Tallinn is the capital and most populous city of

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, it has a population of (as of 2025) and administratively lies in the Harju ''

maakond The counties of Estonia () are the state administrative subdivisions of Estonia. Estonian territory is composed of 15 counties, including 13 on the mainland and 2 on islands. County governments () were abolished at the end of 2017, with their ...

'' (county). Tallinn is the main governmental, financial, industrial, and cultural centre of Estonia. It is located northwest of the country's second largest city,

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

, however, only south of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

; it is also west of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, north of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and east of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. From the 13th century until the first half of the 20th century, Tallinn was known in most of the world by variants of its other historical

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

Reval. “Reval” received Lübeck city rights in 1248; however, the earliest evidence of human settlement in the area dates back nearly 5,000 years. The medieval indigenous population of what is now Tallinn and north Estonia was one of the last areas of "

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

" civilization in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to adopt

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

following the

Papal The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

-sanctioned

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the paganism, pagan Balts, Baltic, Baltic Finns, ...

in the 13th century. The first recorded claim over the place was laid by

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

after a successful raid in 1219 led by King Valdemar II. A period of alternating Scandinavian and Teutonic rulers followed. Due to the strategic location, the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

of Reval, as Tallinn was then known, became a significant trade hub, especially in the 14–16th centuries, when Tallinn grew in importance as the northernmost member city of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. Tallinn Old Town is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. In 2012, Tallinn had the highest number of startup companies per person among all capitals and larger cities in Europe. Tallinn is the birthplace of many international high-technology companies, including

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

and Wise. The city is home to the headquarters of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's IT agency, and to the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. In 2007, Tallinn was listed among the top-10 digital cities in the world, and in 2022, Tallinn was listed among the top-10 "medium-sized European cities of the future".

Names and etymology

The name Tallinn(a) is Estonian. It has been widely considered a historical derivation of ''Taani-linna'', meaning "Danish-castle" (), conceivably because the Danish invaders built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold after the 1219 battle of Lyndanisse. The Icelandic '' Njal's saga''—composed after 1270, but describing events between 960 and 1020—mentions an event that occurred somewhere in the area of Tallinn and calls the place ''Rafala'' (probably a derivation of ''

Revala Revala (also ''Rävälä'', , by Henry of Livonia ''Revele'', by Danish Census Book ''Revælæ'') was an Ancient Estonian county. It was located in northern Estonia, by the Gulf of Finland and corresponded roughly to the present territory of H ...

'', ''Rävala'', or some other variant of the Estonian name of the adjacent medieval Estonian county). Soon after the Danish conquest in 1219, the town became known in the Scandinavian and German languages as ''Reval'' (). The etymology of ''Revala'' and derivatives in Estonian is unclear and hypotheses are numerous. In international use, the English and German-language ''Reval'' as well as the Russian analog ''Revel'' () were all gradually replaced by the Estonian name after the country became independent in 1918. At first, both Estonian forms, ''Tallinna'' and ''Tallinn'', were used. Danmarks flag 1219 Lorentzen

Henry of Livonia Henry of Latvia (; ; ; ; 1187 – ), also known as Henry of Livonia, was a priest, missionary and historian. He wrote the '' Livonian Chronicle of Henry'' which describes the evangelization of the regions which are now part of Estonia and Latvi ...

, in his

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

(), called the town with the name that is also known to have been used up to the 13th century by Scandinavians: ''Lindanisa'' (or ''Lyndanisse'' in Danish, ''Lindanäs'' in Swedish and ''Ledenets'' in

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

). In 1154, a town called (''Qlwn'' or ''Quwri'') was recorded in the description of the world on the

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of t ...

('' Tabula Rogeriana'') commissioned by the Norman King

Roger II of Sicily Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek language, Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily and Kingdom of Africa, Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon, C ...

and compiled by

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

cartographer

Muhammad al-Idrisi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in C ...

, who described it as "a small town like a large castle" among the towns of 'Astlanda'. It has been suggested that one possible transcription, 'Qlwn', may have denoted a predecessor of the modern city and may somehow be related to a toponym ''Kolyvan'', which has been discovered from later East Slavic chronicles. However, a number of historians have considered connecting any of al-Idrisi's placenames with modern Tallinn erroneous, unfounded, or speculative.

History

The first archaeological traces of a small hunter-fisherman community's presence in what is now Tallinn's city centre are years old. The comb ceramic pottery found on the site dates to about 3000 BCE and corded ware pottery to around 2500 BCE. Around 1050 AD, a fortress was built in what is now central Tallinn, on the hill of Toompea. As an important port on a major trade route between

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

and western Europe, it became a target for the expansion of the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

and the Kingdom of Denmark during the period of

in the beginning of the 13th century when

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

was forcibly imposed on the local population. The king of Denmark conquered Tallinn and northern Estonia in 1219. In 1285, Tallinn, then known more widely as Reval, became the northernmost member of the

– a mercantile and military alliance of German-dominated cities in

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

. The king of Denmark sold Reval along with other land possessions in northern Estonia to the Teutonic Knights in 1346. Reval was arguably the most significant

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

port in the Gulf of Finland. Reval enjoyed a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between the rest of western Europe and

and Muscovy in the east. The city, with a population of about 8,000, was very well fortified with city walls and 66 defence towers. The city wall has been described as an outstanding example of German Medieval fortification architecture. A weather vane, the figure of an old warrior called Old Thomas, was put on top of the spire of the Tallinn Town Hall in 1530. Old Thomas later became a popular symbol of the city. Reval im Jahre 1650

In the early years of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, the city converted to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

. In 1561, Reval (Tallinn) became a

dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

of Sweden. During the 1700–1721

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, plague- stricken Tallinn along with Swedish Estonia and Livonia capitulated to

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

(Muscovy) in 1710, but the local self-government institutions (

Magistracy A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrates' cour ...

of Reval and Estonian Knighthood) retained their cultural and economical autonomy within the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estoni ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The Magistracy of Reval was abolished in 1889. The 19th century brought industrialisation of the city and the port kept its importance. On 24 February 1918, the

Estonian Declaration of Independence The Estonian Declaration of Independence, formally titled the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia (), is the founding document which established the independent democratic Estonia, Republic of Estonia in 1918. Issued during a period of intense p ...

was proclaimed in Tallinn. It was followed by German occupation until the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in November 1918, after which Tallinn became the capital of independent Estonia. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Estonia was first occupied by the Soviet army and annexed into the USSR in the summer of 1940, then occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

from 1941 to 1944. During the German occupation Tallinn suffered from many instances of aerial bombing by the Soviet air force. During the most destructive Soviet bombing raid on 9–10 March 1944, over a thousand incendiary bombs were dropped on the town, causing widespread fires, killing 757 people, and leaving over 20,000 residents of Tallinn without shelter. After the German retreat in September 1944, the city was occupied again by the Soviet Union. During the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, the sailing (then known as yachting) events were held at

Pirita Pirita is one of the eight administrative districts () of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Pirita occupies a relatively large area, but compared to other districts of Tallinn its population of 17,592 (as of 1 November 2014) is relatively small. ...

