Kiek in de Kök, Tallinn, Estonia

Kiek in de Kök is an artillery tower built between 1475 and 1483. It is 38 m high and has walls 4 m thick. Cannon balls dating back to 1577 are still embedded in its outer walls. Compared to the other Tallinn towers Kiek in de Kök was predominant in its fire power, due to its 27 embrasures for cannons and 30 for handguns

Kiek in de Kök (low German Peep into the Kitchen ) is an old German language nickname for towers, mainly those which were parts of town fortifications. They gained the name from the ability of the tower occupants to literally see what's cooking in the kitchens of nearby houses.

Due to the history of the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Order, also towers far outside modern Germany bear this name, like in Gdańsk and Tallinn.

20th century restoration work saw the tower and surrounding area returned to a more historical look. The tower now serves as a museum and photographic gallery.

References: Wikipedia, Official Website

User Reviews

Liina Kink (2 years ago)
An amazing museum with lots of interesting things to see. They also do guided tours in a variety of languages - English, Estonian, Russian, Finnish, etc. I had an amazing day :) just remember to notify them in advance if you want to go into the bastion as the spots are limited. I had a lot of fun!

Erik U (2 years ago)
Excellent tour guide who took us down to the bastions. Our favorite museum out of the tallinn city pass. Do the guided tour if available, it is worth the time.

J DeChicchis (2 years ago)
The towers house some various artifacts, including old swords, cannons, and even WW2-era firearms. The catapults are especially interesting. There are also some stocks and torture devices. One upper floor has a scale model reconstruction of the entire presumed wall and towers. There are two cafe areas with wonderful views of the city. Below ground, the English-language tour of the tunnels is excellent.

Alex Hell (2 years ago)
I'm not going to call it a tourist trap (it's definitely not) but I wouldn't call it a "not to be missed experience" either. If anything the video in the start of the tour is thoroughly entertaining but the tour guide although she was clearly doing her best had clearly had enough of it. I wish they would just let us roam around like an art gallery.

oli fubar (2 years ago)
The whole experience was very informative and fun. We went to do the tunnels but the last English tour had already left. We ended up doing the towers and walls then returning the next morning to explorer the passages. The passage tour starts with a history of Tallinn video before entering the tunnels. The tour was based mainly on their use over the last 100 years and not medieval times but still very interesting.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Peer.Gynt

Historic Site of the week

Saint Sophia Cathedral

The St Sophia's Cathedral was built between 1045-1050 inside the Novgorod Kremlin (fortress). It is one of the earliest stone structures of northern Russia. Its height is 38 m. Originally it was taller, for during the past nine centuries the lower part of the building became concealed by the two-metre thick cultural layer. The cathedral was built by Prince Vladimir, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and until the 1130s this principal church of the city also served as the sepulchre of Novgorodian princes. For the Novgorodians, St Sophia became synonymous with their town, the symbol of civic power and independence.

The five-domed church looks simpler but no less impressive than its prototype, the thirteen-domed St Sophia of Kiev. The cathedral exterior is striking in its majesty and epic splendour evoking the memories of Novgorod's glorious past and invincible might. In the 11th century it looked more imposing than now. Its facade represented a gigantic mosaic of huge, coarsely trimmed irregular slabs of flagstone and shell rock. In some places (particularly on the apses), the wall was covered with mortar, smoothly polished, drawn up to imitate courses of brick or of whitestone slabs, and slightly coloured. As a result, the facade was not white, as it is today, but multicoloured. The play of stone, decorative painting and the building materials of various texture enhanced the impression of austere simplicity and introduced a picturesque effect.

The two-storied galleries extend along the building's southern, western and northern sides, with a stair-tower constructed at the north-eastern corner. The cathedral has three entrances - the southern, western and northern, of which the western was the main one intended for ceremonial processions. A gate standing at the entrance is known as the Sigtuna Gate (mid-12th century); according to legend, it was brought from the Swedish town of Sigtuna in 1187. The second name of the gate derives from the town of Magdeburg, where it was made. The two leaves are decorated with biblical and evangelical scenes in cast bronze relief. In the lower left corner there are portraits of the craftsmen who created this superb specimen of medieval Western European bronze-work. An inscription in Latin gives their names, Riquin and Weissmut. The small central figure - judging from an inscription in Slavonic - is a representation of the Russian master craftsman Avraam, who assembled the gate.

There is yet another bronze gate in the cathedral, called the Korsun Gate. Made in the 11th century in Chersonesos, Byzantium, it leads from the southern gallery into the Nativity Side-Chapel. Legend has it that the gate was handed over to Novgorod as a gift of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054).

The interior of the cathedral is as majestic as its exterior. It is divided by huge piers into five aisles, three of which end in altar apses. In the south-western corner, inside the tower, there is a wide spiral in relatively small, modest buildings of the 12th - 16th centuries.

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