The House of Black Heads (Estonian Mustpeade maja) is a Renaissance-style building in Tallinn old town. The building's name is derived from its developers, the Brotherhood of Black Heads which was the guild of foreign unmarried merchants. The Brotherhood was founded sometime around 1399 and was active in Estonia and Latvia.
A 14th-century residential building probably occupied this site when the Black Heads bought up the property in the early 1500s. They immediately installed a new hall with an archless ceiling, but the serious rebuilding got underway in 1597 when the Dutch Renaissance façade, with its profusion of ornaments and carved decorations, was added. The eye-catching front door dates to 1640.
Inside you can see a two-naved, vaulted hall, which bought from the neighbouring St. Olav's Guild and dates to the 15th century. The site is frequently used for concerts and other gala occasions, and naturally any event held here will take on a timeless quality.
Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.