St. Mary's Cathedral, which was built not for Estonians but for Denmark and the Danish families and merchants who relocated here in the 13th century for trade.

(peaceful music continues) Covering those whitewashed walls are the family crests of the noble families who were church members throughout the centuries.

But of course, those families also were not Estonian.

They were more likely to be Baltic, German, or Scandinavian.

(peaceful music continues) Next, protecting all those churches is Tallinn's mighty medieval defense system, made of stone and encircling the Old Town.

One of the things that makes Old Town unique is its city walls.

They were built between the 13th and the 16th centuries and became one of the strongest defense systems in all of Northern Europe.

And the good news for us today is more than half of those original walls are still here.

That is more than a mile long of walls and part of it you can actually walk on top of.

(upbeat music) And if you follow the wall, you will come across some lovely little courtyards like this one.

Here is another giant section of the medieval wall.

Remember, there is more than a mile of it still surrounding Old Town Tallinn.

There are also more than 25 of those towers and two of them are right here.

This one is the Maiden's Tower and this one here is called Kiek in de Kok, so it's a little bit of a funny name but let me tell you, this had a very serious purpose.

This particular tower was the tallest with the thickest walls out of all the towers here along the wall.

In fact, this tower helped to defend against Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century.

But now back to that very curious name, Kiek in de Kik translates to look into the kitchen.

Why in the world would a serious defense tower be named that?

Well, legend says, if you stood up at the top you could actually peek out over the village, or now the city, and peek into people's kitchens, which is kind of code for knowing the town gossip.

(upbeat music) And just a few steps down from that tower, right where someone could peek into your kitchen, there is another little platform, even more important to Estonian history where X marks the spot.

(upbeat music continues) In a quiet little corner of Tallinn, you will find three curious symbols that tell a very big history.

The first symbol is this rock with the date 1219 on it.

Then it leads you along this huge white cross that ends at symbols of a knight with his helmet, a sword and his shield with the flag of Denmark on it.

Now, why the flag of Denmark?

Because back in 1219, the Danes arrived here trying to conquer Estonia, and they had a battle right here and as they were losing, according to legend, the skies opened up and the flag of Denmark landed right here.

Of course, the Danes took this to be a sign that they should be victorious and victorious they were because they then went on to rule Estonia for more than a hundred years.

(upbeat music) And this Danish rule explains a lot about Tallinn.

First of all, why the Estonian coat of arms to this day has three blue lions on it.

Those lions were part of the Danish King Valdemar II's family crest.

So he gave them to Tallinn and Estonia.

And remember, this is the crest that we saw proudly displayed back at town hall.

(upbeat music continues) (bell dinging) And that Danish rule over Tallinn also explains where we get the name Tallinn.

Danish city or Danish castle in Estonian translates to taani linn, which then became Tallinn.

(upbeat music continues) All right, back to our wall in towers.

There's one more I want to show you with an even more curious name than Kiek in de Kok.

(upbeat music continues) This my friends, is the Fat Margaret Tower.

Yes, seriously, that is its name.

It is one of the more than 25 towers still standing here along the medieval wall.

But where in the world did it get such a curious name?

Well, it's a bit of a mystery.

The fat part might be obvious because this is the squattiest and the most stout of all the towers.

But what about the Margaret part?

Well, there are some wonderful theories about that.

Everything from a ship named Margaret to a cannon named Margaret, or perhaps a let's just call her lady of the night who was a favorite amongst the sailors or possibly a cook named Margaret who would've worked here inside the tower.

Now, whether or not that cook was a bit on the portly side, we may never know.

(upbeat music) So we go inside this big boned tower, today the Estonian Maritime Museum, to learn more about its curious history and its role in the years of the Hanseatic League, and later in the Russian Revolution.

(upbeat music continues) Joining us is museum guide, Annica Tantu.

First of all, where do we get such a unique name?

- Fat Margaret has been named because of the sailors that get their food inside this tower.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And they started to call it Fat Margaret because it's a short and a fat tower.

