Walled Cities & Open Societies:
Managing Historic Walls in Urban
World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017
Photos (if not stated otherwise): Tallinn Tourism Office
Gardening Exhibition, Tornide väljak (´The Square of Towers´)
T a l l i n n ( E s to n i a ) i
Info sheet
1.City Background Information
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The capital of the Republic of Estonia,
population 444 000, area 159 km²
Located on the Baltic Sea coast, southern side
of the Gulf of Finland
Founded in the 13th century (town rights 1248)
by the King of Denmark, later medieval period
under the Livonian Order, member of the
Hanseatic League
1561–1710 part of Sweden, after the Great
Nordic War in Russian Empire, the capital of
Estonian national state since 1918
2.Basic description and brief history of the walls
Repro: Entsüklopeedia Tallinn, based on R. Zobel
The fortifications of Tallinn Old Town are divided
into two zones, which evolved at different times
and are also different in character: medieval and
early-modern. Tallinn continuously remained a
fortified city from the 13th to the mid-19th century.
Toompea stronghold consisted of the ruler´s
castle and aristocratic upper town. Castle still has
partly maintained its medieval look and elements.
Since the upper town was naturally well defended
by the cliff, its defences were not very extensive
and only some minor traces of them are preserved.
The fortifications of Tallinn, final situation
Lower town with its finally 2.35 km town wall
(height 13–16 m), which had numerous and mostly
sizeable towers – total at least 46 of them –, was
one of the most heavily fortified towns in the Baltic
region. A remarkable 1.85 km of town wall and 26
defence towers have been preserved (many of
them almost intact), plus the so-called
unacknowledged bits of the town wall hidden in
walls of houses as well as underground.
During the period of artillery weapons, from the beginning of the 16th century until demilitarization
(1864), all these earlier units were surrounded by one common continuous belt of earthworks. Its most
impressive till today preserved part is 3 exeedingly large bastions from the last decades of the Swedish
period (including hundreds of meters of underground galleries), but also some other earthworks exist.
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 2)
3.Current
functions
framework
and
management/governance
A remarkable part of both of the medieval fortifications and rooms in earthworks have been made
accessible to the visitors and given new functions. Two examples from the southern section of
fortifications: outer terrace of cafe on the town wall defensive walkway and the museum of carved
stones in bastion casemates.
Medieval fortifications:
- in Tallinn castle there is located Estonian Parliament Riigikogu (it is possible to visit towers as a
part of parliament excursions);
- some remains of the upper town towers are visible;
- town wall is mostly owned by the town, of 26 preserved towers 19 belong to the town, 3 to the
state and 4 are privately owned;
- functions of towers:
o museum or part of museum (3 of the bigger towers);
o rented for private museums/exhibitions/attractions;
o rented for open workshops, art ateliers and galleries, cafes etc (mostly seasonal);
o place of small concerts, theatre plays (mostly seasonal);
o restaurant (1 privately owned tower);
o offices (1 privately owned tower) or apartments (2 towers);
o empty – waiting for function and renovation (of more sizeable and better preserved
towers only one)
Earthworks area mostly belongs to the city as green area or as a street land, some of that area has
blocks with buildings on it and some parts are also state-owned (e.g. by railway, which, however, is
moving its activities away from this area).
All construction work in Old Town protection area can be done only with permission of Tallinn City
Government heritage protection division (the right which is delegated to it by the State Heritage Board),
which also manages the conservation and development projects of town-owned fortification elements.
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 3)
4.Role of the walls with the regard to the OUV of the
WH property and its management system
Tallinn Old Town is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997, in 2008 its borders were
widened so to cover all the area of historical fortifications and to establish proper restriction zone with
view sectors and corridors.
1) The OUV of Tallinn Old Town is based on the fact that it is an outstanding, remarkably
complete and well-preserved medieval northern European trading city, which still retains
features characteristic of a medieval economic and social community.
One of the concrete attributes of its OUV is “a mostly preserved circular town wall and earthworks
turned into green areas”, i.e fortifications are recognized as a very important single element which
contibutes to the general value of Tallinn Old Town as a whole. The medieval town wall literally holds
together the core area with its medieval street network and well-preserved dwellings and public
buildings while green belt of earthworks forms a necessary buffer between them and the modern city.
With fortifications is also connected an attribute aiming to a rich layer of archaeological findings.
Fortification elements, which are preserved underground, have a future potential to be excavated and
exposed.
2) The vision of Tallinn Old Town WH property management plan 2014–2021 is that “Tallinn Old
Town is a complete and high-quality living, working and visiting environment with a historical
and cultural continuity”. It has to be stressed it is just a continuation of work which has been done by
researchers, architects and heritage protection officials from at least 1950s or 1960s.
In management plan a special chapter has been dedicated to medieval and modern period
fortifications.