, north-east of central Tallinn. Many buildings, such as the Tallinn TV Tower, "Olümpia" hotel, the new Main Post Office building, and the Regatta Centre, were built for the Olympics. In 1991, the independent democratic Estonian nation was restored and a period of quick development as a modern European capital ensued. Tallinn became the capital of a ''de facto'' independent country once again on 20 August 1991. The Old Town became a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1997, and the city hosted the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. Tallinn was the 2011

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

, and is the recipient of the 2023 European Green Capital Award. The city has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and takes pride in its biodiversity and high air quality. But critics say that the award was received on false promises since it won the title with its " 15-minute city" concept, according to which key facilities and services should be accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride but the concept was left out of the green capital program and other parts of the 12 million euro program amount to a collection of temporary and one-off projects without any structural and lasting changes.

Geography

Tallinn is situated on the southern coast of the

, in north-western Estonia. The largest lake in Tallinn is Lake Ülemiste (), which serves as the main source of the city's drinking water. Lake Harku is the second-largest lake within the borders of Tallinn and its area is . The only significant river in Tallinn nowadays is the

river, in the eponymous

city district. Historically, a smaller river, called Härjapea, flowed from Lake Ülemiste through the town into the sea, but the river was diverted into underground sewerage system in the 1930s and has since completely disappeared from the cityscape. References to it still remain in the street names Jõe (from ''jõgi'', river) and Kivisilla (from ''kivi sild'', stone bridge). The length of the seaside coast is , comprising three larger ( Kopli, Paljassaare, and Kakumäe)

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

s. The city has a number of public beaches, including those at

, Stroomi, Kakumäe, Harku, and Pikakari. The highest point in Tallinn, at 64 m (about 200 ft) above sea level, is situated in Hiiu, Nõmme District, in the south-west of the city. A large

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cliff runs through the city. It can be seen at Toompea, Lasnamäe, and Astangu. However, the hill at Toompea, despite its prominence, is not geologically connected to the larger limestone cliff formation. The rocks and sediments underneath Tallinn are of different composition and age. Youngest are the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

deposits. The materials of these deposits are

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

, varved

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, sand, gravel, and pebbles that are of

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

, marine and lacustrine origin. Some of the Quaternary deposits are valuable as they constitute

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

s, or as in the case of gravels and sands, are used as construction materials. The Quaternary deposits are the fill of valleys that are now buried. The buried valleys of Tallinn are carved into older rock likely by ancient rivers to be later modified by glaciers. While the valley fill is made up of Quaternary sediments the valleys themselves originated from erosion that took place before the Quaternary. The substrate into which the buried valleys were carved is made up of hard

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

Ediacaran The Ediacaran ( ) is a geological period of the Neoproterozoic geologic era, Era that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period at 635 Million years ago, Mya to the beginning of the Cambrian Period at 538.8 Mya. It is the last ...

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

and

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

age. Only the upper layer of Ordovician rocks protrudes from the cover of younger deposits, cropping out in the Baltic Klint at the coast and at a few places inland. The Ordovician rocks are made up from top to bottom of a thick layer of limestone and marlstone, then a first layer of

argillite Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of Friability, indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and Pelagic sediment, oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. T ...

followed by first layer of sandstone and siltstone and then another layer of argillite also followed by sandstone and siltstone. In other places of the city, hard sedimentary rock is only to be found beneath Quaternary sediments at depths reaching as much as 120 m below sea level. Underlying the sedimentary rock are the rocks of the

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and ; ), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Kola peninsulas, mainland ...

n Craton including

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

es and other

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s with volcanic rock

protolith A protolith () is the original, unmetamorphosed rock from which a given metamorphic rock is formed. For example, the protolith of a slate is a shale or mudstone. Metamorphic rocks can be derived from any other kind of non-metamorphic rock and ...

s and rapakivi granites. These rocks are much older than the rest (

Paleoproterozoic The Paleoproterozoic Era (also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the Proterozoic eon, and also the longest era of the Earth's geological history, spanning from (2.5–1.6 Ga). It is further sub ...

age) and do not crop out anywhere in Estonia.

Climate

Tallinn has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfb'') with warm, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. Winters are cold, but mild for its latitude, owing to its coastal location. The average temperature in February, the coldest month, is . During the winters, temperatures tend to hover close to freezing, but mild spells of weather can push temperatures above , occasionally reaching above while cold air masses can push temperatures below an average of 6 days a year. Snowfall is common during the winters, which are cloudy and characterised by low amounts of sunshine, ranging from only 20.7 hours of sunshine per month in December to 58.8 hours in February. At the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

, daylight lasts for less than 6 hours and 5 minutes. Spring starts out cool, with freezing temperatures common in March and April, but gradually becomes warmer and sunnier in May, when daytime temperatures average , although nighttime temperatures still remain cool, averaging from March to May. In early spring, freezing temperatures are common in March and snowfall can occur in April. Summers are warm with daytime temperatures hovering around and nighttime temperatures averaging between from June to August. The warmest month is usually July, with an average of . During summer, partly cloudy or clear days are common and it is the sunniest season, ranging from 255.6 hours of sunshine in August to 312.1 hours in July although precipitation is higher during these months. At the

summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

, daylight lasts for more than 18 hours and 40 minutes. Autumn starts out mild, with a September average daily mean of and increasingly becomes cooler and cloudier in November. In the early parts of autumn, temperatures commonly reach and at least one day above in September. In late autumn, snowfall can occur in October and freezing temperatures become more common in November. Tallinn receives of precipitation annually, which is evenly distributed throughout the year although March, April and May are the driest months, averaging about , while July and August are the wettest months with of precipitation. The average humidity is 81%, ranging from a high of 89% to a low of 69% in May. Tallinn has an average windspeed of with winters being the windiest (around in January) and summers being the least windy at around in August. Extremes range from on 31 December 1978 to on 30 July 1994. Tallinn has one of the most unpredictable weather conditions among European capital cities, According to a 2021 study commissioned by price comparison site Uswitch.com, Tallinn was the most unpredictable European capital in terms of weather conditions, with a total score of 69/100. Riga and Helsinki took second and third places. mostly due to its location between a more maritime and a more continental climate and the variation in the duration of sunshine as a consequence of its high latitude.