- Why not, why not, why not?

Now within, now it used to be storage for food.

And was it also a prison at one point?

- Yeah in the 19th century, it was used as a prison for almost a hundred years.

- [Christine] Wow.

- Yeah and it was burnt down at the revolutionaries.

- So during that time, Estonia was part of the Russian Empire.

- Yeah.

- And then so the Russian Revolution came around.

- Yeah.

- And that, tell me the story again there.

- Yeah, they wanted to save a woman, inside this prison.

And when they came here they understood that she wasn't inside here.

So they burned this building down.

And it was all pretty much burnt because the inside was wooden.

- But many centuries before the Russian Revolution, this tower and these towers and this wall all served a different purpose, commerce.

Tallinn was part of the Medieval Hanseatic League, a sophisticated network of German cities who all traded with each other.

Members included cities in today's Germany, Belgium, Norway and here in Estonia.

And this massive cargo ship behind us dates back to at least the 15th century and was used by those Hanseatic merchants.

These giant ships called cogs would've traded things like fur and wax from Russia and spices, fish, beer, wine and most importantly, salt, from the German cities.

This incredible ship sat undiscovered for hundreds of years only recently unearthed from a construction site in 2015, near Tallinn's port.

And even more incredible, when it was dug up it was still full of its cargo.

- We don't know, really what they were trading because there were a lot finds, that they find over thousands of things.

- Like shoes - And hundreds of hundred pairs of shoes.

- A hundred pairs of shoes.

- Yeah.

- But you're saying that there weren't a hundred crew on board, so?

- No.

- Why in the world?

- It was like the crew was like 10, 12 people, but yeah but all, all the shoes were used, so they definitely didn't trade them.

So we don't know what they were using them for.

- Maybe they were ahead of their time, you know, vintage sneakers or like all the, okay, maybe that's what it was.

(upbeat music) And this ship would've docked just in front of Fat Margaret when the coast used to come right up here.

And then its merchants would've entered Tallinn very near Fat Margaret under this, the coastal gate.

(upbeat music continues) So today, you can cross under this historic gate and enter another piece of Tallinn's history.

This very long street, lined with grand buildings, tailor made just for those Hanseatic traders.

(upbeat music continues) This is Pikk Street or Long Street, a very important street for Tallinn, because if you look all the way down here you see all these beautiful different colored buildings.

These were the guild halls and of course it was the guild halls and the merchants that brought the wealth to the city.

Now, each of the guild halls have some different symbols on the front.

For example, this yellow one here, if you look up towards the middle you can see both the coat of arms for Tallinn, and just above that, this particular guild chose to have statues of both Martin Luther and Saint Knut.

(upbeat music) This is the Saint Knut Guild Hall, established in the 13th century, it welcomed only the finest artists, silversmiths and craftsmen who lived, worked, and traded here.

Many of those craftsmen were Danish or German which explains the beautiful statues out front.

(upbeat music continues) Saint Knut is Denmark's patron saint and Martin Luther is, of course, the German founder of the Protestant Reformation.

(upbeat music continues) Just across the street is another sculpture of sorts.

But this little fella is less historic and more quirky.

Here he is perched high atop another guild and looking down onto the street over his spectacles.

(upbeat music continues) Legend has it, this was a father forever looking over his daughters as they came and went out onto Pikk Street.

(upbeat music continues) There were dozens of guild halls lining the street over the centuries.

As you can see, many have had an 18th or even 19th century makeover.

But fortunately, some of that original Medieval gothic architecture still exists inside.

So, which hall to pick?

Hmm, let's go for the most important one.

(upbeat music) So come on in and this is what the inside of those guild halls look like.

Take a look around here and look at those soaring gothic arches.

And then those come down, of course, to the columns.

And at the top of the columns, you can see these capitals with all sorts of different symbols.

Those of course, changed within the different guild.

Now, this particular guild hall wasn't just any guild hall this was the Great Guild Hall, the most important one in the town.