In the field of fortifications some important aims / actions are:
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The Town Wall and the earthworks have been conserved for general didactic purposes; the
various historical stages of construction have been displayed / incl. Restoration of the Town
Wall (by Culture and Heritage Department)
Good access to the Town Wall and the fortifications is guaranteed / incl. Opening of the bastion
passageways (by Culture and Heritage Department)
Green areas just outside the Town Wall form an integral and aesthetically and functionally
whole recreation area / Regenerating some parks in the green belt area together with the
inventory of the existing greenery and drawing up an action plan for the green belt of the
bastion zone (by Environment Department)
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 4)
5.Main challenges and opportunities concerning walls
management
From the aspect of preserving and displaying the Town Wall and the earthworks, it is vitally important
to guarantee regular maintenance and to improve accessibility. Town Wall of the Laboratooriumi Street
and Tornide väljak (´The Square of Towers´) from outside and inside: some of the towers have got new
roofs; walkways – in this section they were first in Tallinn to be reconstructed in 1960s – make it
possible to visit several towers at once.
In 1990s it was economically difficult period and very little was done to repair and develop the town wall
and earthworks. A further source of problems were long unsolved ownership questions in case of some
town wall towers and Skoone bastion (´Scanian bastion´). Bastion casemates were inhabited by
homeless people and were not accessible to visitors. As a result of all that the situation was not very
good at the beginning of the 2000s.
By now most of bigger repair and renovation works have been done and every year small investment
by the city helps to avoid bigger one-time expenses in the future. However, in spite of constant effort,
there are some walls in critical state in earthwork zone, especially the scarp walls of Skoone bastion.
The new functions for towers and bastion casemates help to avoid intruders entering them and causing
damage and fire accidents. Also the experience of renting towers out – with the obligation to allow
public access – has been mostly positive in Tallinn. Opening fortifications to the public helps to improve
the awareness of citizens of their value and also educates them about the architectural and military
history, as well as offering opportunities to spend free time thanks to cafes, open workshops, theatre
plays and concerts.
Compared with medieval walls and towers, which are very much a part of popular culture, the
architectural-historical value of earthworks is somewhat more difficult to explain to a non-expert.
Because earthworks area is in a more complex relationship with the modern city and covers a huge
territory, including widely not acknowledged underground elements, their regeneration is really a big
task. The agreements with many interested parties (including Natural conservation and Transport
departments as well as town planners) are required. From time to time there appear suggestions to
build something inside the earthworks or in the ditches in front of them. As a result of some earlier
planning decisions parts of earthwork area have been effectively cut off from the rest of the Old Town
with roads, but it hopefully can be turned back at least in some places.
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 5)
6.Main past, on-going
enhancing the walls
or
planned
activities
for
Photo: Land Board
Photo: Ragnar Nurk
Bastion fortifications, which previously have been slightly overshadowed by the medieval town wall, have
seen more action in recent years and at least biggest of them have a lot of potential both in respect of
citizens and tourism industry. During the reconstruction works of Vabaduse väljak (´Freedom Square´)
2008–2009 the part of Ingeri bastion (´Ingrian bastion´) was restored to its original shape. Discussions
concerning the future of the more remotely located and even more gigantic Skoone bastion (´Scanian
bastion´) have intensified.
Bigger projects from the last 10 – 15 years:
- Developing of the fortification-historical branch of the Tallinn City Museum on the southern side
of the lower town, consisting of:
o Kiek in de Kök artillery tower with exhibition on the development of the fortifications of
Tallinn and Neitsitorn (´Maiden Tower´) museum-cafe,
o Bastion galleries, including the museum of carved stones opened in 2016;
- In the same area as a part of large-scale renovation works of Vabaduse väljak (´Freedom
Square´):
o exposition of medieval Harju gate and particularly one of its towers in street under glass;
o restoring the shape of the adjoining part of Ingrian bastion;
o excavation of the supporting walls of earthworks and their exhibition in underground
parking house;
- The renovation of Munkadetagune torn (´Tower Behind the Monks´) and restoring the town wall
walkway between this and Hellemani torn, which was also repaired;
- New roofs and stairs (to ease access from the street) for several of Laboratooriumi Street towers
– towers were rented out for private enterpreneurs.
Planned projects:
- Biggest project of the coming decades and probably a long-lasting one will become the restoration
of Skoone bastion (´Scanian bastion´), which was the mightiest of Swedish period bastions,
reflecting perfectly the ambitions of Sweden during its period as one of the European great powers.
This bastion was really remarkable, having the outer perimeter of ca 450 m and rising 15 m above
the original ground level;
- To restore Bremen tower and to create access to there through the adjoining house;
- To join Laboratooriumi Street towers into a one complex with wooden walkway.
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 6)
i
This document has been drafted by the City of Tallinn. Authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the
facts contained in this paper and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not
commit the Organization
Walled Cities & Open Societies – Managing Historic Walls in Urban World Heritage Properties
Siena, Italy. 26-27 January 2017 (page 7)