Gallery30--of Estonia--Winter 2007

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The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it.

Traces of the Soviet era are still there to be seen

Great Coastal Gate (Suur Rannavärav) and Fat Margaret's Tower (Paks Margareeta) were built as a defense on the seaward side of town, but also for impressing visitors coming in from the sea.

Town Hall Square The square in front of Tallinn’s Town Hall functioned as a marketplace for centuries, dating back to times even before the Town Hall itself was built. Through the years this served as a place of celebrations as well as executions...

Town Hall Square

St. Olav’s Church was the tallest church in Medieval Europe. The earliest data on St. Olav’s Church come from 1267. Little is known about the building of this Gothic style church and its early years, but there may have been a church on this location as early as the 12th century, alongside the Scandinavian market yard. ...

Part of Lower Town city wall

Nunna, Sauna and Kuldjala Towers These three medieval towers, and the portion of the wall that connects them, are among the few towers open to tourists.

The Estonians are a Finnic people, and the Estonian language is closely related to Finnish.

Estonian is thus closely related to Finnish, spoken on the other side of the Gulf of Finland, and is one of the few languages of Europe that is not of an Indo-European origin.

Ethnic groups 68.7 % Estonian 25.6 % Russian 5.7 % others

Due to its history and geography, Estonia's culture has been influenced by the traditions of the adjacent area's various Finnic, Baltic, Slavic and Germanic peoples as well as the cultural developments in the former dominant powers Sweden and Russia.

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