Castle of Los Zúñiga was built in the 15th century by D. Pedro de Zuñiga. Its objective was to defend the passage of Barca del Río Piedras.
Its structure is rectangular in shape and consists of a wall circuit with seven square towers at the corners and on the front and side canvases. The most important towers are the bell tower and the homage tower. In addition to these towers, there was a second outer low wall, already disappeared.
In the 16th century the castle was refortified. Barbican was added, which was specially conditioned. It was an ideal refuge for citizens before the attacks of the Portuguese occurred in the 17th century and ended up consolidating the current town.
In the 18th century, it was planned to convert it into a barracks for the guard corps but discarded the project ended abandoned in 1812.
In 1815, the Duke of Béjar transferred the property to the Villa. In 1817, it was disarmed and adapted for cemeteries, dismantling the barbican and building barracks of vaults attached to the walls inside. He kept this use up to 1,872. Then it was destined to deposit coals and wood, after its desacralization.
In 1880 the file for the demolition is instructed, for its state of ruin, which is understood to threaten to collapse, and the corpses that are still preserved in the vaults, not those on the ground, are exhumed. As on other subsequent occasions, the demolition was not carried out due to the difficulties involved, acting simply to consolidate the most dangerous.
References:The Seaplane Harbour is the newest and one of the most exciting museums in Tallinn. It tells stories about the Estonian maritime and military history. The museum’s display, that comprises of more than a couple of hundred large exhibits, revitalizes the colourful history of Estonia.
British built submarine Lembit weighing 600 tones is the centrepiece of the new museum. Built in 1936 for the Estonian navy, Lembit served in the World War II under the Soviet flag. It remained in service for 75 years being the oldest submarine in the World still in use until it was hauled ashore in 2011. Despite its long history, Lembit is still in an excellent condition offering a glimpse of the 1930s art of technology.
Another exciting attraction is a full-scale replica of Short Type 184, a British pre-World War II seaplane, which was also used by the Estonian armed forces. Short Type 184 has earned its place in military history by being the first aircraft ever to attack an enemy’s ship with an air-launched torpedo. Since none of the original seaplanes have survived, the replica in Seaplane Harbour is the only full-size representation of the aircraft in the whole World.
Simulators mimicking a flight above Tallinn, around-the-world journey in the yellow submarine, navigating on the Tallinn bay make this museum heaven for kids or adventurous adults.
Seaplane Harbour operates in architecturally unique hangars built almost a century ago, in 1916 and 1917, as a part of Peter the Great sea fortress. These hangars are the World’s first reinforced concrete shell structures of such a great size. Charles Lindbergh, the man who performed the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landed here in 1930s.
On the outdoor area visitors can tour a collection of historic ships, including the Suur Tõll, Europe's largest steam-powered icebreaker.