Tallinn - City of Estonia

Tallinn is the capital and largest city in Estonia. It lies on the northern coast of Estonia on the Gulf of Finland. The city is an important industrial, political and cultural center and seaport.

The oldest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan known from Russian historical chronicles, the name deriving from the Estonian mythical hero Kalev.
The oldest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan known from Russian historical chronicles, the name deriving from the Estonian mythical hero Kalev.

The Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town Lindanisa: Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish, also mentioned as Ledenets in Old East Slavic. According to some theories the named derived from mythical Linda, the wife of Kalev and the mother of Kalevipoeg. who in an Estonian legend carried rocks to her husband's grave that formed the Toompea hill.


It has been also suggested that in the context the meaning of linda in the archaic Estonian language, that is similar to lidna in Votic, had the same meaning as linna or linn later on meaning a castle or town in English. According to the suggestion nisa would have had the same meaning as niemi in an old Finnish form of the name Kesoniemi.

Tallinn is the location of many institutions of higher education and science, including:

Tallinn University
Tallinn University of Technology
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Estonian Academy of Arts
Public Service Academy
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Institute of Theology

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.

Estonia has made rapid economic progress since independence and this is reflected in local prices. Although not extortionate, neither are prices as cheap as in other former Eastern Bloc countries.

The main attractions are in the two old towns which are both easily explored on foot. Eastern districts around Pirita and Kadriorg are also worth visiting and the Estonian Open Air Museum near Rocca al Mare, west of the city, preserves aspects of Estonian rural culture and architecture.

This area was once a separate town , the residence of the Chivalry of Estonia, Roman Catholic bishops of Tallinn and Lutheran superintendents of Estonia, occupying an easily defensible site overlooking the surrounding districts. The major attractions are the walls and various bastions of Castrum Danorum, the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Lutheran Cathedral .


This coastal district is a further 2 kilometres north-east of Kadriorg. The marina was built for the Moscow Olympics of 1980, and boats can be hired on the Pirita river. Two kilometres inland are the Botanic Gardens and the Tallinn television tower.