And the greatness continues because we are standing inside the Great Hall.

Now, the actual business took place in a smaller chamber nearby but this is where all the feasts and festivities and parties and weddings took place.

Now today, of course, things look a little bit different because it is a museum but it is very fitting that the exhibit here at the museum is all about the medieval music that would've been played here.

(classical music) Back outside on Pikk Street, this long street of Tallinn begins at that coastal gate and would take traders right back to our lovely town hall square.

And just across from the mighty town hall is a little shop of curiosities which was pretty important to those seafarers, especially if they suffered from seasickness.

(upbeat music) Hi, how are you?

I love what you're wearing, I feel a little bit too modern here.

This is the Raeapteek apothecary, which dates back to at least 1422 and is considered to be the oldest apothecary in Europe still in business.

- [Birgitta] Legend here for children.

- This is Birgitta who takes us through the Raeapteek apothecary and back in time.

We have all of these old fashioned, to say the least, remedies, things we probably wouldn't really use today.

Unicorn horn or unicorn fairy dust.

- Yes.

- What in the world was the unicorn?

- Yes, in the museum, you can see, we have it in the jar.

And it's called unicorn horn powder.

- Of course.

- Yes and it is funny but it actually, can be found from the documents as a remedy.

- Okay.

- As a medicine.

And people believe this is like some kind of miracle drug and rich people bought it against poisoning, against plague.

Well, they hoped it will help.

It probably didn't.

But like, you know, sometime-- - They had to try anything they could.

And that belief in anything that could possibly work was put into full throttle during the Middle Ages, especially when the plague kept coming to town.

I saw some dried frogs over there.

- Yes, dried toads.

- Those were toads.

- Exactly.

Actually, they hang them from the ceiling or above their doors.

And people believe that this actually keeps the plague away from your home.

Maybe because also-- - Would keep people away from the home.

And last but not least, even a plain old headache had a curious cure.

- If you had a headache, then they had to take the remedy also from the head.

Kind of from the skull, you know?

- [Christine] Okay.

- So they actually believe this helps better.

- [Christine] But not to fear, Medieval remedies also included a spoonful of sugar to help that creepy crawly medicine go down.

- It is funny because the marzipan, what I have in hand, wasn't as sweet in the beginning but it was actually sold also as a remedy.

- Also remedy, okay.

- Yes.

And that is best known as a remedy for broken heart.

- Oh get out of here.

Well, you know, candy's and chocolate's always been a remedy for a broken heart.

- [Birgitta] Exactly.

- See, candy is good for your health.

Medieval doctor's orders.

(upbeat music) So from the oldest town hall square in Europe to three blue lions, two fiery but friendly dragons and one Old Thomas.

Two symbols of a Russian past.

A German past and a Scandinavian past.

To a mysterious sign from the heavens, which forever connects Denmark and Estonia.

(upbeat music continues) To a magical little passageway dedicated to a saint.

All surrounded by a mighty wall to protect all these treasures.

Dotted by a few towers.

One used to peek into kitchens, and another to store the town's food, just call her big boned please.

Which stands next to a coastal gate, today far from the coast, which leads to the longest of long streets, framed by grand guild halls built by and for the merchants who made the city wealthy.

And finally, to a shop of curiosities, from unicorn to crocodile, where candy is the safest cure.

Tallinn has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey and hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when and how's of curious Tallinn, as they say here in Estonia, (speaking in foreign language) (upbeat music) I did not even check my hair after all that, so I hope it's all right.

- [Speaker] Looks good.

- Is it all right?

All right, it's gonna be on you.

- [Speaker] Trusted.

(Speaker laughing) (people chattering) - [Speaker] How's your hair?

(people laughing) It's all nice and straight.

One down your shoulder, one's on your back.

- Is it see, Wes will tell me.

- [Wes] Couple fly aways.

Oh, can't be.

(people laughing) - That'll be the credits, how's my hair?

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