As an American who lives in one of the largest and most populated cities in the country, I’m always in awe at countries that are so good at balancing the old and new in their city planning. Tallinn is so unsuspecting because you can see all the more “Old Town” parts of the city and think that’s all there is, but then when you stumble upon the “new city” or “Post Modern” part of the city it’s like “whoa!”
Estonian architecture is very culturaly based. You will find over the whole country new buildings designed to fit in with the old. That's the main trend, nature, tech and history.
15:00 I personally don't mind if people find one building more impressive than the other. They're only buildings after all. What I do find a little bit sad if not annoying is when this church is people's only takeway of the Old Town or Tallinn in general since it's just a very small bit of its history and certainly not the most important part nor one that would best represent Tallinn. By the way, during the 1920s there were discussions in the Estonian parliament (yes, just across the street) about demolishing this church since it was only around 20 years old at the time and was seen as a relic of the Russian empire which Estonia was no longer a part of.
That's super interesting. I agree that it would be a shame if people's only takeaway from Tallinn is the church as I actually don't think it was the most iconic landmark there (personally I'm pretty partial to the Kiek in de Koek complex!).
One of the reasons many Estonians despise the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is that it was built more as a symbol of Russian imperialism and less as a church. It was built at the highest point in town and right next to what was then the provincial administration building. Plus, it absolutely does not fit into the general Lutheran-based German-looking Medieval old town. The Parliament building itself is actually inside the courtyard, but some offices are at the pink buildings in the front. And the problem with the church isn't that much its contrast to these pink buildings because these are from early Russian imperial era as well, the contrast is rather with the old town in general. The church at 18:00 is the "Dome Church" ("Dom" being "Cathedral" in German), dedicated to Virgin Mary (as is Medieval Livonia, i.e. Estonia and Latvia) in general. It has been the centre of Christianity in Northern Estonia since the early 13th century and nowadays it's the centre of Christianity in Estonia, at least of the traditional Christian branch of the majority ethnic group. The breach in the gate was indeed done in quite late, in the 19th century, when Medieval fortifications didn't serve a military purpose anymore. But this is the case with essentially every gate and opening you see in the wall - it really was almost impenetrable before. Even the Viru gates are just small frontal gates of the once much larger Viru gate that was demolished in 1843.
As an American who lives in one of the largest and most populated cities in the country, I’m always in awe at countries that are so good at balancing the old and new in their city planning. Tallinn is so unsuspecting because you can see all the more “Old Town” parts of the city and think that’s all there is, but then when you stumble upon the “new city” or “Post Modern” part of the city it’s like “whoa!”
Estonian architecture is very culturaly based. You will find over the whole country new buildings designed to fit in with the old. That's the main trend, nature, tech and history.
15:00 I personally don't mind if people find one building more impressive than the other. They're only buildings after all. What I do find a little bit sad if not annoying is when this church is people's only takeway of the Old Town or Tallinn in general since it's just a very small bit of its history and certainly not the most important part nor one that would best represent Tallinn. By the way, during the 1920s there were discussions in the Estonian parliament (yes, just across the street) about demolishing this church since it was only around 20 years old at the time and was seen as a relic of the Russian empire which Estonia was no longer a part of.
That's super interesting. I agree that it would be a shame if people's only takeaway from Tallinn is the church as I actually don't think it was the most iconic landmark there (personally I'm pretty partial to the Kiek in de Koek complex!).
One of the reasons many Estonians despise the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is that it was built more as a symbol of Russian imperialism and less as a church. It was built at the highest point in town and right next to what was then the provincial administration building. Plus, it absolutely does not fit into the general Lutheran-based German-looking Medieval old town. The Parliament building itself is actually inside the courtyard, but some offices are at the pink buildings in the front. And the problem with the church isn't that much its contrast to these pink buildings because these are from early Russian imperial era as well, the contrast is rather with the old town in general.
The church at 18:00 is the "Dome Church" ("Dom" being "Cathedral" in German), dedicated to Virgin Mary (as is Medieval Livonia, i.e. Estonia and Latvia) in general. It has been the centre of Christianity in Northern Estonia since the early 13th century and nowadays it's the centre of Christianity in Estonia, at least of the traditional Christian branch of the majority ethnic group.
The breach in the gate was indeed done in quite late, in the 19th century, when Medieval fortifications didn't serve a military purpose anymore. But this is the case with essentially every gate and opening you see in the wall - it really was almost impenetrable before. Even the Viru gates are just small frontal gates of the once much larger Viru gate that was demolished in 1843.
Hi, nice vid!
It´s weird youtube deletes my comments immediately. Lets try again....
Soviets needed shops too, they were just not private at the time.
It’s okay, ignore my query about finding the other videos! I found them cheers! Marg