Püssirohukelder, Tartu, Estonia - SpottingHistory.com

In 1763 Russian Empress Catherine II ordered to fortify Tartu again. It was decided to build a gunpowder magazine (Püssirohukelder) in the former city moat. The responsibility of the building was assigned to Field-Marshal General de Villebois. His engineers started to build magazine in 1768. The bricks are brought from the old Mary Church (about where the University Main Building is now) and the ruins of the bishop settlement on Toome Hill demolished in 1708. The magazine completed in 1778.

Today Püssirohukelder offers Estonian and German dishes and has room for up to 300 people.

Reference: Püssirohukelder

Part of the Russian Empire (Estonia)

User Reviews

Ricky Löfqvist (2 years ago)
Excellent as last time. Lots of Good food and okay prices. Starters are Huge. Free bread with food is a nice touch

Veronika Jallai (2 years ago)
I like this place! Very authentic and has it's own spirit. Waiters are polite,food is tasty! Soup in the bread bowl with forest mushrooms is my favorite!

International Use (2 years ago)
Lovely place to visit on a cold day. Fine soup in a loaf. Fast n friendly service

Elizabeth Toney (2 years ago)
Really cool looking place, beer is great. Service is slow. Food is dated. When the menu says crab claws, they mean those stuffed battered fried things. Cauliflower on the appetizer menu is also fried, unexpected but good. Most tasted that it came from a frozen bag you can get at the grocery store.

Dace Janis Maslovski (2 years ago)
Nice place, large space, we were 7 persons and were served in moderate time. Kids had fun initially but went a little crazy because of waiting time. Soups were delicious. Chicken fillet was a bit too dry and the Est national potato barley mash did not seem really authentic. Staff very nice and friendly. Honest 4 stars.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

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Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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