Poverty preserved the wall
Tallinn did not grow enough to demolish its walls as richer cities did.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gunnar Bach Pedersen — Public domain · Andrzej Otrębski — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andrzej Otrębski — CC BY-SA 4.0
A defensive tower of the Tallinn town wall in the north-east of the Old Town, working today as a small museum where the weapons and armour can be picked up and tried. The wall is the main argument for visiting its towers. The city kept about twenty towers of an original forty-six or so, along with roughly two kilometres of the wall itself, making it among the most complete surviving urban fortifications in northern Europe. The reason it survived is not care but relative poverty: Tallinn did not grow enough in the nineteenth century to pull its walls down as richer cities did. What distinguishes this tower in particular is that it is hands-on rather than displayed behind glass. Visitors can put on a helmet or a mail shirt, lift a sword or a bow, and feel the actual weight — which is the best way to understand what fighting with this equipment involved. Practical points: entry carries a small ticket and the visit is short, half an hour to an hour. The stairs inside the towers are narrow and steep with uneven treads — unsuitable for anyone with limited mobility. Hours may be seasonal, so check before going.
Tallinn did not grow enough to demolish its walls as richer cities did.
Of an original forty-six or so, with about two kilometres of wall.
Lifting a mail shirt or a sword teaches what a label cannot.
Laboratooriumi street, Old Town, Tallinn
Do not enter them all — they become repetitive quickly. Pick one or two according to what you want: this tower for handling weapons, Kiek in de Kök for the larger museum and the bastion tunnels beneath it, and the wall walk between the Nunna, Sauna and Kuldjala towers to see the system from the inside.
Yes, and it is among Tallinn's better options for them. Handling helmets and armour and trying the bows is direct in a way that draws children far more than text-based museums. But the stairs are steep and narrow, so take care with very young ones.
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