Administrative districts

. Tallinn is subdivided into eight administrative ''linnaosa'' (districts). Each district has a ''linnaosa valitsus'' (district government) which is managed by a ''linnaosavanem'' (district elder) who is appointed by the city government. The function of the "district governments", however, is not directly governing, but just limited to providing advice to the city government and the city council on issues related to the administration of respective districts. The districts are administratively further divided into 84 ''asum'' (subdistricts or "neighbourhoods" with officially defined borders).

Government

The city is governed by the Tallinn City Council which consists of 79 members elected to four year terms via party list. The mayor is elected by the city council.

Demographics

The population of Tallinn on 1 January 2024 was 457,572. It is the

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

and most populous city in Estonia, the 3rd most populous city in the three

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

(Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), as well as the 59th most populous city in the European Union. According to

Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...

, in 2004, Tallinn had one of the largest number of non-EU nationals of all EU member states' capital cities. Ethnic Russians are a significant minority in Tallinn, as around a third of the city's residents are first and second generation immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union; a majority of the Soviet-era immigrants now hold Estonian citizenship. Ethnic Estonians made up over 80% of Tallinn's population before World War II. As of 2022, ethnic Estonians made up over 53% of the population. Tallinn was one of the urban areas with industrial and military significance in northern Estonia that during the period of Soviet occupation underwent extensive changes in its ethnic composition due to large influx of immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR. Whole new city districts were built where the main intent of the then Soviet authorities was to accommodate Russian-speaking immigrants: Mustamäe, Väike-Õismäe, Pelguranna, and most notably, Lasnamäe, which in 1980s became, and is to this day, the most populous district of Tallinn. The official language of Tallinn is Estonian. As of 2011, 50.1% of the city's residents were native speakers of Estonian, whereas 46.7% had Russian as their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

. While English is the most frequently used foreign language by the residents of Tallinn, there are also a significant number of native speakers of Ukrainian and Finnish.

Religion

The pie chart to the right shows the distribution of religion in Tallinn as of 2021.

Economy

Tallinn has a highly diversified economy with particular strengths in information technology, tourism and logistics. More than half of Estonia's GDP is created in Tallinn. In 2008, the GDP per capita of Tallinn stood at 172% of the Estonian average. In addition to longtime functions as seaport and capital city, Tallinn has seen development of an information technology sector; in its 13 December 2005, edition, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' characterised Estonia as "a sort of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

on the Baltic Sea". One of Tallinn's sister cities is the Silicon Valley town of

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (; ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franc ...

. Skype is one of the best-known of several Estonian start-ups originating from Tallinn. Many start-ups have originated from the Institute of Cybernetics. In recent years, Tallinn has gradually been becoming one of the main IT centres of Europe, with the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE) of

, eu-LISA, the EU Digital Agency and the IT development centres of large corporations, such as TeliaSonera and Kuehne + Nagel being based in the city. Tallinn receives 4.3 million visitors annually, a figure that has grown steadily over the past decade. The

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

are especially a common sight in Tallinn; on average, about 20,000–40,000 Finnish tourists visit the city between June and October.ERR: Finnish tourist numbers on the rise – new generations traveling to Estonia
/ref> Most of the visitors come from Europe, though Tallinn has also become increasingly visited by tourists from the Asia-Pacific region. Tallinn Passenger Port is one of the busiest cruise destinations on the Baltic Sea, it served more than 520,000 cruise passengers in 2013. The state-owned energy company

Eesti Energia Eesti Energia AS is a public limited energy company in Estonia with its headquarters in Tallinn. It is the world's biggest oil shale to energy company. The company was founded in 1939. As of 2014, it operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Fi ...

, the nationwide electric power transmission system operator Elering, the natural gas distributor Eesti Gaas, and the country's largest private energy company, Alexela Group, all have their headquarters in Tallinn. Tallinn is the financial centre of Estonia and also an important economic centre in the Baltoscandian region. Many major banks, such as SEB, Swedbank, and

Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The Nordic countries are considered ...

, have their local offices in Tallinn. LHV Pank, an Estonian investment bank, has its corporate headquarters in Tallinn. Tallinn Stock Exchange, part of

NASDAQ OMX Group Nasdaq, Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation that owns and operates three stock exchanges in the United States: the namesake Nasdaq stock exchange (on which it is also listed), the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and ...

, is the only regulated exchange in Estonia. Port of Tallinn is one of the biggest ports in the Baltic sea region, whereas the largest cargo port of Estonia, the Port of Muuga, which is operated by the same business entity, is located in the neighboring town of

Maardu Maardu (, ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and a Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in Harju County, Estonia. It is part of Tallinn metropolitan area, located about east of the capital city. The town covers an area of 22.76 ...

