Tartu Cathedral (), earlier also known as Dorpat Cathedral (), is a former

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in

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 ...

(Dorpat),

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 ...

. The building is now an imposing ruin overlooking the lower town. About a third of the cathedral has been renovated. The renovated part houses the museum of the

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.

, the premises of which the university also uses for major receptions.

History

The hill on which the cathedral later stood (''Toomemägi'' or "cathedral hill"), on the

Emajõgi The Emajõgi (; meaning 'mother river') is a river in Estonia which flows from Võrtsjärv, Lake Võrtsjärv through Tartu County into Lake Peipus, crossing the city of Tartu for . It has a length of . The Emajõgi is sometimes called the Suur E ...

River, was one of the largest strongholds of the pagan

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 ...

, and the strategic nature of the site makes it likely that it had been since the earliest times. It was destroyed in 1224 by the Christian invaders of

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

. Immediately after the conquest, the Christians began construction of a bishop's fortress, the ''Castrum Tarbatae'', on this strategic spot. (Parts of the old walls of the previous structures have since been revealed by archaeological excavations). The construction of the Gothic cathedral on the north side of the cathedral hill was probably begun in the second half of the 13th century. It was surrounded by a graveyard and houses for the members of the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

. The cathedral was dedicated to Saints Peter and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, who were also the patron saints of the city. It was the seat of the

Bishopric of Dorpat The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It existed from 1211 until 1558, generally encompassing the area that now co ...

, and one of the largest religious buildings of Eastern Europe. The church was originally planned as a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

, but the later addition of the three-aisled quire gave it the character of a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

. The quire (in an early form) and nave were already in use by 1299. About 1470 the high quire with its pillars and arches was completed in

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...

style. The cathedral was completed at the end of the 15th century with the building of the two massive fortress-like towers on either side of the west front. The height of the stone parts of the towers without spires was 66 meters. The exact height of the towers with spires is unknown, the French traveler and writer Aubry de La Mottraye, who visited Tartu in 1726, mentioned that "the towers were at least as high as the towers of

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

". A wall separated the cathedral grounds and the bishop's fortified residence from the lower town.

Decline of the cathedral

In the mid-1520s the

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

reached Tartu. On 10 January 1525 the cathedral was badly damaged by

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

iconoclast Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

s, after which it fell increasingly into decay. After the deportation to

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 ...

of the last

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 ...

Bishop of Dorpat, Hermann Wesel (bishop from 1554 to 1558; died 1563), the cathedral church was abandoned. During the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

(1558–1583) Russian troops devastated the city. When in 1582 the city fell to the Poles, the new Roman Catholic rulers planned to rebuild the cathedral, but the plans were abandoned because of the ensuing

Polish-Swedish War This is a List of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and 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 ...

(1600–1611). A fire in 1624 compounded the damage. In 1629 Tartu became Swedish, and the new rulers showed little interest in the derelict building, which during their time fell further into ruin and neglect, except that the burials of the townspeople continued in the graveyard well into the 18th century, while the main body of the church served as a barn. In the 1760s the two towers were reduced from 66 meters to 22 meters, the level of the nave roof, and made into a platform for a cannon. The main portal was walled up at this time.

University

With the re-founding of the German-speaking University of Dorpat (; now the University of Tartu) by Tsar Alexander I of Russia in 1802, the

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

architect Johann Wilhelm Krause was commissioned to build among the cathedral ruins the university library, a three-storey building erected between 1804 and 1807. Krause also planned an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

in one of the old towers, but this never happened, and the observatory was built new. At the end of the 19th century, the northern tower was converted for use as a

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

. In the 1960s the library building was extended and fitted with central heating. When it was replaced in 1981 by a new university library building, the old library became the home of the historical museum of the University of Tartu (). A thorough building conversion took place in 1985 when the 19th-century interior was largely restored. Today the museum contains displays of important artifacts of the university's history, scientific instruments and rare books. The rest of the cathedral ruins and the external walls of the quire have been structurally secured and consolidated. Until the end of the 1990s, in addition to the university museum, the renovated part housed the offices of the History Department of the University, and the premises were also used by the Tartu University congregation of the

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. The EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Ch ...

for worship services. In the 1990s, the art department of the university was also located in the building.Raisma, Mariann. Tartu toomkirik: Katedraal. Raamatukogu. Muuseum. Tartu toomkiriku kaheksa sajandit. (in Estonian). Tartu Ülikooli Muuseum: 2018, p. 30.

''Toomemägi''

The area surrounding the cathedral – the cathedral hill or ''Toomemägi'' – was landscaped as a park in the 19th century. Besides a cafe, the park now contains numerous monuments to people connected to the scientific and literary traditions of Tartu. These include among others:

Karl Ernst von Baer Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn (; – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a m ...

(1792–1876), Tartu's greatest natural scientist;

Kristjan Jaak Peterson Kristjan Jaak Peterson (, Riga – , Riga), also known as Christian Jacob Petersohn, was an Estonian poet, commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and the founder of modern Estonian poetry. His birthday on March 14 is ce ...

(1801–1822), the first Estonian poet;

Nikolay Pirogov Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Николай Иванович Пирогов; – ) was a Russian scientist, medical doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847), one of the most wi ...

(1810–1881), a famous Russian doctor; and

Friedrich Robert Faehlmann Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (Fählmann) (31 December 1798 in Ao Manor, Kreis Jerwen – 22 April 1850 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer, medical doctor and philologist active in Livonia, Russian Empire. He was a co-founder of the Learned Estonia ...

(1798–1850), the initiator of the Estonian national epic, the

Kalevipoeg ''Kalevipoeg'' (, ''Kalev's Son'') is a 19th-century epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald which has since been considered the Estonian national epic. Origins In pre-Christian ancient Estonia there existed an oral tradition, known as ...

. The path to the lower town is spanned by the '' Inglisild'' or Angel Bridge, a name which is very likely however to represent a corruption of an original "Englische Brücke" or "English bridge", built between 1814 and 1816. A portrait relief in the middle commemorates the first rector of the re-founded university in 1802,

Georg Friedrich Parrot Georg Friedrich Parrot (15 July 1767 – 8 July 1852) was a German scientist, the first Rector (academia), rector of the University of Tartu, Imperial University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the ...

(1767–1852), and bears the inscription ''Otium reficit vires'' ("Leisure Renews the Powers"). Also on the ''Toomemägi'' are the seat of the Estonian Supreme Court, Dorpat Observatory (''tähetorn''), built in 1811, university classrooms, and the university's old anatomy theatre.

Notes and references

* Lukas, T., 1998: ''Tartu toomhärrad 1224–1558.'' Tartu * Suur, Aili, 1968: ''Tartu Toome Hill.'' Tallinn

External links