Tallinn’s Bastion Passages and Museum of Carved Stone

This is the quintessential postcard view of the city, as you can see from the Kohtuotsa viewing platform or the top of St. Olav's Church.

However, as detailed in an animated production for Tallinn's Bastionikäigud (“Bastion passages”) and Raidkivimuuseum (“Museum of Carved Stone”), fortifications weren't always present in Tallinn. It all began east of the city, at a bend in the Pirita River, with a fortress called Iru. By the 11^th century CE, Iru was already an important place of residence for thousands of years, but by the 11^th century, there were walls built to host markets and protect local inhabitants in case of invasion.

After the Pirita River became too shallow to navigate by boat and there were too many attacks that resulted in the burning down of the fortress walls, the Estonian villagers moved to Toompea, closer to the sea. The new fortress they built, called Lyndanise, was an upgrade on their previous one, as it was guarded by limestone cliffs.

Their successful trading position close to the sea prompted Valdemar II of Denmark to invade in 1219. Then, in 1227, the German Schwertbrüderorden (Livonian Brothers of the Sword) came and defeated the Danish. Over the centuries, the fortress changed hands many times and expanded significantly from its original layout. One addition included a cannon tower in 1483, which was so tall that one could peek into the kitchens of Tallinn's residents (resulting in the Low German name "Kiek in de Kök").