. Old City Harbour has been known as a convenient harbour since the medieval times, but nowadays the cargo operations are shifted to Muuga Cargo Port and Paldiski South Harbour. As of 2010, there was still a small fleet of oceangoing trawlers that operated out of Tallinn. Tallinn's industries include shipbuilding, machine building, metal processing, electronics, textile manufacturing. BLRT Grupp has its headquarters and some subsidiaries in Tallinn. Air Maintenance Estonia and AS Panaviatic Maintenance, both based in Tallinn Airport, provide MRO services for aircraft, largely expanding their operations in recent years. Liviko, the maker of the internationally known Vana Tallinn liqueur, is similarly based in Tallinn. The headquarters of Kalev, a confectionery company and part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group, is located in Lehmja, near the city's southeastern boundary. Estonia is ranked third in Europe in terms of shopping centre space per inhabitant, ahead of Sweden and being surpassed only by

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Notable headquarters

* NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) * eu-LISA, the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice * Alexela * Bolt * Connected Baltics * LHV

Notable IT development centres

* Telia Company IT development centre * Kuehne + Nagel IT centre * Arvato Financial Solutions global IT development and innovation centre *

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

has one of its biggest production facilities in Europe located in Tallinn, focusing on the production of 4G communication devices. *

Equinor Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renew ...

has announced that the group's financial centre will be relocated to Tallinn.

Education

Institutions of higher education and science include: * Baltic Film and Media School *

Estonian Academy of Arts The Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonian language, Estonian: ''Eesti Kunstiakadeemia'', EKA) is the only public university in Estonia providing higher education in art, design, architecture, Media (communication), media, art history and conservation ...

* Estonian Academy of Security Sciences * Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre * Estonian Business School *

Estonian Maritime Academy Estonian Maritime Academy of Tallinn University of Technology ( Estonian: ''TalTech Eesti Mereakadeemia'', or EMERA) is a vocational university in Estonia. It is one of the schools of Tallinn University of Technology and it is the only educational ...

* Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church * National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics * Tallinn University *

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; ) is the only Institute of technology, technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administration a ...

* Tallinn University of Applied Sciences

Culture

Tallinn was a

for 2011, along with

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, Finland.

Museums

Tallinn is home to more than 60 museums and galleries. Most of them are located in Kesklinn, the central district of the city, and cover Tallinn's rich history. One of the most visited historical museums in Tallinn is the Estonian History Museum, located in Great Guild Hall at Vanalinn, the old part of the city. It covers Estonia's history from prehistoric times up until the end of the 20th century. It features film and hands-on displays that show how Estonian dwellers lived and survived. The Estonian Maritime Museum provides an overview of the nation's seafaring past. The museum is located in the Old Town, inside one of Tallinn's former defensive structures – Fat Margaret's Tower. Another historical museum that can be found at city's Old Town, just behind the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, is Tallinn City Museum. It covers Tallinn's history from pre-history until 1991, when Estonia regained its independence. Tallinn City Museum owns nine more departments and museums around the city, one of which is Tallinn's Museum of Photography, also located just behind the

. It features permanent exhibition that covers 100 years of photography in Estonia. Estonia's Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom is located in Kesklinn (the Central district). It covers the 51 years (1940–1991) when Estonia was occupied by the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Not far away is another museum related to the Soviet occupation of Estonia, the KGB Museum, which occupies the 23rd floor of

Sokos Hotel Viru The Original Sokos Hotel Viru is a hotel in Tallinn, Estonia. It was Estonia's first High-rise buildings in Tallinn, high-rise building and is connected to the Viru Keskus shopping centre , shopping center. It is owned by Sokos Hotels. History T ...

. It features equipment, uniforms, and documents of Russian Secret Service agents. The city is also home to Estonian Museum of Natural History and the Estonian Health Museum, both located in Old Town. The Museum of Natural History features several themed exhibitions that provide an overview of the wildlife of Estonia and the world. The Estonian Health Museum has exhibitions covering human anatomy, health care, and the history of medicine in Estonia on display. Tallinn is home to several art and design museums. The Estonian Art Museum, the largest art museum in Estonia, consists of four branches – Kumu Art Museum, Kadriorg Art Museum, Mikkel Museum, and Niguliste Museum. Kumu Art Museum features the country's largest collection of contemporary and modern art. It also displays Estonian art starting from the early 18th century. Those who are interested in Western European and Russian art may enjoy Kadriorg Art Museum collections, located in Kadriorg Palace, a beautiful

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

building erected by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

. It stores and displays about 9,000 works of art from the 16th to 20th centuries. The Mikkel Museum, in Kadriorg Park, displays a collection of mainly Western art – ceramics and Chinese porcelain donated by Johannes Mikkel in 1994. The Niguliste Museum occupies former St. Nicholas' Church; it displays collections of historical ecclesiastical art spanning nearly seven centuries from the Middle Ages to post-Reformation art. Those who are interested in design and applied art may enjoy the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design collection of Estonian contemporary designs. It displays up to 15.000 pieces of work made of textile art, ceramics, porcelain, leather, glass, jewellery, metalwork, furniture, and product design. To experience more relaxed, culture-oriented exhibits, one may turn to Museum of Estonian Drinking Culture. This museum showcases the historic Luscher & Matiesen Distillery as well as the history of Estonian alcohol production. Bernt Notke Danse Macabre

Lauluväljak

The Estonian Song Festival (in Estonian: ''Laulupidu'') is a large choral event, listed by the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as a

Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage—such traditions, rituals, dance, and knowledge—and ...

. It is held every five years in July on the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds (''Lauluväljak'') simultaneously with the Estonian Dance Festival.Estonian Song and Dance Celebrations
Estonian Song and Dance Celebration Foundation The joint choir has comprised more than 30,000 singers performing to an audience of 80,000. Estonians have an extensive collection of folk songs, consisting of some 133,000 folk songs. From 1987, a cycle of mass demonstrations featuring spontaneous singing of national songs and

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

s that were strictly forbidden during the years of the Soviet occupation to peacefully resist the oppression. In September 1988, a record 300,000 people, more than a quarter of all

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

, gathered in Tallinn for a song festival.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Estonian: Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival, or PÖFF), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is the only festival in the Nordic and Baltic region with a FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association) accreditation for holding an international competition programme in the Nordic and Baltic region with 14 other non-specialised festivals, such as

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. With over 250 feature films screened each year and over 77500 attendances (2014), PÖFF is one of the largest film events of Northern Europe and cultural events in Estonia in the winter season. During its 19th edition in 2015 the festival screened more than 600 films (including 250+ feature-length films from 80 countries), bringing over 900 screenings to an audience of over 80, 000 people as well as over 700 accredited guests and journalists from 50 countries. In 2010 the festival held the

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...

ceremony in Tallinn.

