The iconostasis
Three tiers of gold and icons.
Georg Mittenecker, perspektivisch entzerrt von User:Ikiwaner โ CC BY-SA 2.5 ยท Ivar Leidus โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ee ยท Ivar Leidus โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ee ยท AleWi โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Because it was built as an instrument of Russification on a symbolic site; today many Estonians see it as part of their architectural history and it serves a large Orthodox community, though debate occasionally revives.
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Five black-and-gold onion domes directly facing parliament: the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built in 1900 at the height of tsarist Russification, and its site was no accident โ raised on the crown of Toompea opposite the seat of Estonian authority to announce who ruled. Russians loved it and many Estonians resented it as a symbol of occupation; a plan to demolish it in 1924 after the first independence went unexecuted for lack of money โ and today it is a working church protected by law and the finest thing in Toompea's skyline, among its most photographed buildings. Inside is fully Byzantine: a three-tier gilded iconostasis, mosaics, chandeliers, and eleven bells, the heaviest fifteen tonnes, heard across the old town before the liturgy. Entry is free and photography forbidden inside โ modest dress required.
Three tiers of gold and icons.
Five black-and-gold domes over the hill.
Lossi plats 10, Tallinn