Tallinn City Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

The building of the City Museum dates from the 14th century. The oldest record in the real estate register dates from 1363. The permanent exhibition provides an overlook of Tallinn’s history through centuries – beginning with prehistory and ending with Estonia’s regaining of independence in 1991.

Various sectors of medieval society are explained using a combination of texts, artefacts, life-sized models and sound effects. High-quality displays on the upper floors are devoted to 20th-century life, its turbulent wars, Soviet occupation, and finally Estonian independence.

User Reviews

Marie Laure Dut (2 years ago)
I discovered the history of the city. A good museum for children. Playful museum and at the same time rich of history

Rémi Ninon (2 years ago)
Nice museum in Tallinn. Really interesting sections with different topics like the history of Tallinn at medieval times or the way they got their independance from the ex URSS with historical videos. If you have some time ahead of you while visiting, you should stop there, there's a lot to learn :)

Candy S (2 years ago)
Very nice museum, all the staffs are nice, helpful and informative. Worth to visit.

Oana Sucigan (2 years ago)
Awesome museum. The lady at the entrance was very nice and passionate about the city's history

George On tour (2 years ago)
We introduce the history of the city from its establishment to this day. The cellars of the medieval merchant house stores ceramics, porcelain, and metal. The top floors host exhibitions on the history of the city. The rococo style party room introduced the luxury items and portraits of aldermen and wealthy townspeople. The annual exhibition 'One Hundred Years of Daily Life' introduces the century in terms of everyday life and shows how life and the city have changed. When booked beforehand, we organise tours in Estonian, Russian, English, Finnish, and German. Tallinn City Museum opened the first virtual exhibition in Estonia on the Google Arts & Culture platform, allowing users to explore the museum.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Makser

Historic Site of the week

Derbent Fortress

Derbent is the southernmost city in Russia, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains connecting the Eurasian steppes to the north and the Iranian Plateau to the south. Derbent claims to be the oldest city in Russia with historical documentation dating to the 8th century BCE. Due to its strategic location, over the course of history, the city changed ownership many times, particularly among the Persian, Arab, Mongol, Timurid, Shirvan and Iranian kingdoms.

Derbent has archaeological structures over 5,000 years old. As a result of this geographic peculiarity, the city developed between two walls, stretching from the mountains to the sea. These fortifications were continuously employed for a millennium and a half, longer than any other extant fortress in the world.

A traditionally and historically Iranian city, the first intensive settlement in the Derbent area dates from the 8th century BC. The site was intermittently controlled by the Persian monarchs, starting from the 6th century BC. Until the 4th century AD, it was part of Caucasian Albania which was a satrap of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. In the 5th century Derbent functioned as a border fortress and the seat of Sassanid Persians. Because of its strategic position on the northern branch of the Silk Route, the fortress was contested by the Khazars in the course of the Khazar-Arab Wars. In 654, Derbent was captured by the Arabs.

The Sassanid fortress does not exist any more, as the famous Derbent fortress as it stands today was built from the 12th century onward. Derbent became a strong military outpost and harbour of the Sassanid empire. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Derbent also became an important center for spreading the Christian faith in the Caucasus.

The site continued to be of great strategic importance until the 19th century. Today the fortifications consist of two parallel defence walls and Naryn-Kala Citadel. The walls are 3.6km long, stretching from the sea up to the mountains. They were built from stone and had 73 defence towers. 9 out of the 14 original gates remain.

In Naryn-Kala Citadel most of the old buildings, including a palace and a church, are now in ruins. It also holds baths and one of the oldest mosques in the former USSR.

In 2003, UNESCO included the old part of Derbent with traditional buildings in the World Heritage List.

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Historic Site of the week

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