Cuisine

The traditional cuisine of Tallinn reflects culinary traditions of north Estonia, the role of the city as a fishing port, and historical German influences. Numerous cafés have played a major role in a social life of the city since the 19th century, as have bars, especially in the Kesklinn district. The '' martsipan'' industry in Tallinn has a very long history. The production of ''martsipan'' started in the Middle Ages, almost simultaneously in Tallinn (Reval) and

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, both member cities of the Hanseatic League. In 1695, ''marzipan'' was mentioned as a medicine, under the designation of ''Panis Martius,'' in the price lists of the Tallinn Town Hall Pharmacy. The modern era of ''martsipan'' in Tallinn began in 1806, when the Swiss confectioner Lorenz Caviezel set up his confectionery on Pikk Street. In 1864, it was bought and expanded by Georg Stude and now is known as the Maiasmokk café. In the late 19th century ''martsipan'' figurines made by Tallinn's confectioners were supplied to the Russian imperial family. Arguably, the most symbolic seafood dish of Tallinn is ''vürtsikilu'' ("spicy sprat") – salted sprats pickled with a distinctive set of spices including

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

, allspice and cloves. The making of traditional ''vürtsikilu'' is thought to have originated from the city's outskirts. In 1826, the merchants of Tallinn exported 40,000 cans of ''vürtsikilu'' to Saint Petersburg. A closely associated dish is ''kiluvõileib'' ("sprat-butter-bread") – a traditional rye bread open sandwich covered with a layer of butter and ''vürtsikilu'' as the topping. Boiled egg slices and culinary herbs are optional extra toppings. Alcoholic beverages produced in the city include beer, vodka, and liqueurs (such as the eponymous Vana Tallinn). The number of craft beer breweries has expanded sharply in Tallinn over the last decade, entering local and regional markets.

Tourism

What can arguably be considered to be Tallinn's main attractions are located in the Tallinn Old Town (divided into a "lower town" and Toompea hill) which is easily explored on foot. The eastern parts of the city, notably

(with Pirita Convent) and Kadriorg (with Kadriorg Palace) districts, are also popular destinations, and the Estonian Open Air Museum in Rocca al Mare, west of the city, preserves aspects of Estonian rural culture and architecture. The historical wooded suburbs like Kalamaja, Pelgulinn, Kassisaba and Kelmiküla and revitalized industrial areas like Rotermanni Quarter, Noblessner and Dvigatel are also unique places to visit.

Toompea – Upper Town

This area was once an almost separate town, heavily fortified, and has always been the seat of whatever power that has ruled Estonia. The hill occupies an easily defensible site overlooking the surrounding districts. The major attractions are the medieval

Toompea Castle Toompea castle () is a medieval castle on Toompea hill in the central part of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. In modern times, it houses the Parliament of Estonia (''Riigikogu''). History The Toompea castle's predecessor, an ancient Estoni ...

(today housing the Estonian Parliament, the ''

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (, from Estonian ''riigi-'', "of the state", and ''kogu'', "assembly") is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chi ...

''), the Lutheran St Mary's Cathedral, also known as the Dome Church (), and the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

All-linn – Lower Town

This area is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe and the authorities are continuing its rehabilitation. Major sights include the Town Hall square (), the

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

and towers (notably " Fat Margaret" and " Kiek in de Kök") as well as a number of medieval churches, including St Olaf's, St. Nicholas' and the Church of the Holy Ghost. The Catholic Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul is also in the Lower Town.

Kadriorg

Kadriorg is east of the city centre and is served by buses and trams. Kadriorg Palace, the former palace of

, built just after the

, now houses the foreign art department of the Art Museum of Estonia, the presidential residence and the surrounding grounds include formal gardens and woodland. The main building of the Art Museum of Estonia, Kumu (, Art Museum), was built in 2006 and lies in Kadriorg park. It houses an encyclopaedic collection of Estonian art, including paintings by Carl Timoleon von Neff,

Johann Köler Johann Köler (8 March 1826 – 22 April 1899) was a leader of the Estonian national awakening and a painter. He is considered as the first professional painter of the emerging nation. He distinguished himself primarily by his portraiture and to ...

, Eduard Ole, Jaan Koort, Konrad Mägi, Eduard Wiiralt, Henn Roode and Adamson-Eric, among others.

Pirita

This coastal district is a further 2 kilometres north-east of Kadriorg. The marina was built for the

Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

of 1980, and boats can be hired on the Pirita River. Two kilometres inland are the Botanic Gardens and the Tallinn TV Tower.

Transport

City transport

The city operates a system of bus (73 lines),

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

(5 lines) and trolley-bus (4 lines) routes to all districts; the long

tram system A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include seg ...

is the only tram network in Estonia. A flat-fare system is used. The ticket-system is based on prepaid RFID cards available in kiosks and post offices. In January 2013, Tallinn became the first European capital to offer a fare-free service on buses, trams and trolleybuses within the city limits. This service is available to residents who register with the municipality. Tallinn offers a wide range of smart mobility options, with extensive free-floating fleets of e-scooters, e-bikes, bikes, and cars available for rent throughout the city.

Air

The

Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport Tallinn Airport () is the largest international airport in Estonia. The airport is also officially called Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport (') after the former president of Estonia Lennart Meri. The airport is located southeast of the city centre ...

is about from Town Hall square (). There is a tram (Line Number: 4) and local bus connection between the airport and the edge of the city centre (bus no. 2). The nearest railway station Ülemiste is only from the airport. The construction of the new section of the airport began in 2007 and was finished in summer 2008.

Ferry

Several ferry operators, Viking Line, Tallink and Eckerö Line, connect Tallinn to

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg. Passenger lines connect Tallinn to

( north of Tallinn) in approximately 2–3.5 hours by cruiseferries, with up to eight daily crossings all year round.

Railroad

The Elron railway company operates train services from Tallinn to Tartu, Valga, Türi,

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

, Tapa,

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

, Koidula. Buses are also available to all these and various other destinations in Estonia, as well as to Saint Petersburg in Russia and Riga, Latvia. The Russian railways company operated a daily international sleeper train service between Tallinn – Moscow, and was stopped in 2020. Tallinn also has a commuter rail service running from Tallinn's main rail station in two main directions: east ( Aegviidu) and to several western destinations ( Pääsküla, Keila, Riisipere, Turba,

Paldiski Paldiski is a seaside Populated places in Estonia, town in northwestern Estonia, located on the Pakri Peninsula and adjacent Pakri Islands, Pakri islands in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. It is the administrative centre of the Lääne- ...

, and Kloogaranna). These are electrified lines and are used by the Elron railroad company.

Stadler FLIRT Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

EMU and DMU units are in service since July 2013. The first electrified train service in Tallinn was opened in 1924 from Tallinn to Pääsküla, a distance of . The Rail Baltica project, which will link Tallinn with Warsaw via Latvia and Lithuania, will connect Tallinn with the rest of the European rail network. An

undersea tunnel An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry l ...

has been proposed between Tallinn and

, though it remains at a planning phase.

Roads

The Via Baltica motorway (part of European route E67 from Helsinki to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) connects Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border through Latvia.

Notable people

Pre-1900

Michael Sittow Michael Sittow ( 1469 – 1525), also known as Master Michiel, Michel Sittow, Michiel, Miguel, and several other variants, was a painter from Reval (Tallinn), now capital of Estonia, who was trained in the tradition of Early Netherlandish pain ...

(ca. 1469–1525), court portrait painter for

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

and other royal houses, a most important Early Netherlandish painter * Count

Jacob De la Gardie Field Marshal and Count Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie (20 June 1583 – 22 August 1652) was a wikt:statesman, statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire, and a Marshal from 1620 onward. He was Privy Council of Sweden, Privy Councilor from ...

(1583–1652), statesman and a field marshal of Sweden *

Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (15 October 1622 – 26 April 1686) was a Swedish Empire, Swedish statesman and military man. He became a member of the Privy Council of Sweden, Swedish Privy Council in 1647 and came to be the holder of three ...

(1622–1686), a Swedish statesman and military officer * Jacob Johan Hastfer (1647–1695), officer and provincial governor of

Swedish Livonia Swedish Livonia () was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ösel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northe ...

from 1687 to 1695 * Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846), officer of Imperial Russian Navy, explorer of Oceania * Alexander Friedrich von Hueck (1802–1842), professor of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

, a notable estophile * Franz Anton Schiefner (1817–1879), linguist and tibetologist * Julius Iversen (1823–1900), phalerist and professor of Greek and Latin * Carl Hiekisch (1840–1901), geographer * Edmund Russow (1841–1897), biologist, researcher of

plant anatomy Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal Anatomy, structure of plants. Originally, it included plant morphology, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th centu ...

and

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

* Alexandrine von Wistinghausen (1850-c. 1914–18), landscape painter * Kristjan Raud (1865–1943), symbolist painter, known for his art style of the primitivism * A. H. Tammsaare (1878–1940), writer whose pentalogy ''Truth and Justice'' (''Tõde ja õigus'') is considered "The Estonian Novel" *

Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was an Estonian poet. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 14 separate years. Early life Marie Under was born on 27 March 1883 in Reval (Tallinn), Estonia to school teachers Fri ...

(1883–1980), poet, nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

multiple times * Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946), leading

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

ideologue, head of Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, executed for war crimes

1900 to 1930

* Ants Oras (1900–1982), translator and writer. He studied pause patterns in

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England during the late 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...

dramatic

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metre (poetry), metrical but rhyme, unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th cen ...

. * Vidrik "Frits" Rootare (1906–1981), chess player * Andrus Johani (1906–1941), painter * Miliza Korjus (1909–1980), Polish-Estonian-American opera singer, Hollywood film actress, nominee for

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performanc ...

in 1938 * Edmund S. Valtman (1914–2005), Estonian-American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

. He won the 1962

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...

. * Evald Okas (1915–2011), painter, probably best known for his portraits of nudes * Evi Rauer (1915–2004), stage, film and television actress and television director * Paul Kuusberg (1916–2003), writer, particularly of novellas * Ellen Liiger (1918–1987), stage, TV, radio and film actress and theatre teacher * Udo Kasemets (1919–2014), Estonian-born Canadian composer of orchestral, vocal, piano and electroacoustic works * Jaan Kross (1920–2007), novelist, nominated for the

multiple times * Vincent Zigas (1920–1983), medical officer in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

during the 1950s * Harry Männil (1920–2010), Estonian-

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n businessman and art collector * Kaljo Raid (1921–2005), composer, cellist and pastor * Sir Arvi Parbo (1926–2019), Estonian-

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n business executive * Vello Viisimaa (1928–1991), opera singer and stage actor, appeared mostly in

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s * Olaf von Wrangel (1928–2009), German journalist (NDR) and politician, member of German Bundestag * Lennart Georg Meri (1929–2006), politician, writer, film director and statesman, second President of Estonia, 1992 to 2001 * Eino Tamberg (1930–2010), composer, promoter of

neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

in Estonian music

1930 to 1950

* Uno Loop (1930–2021), singer, musician, athlete, actor and educator * Vladimir-Georg Karasjov-Orgusaar (1931–2015), film director, member of the Congress of Estonia * Martin Puhvel (1933–2016), literature researcher, professor emeritus at McGill University for old and medieval English literature * Ingrid Rüütel (born 1935), folklorist and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, wife of former president Arnold Rüütel * Peter Peet Silvester (1935–1996),

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, particularly numerical analysis of

electromagnetic fields In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

* Jüri Arrak (1936–2022), artist and painter * Enn Vetemaa (1936–2017), writer, master of the Estonian Modernist short novel * Arvo Antonovich Mets, (1937–1997) Russian poet, master of Russian free verse * Mikk Mikiver (1937–2006), stage and film actor and theater director * Linnart Mäll (1938–2010), historian, orientalist, translator and politician * Ene Riisna (born 1938), Estonian-born American television producer, known for her work on the American news show 20/20 * Andres Tarand (born 1940), politician, former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and MEP * Leila Säälik (born 1941), stage, film and radio actress * Paul-Eerik Rummo (born 1942), poet and politician * Eili Sild (born 1942), stage, film, television and radio actress * Kalle Lasn (born 1942), Estonian-Canadian film maker, author, magazine editor and activist * Urjo Kareda (1944–2001), Canadian theatre, music critic,

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

and stage director * Mari Lill (born 1945), stage, film and TV actress * Sulev Mäeltsemees (born 1947), public administration and local government scholar * Siiri Oviir (born 1947), politician and former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

* Lepo Sumera (1950–2000), composer, teacher and politician

1950 to 1970

* Urmas Alender (1953–1994), singer and musician * Ivo Lill (1953–2019), glass artist * Ain Lutsepp (born 1954), actor and politician * Kalle Randalu (born 1956), pianist * Alexander Goldstein (1957–2006), Russian-Jewish writer and essayist * Peeter Järvelaid (born 1957), legal scholar, historian and university professor * Doris Kareva (born 1958), poet and head of Estonian National Commission in

* Anu Lamp (born 1958), stage, film, TV, voice actress and stage director * Tõnu Õnnepalu (born 1962), pen names ''Emil Tode'' and ''Anton Nigov'', poet and author * Tõnis Lukas (born 1962), politician, former government minister * Marina Kaljurand (born 1962), politician, MEP, former government minister * Kiiri Tamm (born 1962), stage, television and film actress and stage manager * Tõnu Trubetsky (born 1963),

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

musician, film and music video director * Ivo Uukkivi (born 1965), stage, film, radio, TV actor and producer * Liina Tennosaar (born 1965), stage, film and television actress * Juhan Parts (born 1966), politician, former

* Mart Sander (born 1967), singer, actor, director, author, artist and TV host * Indrek Sirel (born 1970), military officer, general

1970 to date

* Jaan Tallinn (born 1972), investor and entrepreneur (co-managed Skype and other projects) * Jan Uuspõld (born 1973), stage, television, radio and film actor and musician * Oksana Yermakova (born 1973), Estonian and Russian Olympic champion épée fencer * Urmas Paet (born 1974), politician and

* Ken-Marti Vaher (born 1974), politician, former government minister *

Urmas Reinsalu Urmas Reinsalu (; born 22 June 1975) is an Estonian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023 and previously from 2019 to 2021. Before that, Urmas has served as the Minister of Defence between 2012 and 2014, and Mi ...

(born 1975), politician, former government minister * Kristen Michal (born 1975), politician,

Prime Minister of Estonia The prime minister of Estonia () is the head of government of the Estonia, Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is nominated by the President of Estonia, president after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary factions and confirmed ...

since 2024 * Mailis Reps (born 1975), politician, former government minister * Harriet Toompere (born 1975), stage, television, film actress and writer of children's books *

Katrin Pärn Katrin Pärn (born 20 May 1977) is an Estonian stage, film and television actress and singer. Early life and education Katrin Pärn was born in Tallinn to actor, theatre founder, and director Eino Baskin (1929–2015) and actress and politician ...

(born 1977), stage, film and television actress and singer * Johann Urb (born 1977), Estonian-born American actor, producer and model * Carmen Kass (born 1978), supermodel * Lauri Lagle (born 1981), stage and film actor, screenwriter, director and playwright * Ursula Ratasepp (born 1982), stage, film and TV actress * Ott Sepp (born 1982), actor, singer, writer and TV presenter * Katrin Siska (born 1983), musician * Priit Loog (born 1984), stage, TV and film actor * Tiiu Kuik (born 1987), supermodel * Pääru Oja (born 1989), stage, film, voice and TV actor * Klaudia Tiitsmaa (born 1990), stage, TV and film actress

Architects and conductors

* Valve Pormeister (1922–2002), architect * Allan Murdmaa (1934–2009), architect *

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

(born 1937), Estonian-American conductor * Eri Klas (1939–2016), conductor, leader of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra * Tõnu Kaljuste (born 1953), conductor, former conductor of the Estonian National Opera * Andres Mustonen (born 1953), conductor and violinist, artistic director * Andres Siim (born 1962), architect, designer *

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian conductor. He has been chief conductor of Zurich's Tonhalle since 2020. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia (then occupied by the Soviet Union), to Liilia Järvi and the Estoni ...

(born 1962), conductor, son of conductor

* Margit Mutso (born 1966), architect, designer * Elmo Tiisvald (born 1967), conductor * Kaisa Roose (born 1969), music conductor with Malmö Opera and Music Theatre * Siiri Vallner (born 1972), architect, designer of the Museum of Occupations in Tallinn * Anu Tali (born 1972), conductor, music director of the Sarasota Orchestra *

Eero Endjärv Eero Endjärv (born 24 January 1973 in Tallinn) is an Estonian architect. From 1988 to 1991, he studied in the . From 1991 to 1995, he studied in the Tallinn Technical University. From 1995, he studied in the Estonian Academy of Arts in the d ...

(born 1973), architect * Katrin Koov (born 1973), architect * Mikk Murdvee (born 1980), Estonian-Finnish conductor and violinist.

Sport

* Albert Kusnets (1902–1942), middleweight Greco-Roman wrestler. He competed in the 1924 and

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

. * Valter Palm (1905–1994), welterweight professional boxer. He competed in 1924 and

. * Raido Rüütel (born 1951), racing driver * Joel Tammeka (born 1951), rally driver * Robert Lepikson (born 1952), politician and rally driver * Toomas Krõm (born 1971), footballer * Gert Kullamäe (born 1971), professional basketball player * Toomas Kallaste (born 1971), footballer * Indrek Pertelson (born 1971)

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

ka, bronze winner at the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. * Mart Poom (born 1972), footballer and coach, goalkeeping coach of

Estonia national football team The Estonia men's national football team () represents Estonia in international football matches and is controlled by the Estonian Football Association, the governing body for football in Estonia. Estonia's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium ...

* Oksana Yermakova (born 1973), Estonian and Russian Olympic champion épée fencer * Martin Müürsepp (born 1974), basketball player and coach * Sergei Pareiko (born 1977), footballer (goalkeeper) *

Andres Oper Andres Oper (born 7 November 1977) is an Estonian Association football, football Coach (sport), coach and former professional football player, player. With 38 goals in 134 appearances, Oper is Estonia national football team, Estonia's all-time re ...

(born 1977), footballer and coach *

Kristen Viikmäe Kristen Viikmäe (born 10 February 1979) is an Estonian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He now plays beach soccer. Club career Born in Tallinn, Viikmäe started his career with FC Flora Tallinn, and has since played f ...

(born 1979), footballer * Gerd Kanter (born 1979), discus thrower * Urmo Aava (born 1979), rally driver * Irina Embrich (born 1980), épée fencer * Joel Lindpere (born 1981), footballer * Sten Pentus (born 1981), racing driver * Toomas Triisa (born 1982), rally driver * Marko Asmer (born 1984), racing driver * Remy Põld (born 1992), basketball player * Karl Kruuda (born 1992), rally driver * Kevin Korjus (born 1993), racing driver * Anett Kontaveit (born 1995), tennis player, highest-ranked Estonian singles player ever * Martin Rump (born 1996), racing driver * Ralf Aron (born 1998), racing driver * Georg Linnamäe (born 1998), rally driver * Jüri Vips (born 2000), racing driver (

FIA Formula 2 Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship (F2) is a second-tier single-seater championship organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on road racing, racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the re ...

) * Paul Aron (born 2004), racing driver

Twin towns – sister cities

Tallinn is twinned with: *

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, United States *

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China *

, Germany *

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, United Kingdom *

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium *

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, The Netherlands *

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

, China *

, Finland *

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Germany *

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine *

Kotka Kotka (; ) is a town in Finland, located on the southeastern coast of the country at the mouth of the Kymi River. The population of Kotka is approximately , while the Kotka-Hamina sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is th ...

, Finland *

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden *

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, Ukraine *

, Latvia *

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

, Germany *

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, North Macedonia *

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, Georgia *

, Finland *

, Italy *

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria *

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania

Gallery

File:Revals segl.svg, Seal of Reval, 1340 File:Farmacia del Ayuntamiento, Tallin, Estonia, 2012-08-05, DD 02.JPG, The

Raeapteek The Raeapteek (; ) is a pharmacy in the center of Tallinn, Estonia. Opposite the Town Hall, at 11 Raekoja plats, Tallinn, Raekoja plats, it is one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe, having always been in business in the sam ...

, built in 1422, is one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe. File:Tallinn Vana Toomas 1530 (2009).JPG, The Old Thomas weather vane was put on top of Tallinn Town Hall in 1530 and is the city's symbolic guardian. File:Revalische Post-Zeitung 1701-07-18.jpg, A front page of '' Revalsche Post-Zeitung'' (newspaper published 1689–1710) File:Tallinn Vaade linnale 1816.jpg, Anonymous artist's view of Tallinn in 1816 (later reprint on postcard) File:Alexey Bogolybov - Port of Tallinn (1853).jpg, Port of Reval in 1853. Painting by Alexey Bogolyubov. File:Ayuntamiento, vistas panorámicas desde Toompea, Tallin, Estonia, 2012-08-05, DD 21.JPG, Night view of Tallinn's city center in August 2012 File:Iglesia de San Nicolás, Tallinn, Estonia, 2012-08-05, DD 06.JPG, St. Nicholas' Church, built 1230–1275 File:Estonia 1479 - Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.jpg, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built 1894–1900 File:MustpeadeVennaskonnaHooned.Tallinn.jpg, House of the Brotherhood of Blackheads File:Viru väravad 1.jpg, Viru Gate, entrance to the Old Town. Two remaining towers that were part of a larger 14th-century gate system. File:07-06-21-tallinn-by-RalfR-144.jpg, Kiek in de Kök defence tower File:Pirita kloostri varemed kalmistuga.jpg, Ruins of the Pirita Convent File:Plaza de la Torre, Tallinn, Estonia, 2012-08-05, DD 02.JPG,

City wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

with temporary garden exhibition File:Pikk Hermann, Tallin, Estonia, 2012-08-11, DD 13.JPG, Pikk Hermann (Toompea) File:Kadrioru loss a*.jpg, Kadriorg Palace File:Tallinn Glehn Castle.jpg, Glehn Castle File:Kiluvõileib.IMG 4378.JPG, World's largest ''kiluvõileib'', made on Town Hall Square in 2014 File:EU-EE-Tallinn-LAS-Mustakivi and Laagna.jpg, Soviet architecture of the 1980s in the Lasnamäe district File:Tallinn-Tornimae.jpg, Tornimäe business area File:Tallinna siluett aastal 2021.png, Tallinn Bay and skyline of the city centre (2021)

Notes

References

Bibliography

Books and articles

* Burch, Stuart. ''An unfolding signifier: London's Baltic exchange in Tallinn''. ''Journal of Baltic Studies'' 39.4 (2008): 451–473. * Hallas, Karin, ed. ''20th Century Architecture in Tallinn'' (Tallinn, The Museum of Estonian Architecture, 2000). * * Kattago, Siobhan. ''War memorials and the politics of memory: The Soviet war memorial in Tallinn''. ''Constellations'' 16.1 (2009): 150–166
online
* Naum, Magdalena. ''Multi-ethnicity and material exchanges in Late Medieval Tallinn''. ''European Journal of Archaeology'' 17.4 (2014): 656–677
online
* Õunapuu, Piret. ''The Tallinn department of the Estonian National museum: History and developments''. ''Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore'' 48 (2011): 163–196. * Pullat, Raimo. ''Brief history of Tallinn'' (Estopol, 1999). *

Travel guides

* * * *

External links

The Website of the City of Tallinn
(official)
Visit Tallinn official city guide

Panoramas of Tallinn

Panoramas of Tallinn Old Town

3D model of Tallinn Old Town

Historical footage of Tallinn, 1920archive
, filmportal.de {{Authority control Capitals in Europe Cities and towns in Estonia Populated coastal places in Estonia Municipalities of Estonia Populated places in Harju County Port cities and towns in Estonia Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Viking Age populated places Members of the Hanseatic League World Heritage Sites in Estonia

Names and etymology

History

Geography

Climate

Administrative districts

Government

Demographics

Religion

Economy

Notable headquarters

Notable IT development centres

Education

Culture

Museums

Lauluväljak

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Cuisine

Tourism

Toompea – Upper Town

All-linn – Lower Town

Kadriorg

Pirita

Transport

City transport

Air

Ferry

Railroad

Roads

Notable people

Pre-1900

1900 to 1930

1930 to 1950

1950 to 1970

1970 to date

Architects and conductors

Sport

Twin towns – sister cities

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Books and articles

Travel guides

External links