Living scenes
A smithy, a tavern, a stable and staff in period dress who involve visitors.
Ben Bender — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tauno Rahnu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tauno Rahnu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tauno Rahnu — CC BY-SA 4.0
A medieval castle on a hill above the town of Rakvere east of Tallinn, built by the Livonian Order in the fourteenth century. What separates it from many castles is that it is not presented as silent ruins but as an experience: parts have been fitted out as scenes of medieval life — a smithy, a torture chamber, a tavern, a stable, and areas for archery and throwing — with staff in period dress explaining and involving visitors. That makes it among Estonia's most successful historical sites with children and teenagers, a manner of presentation northern Europe favours more than the south. It should be noted that the torture section and its displays are explicit and may not suit young children. It is not in Tallinn: Rakvere lies about a hundred kilometres east, reached by train or bus in around an hour and a half. In front of the castle stands a huge bronze aurochs that has become the town's emblem. The site is largely seasonal and mostly outdoors.
A smithy, a tavern, a stable and staff in period dress who involve visitors.
Hands-on activities that make it among Estonia's best sites with children.
A huge bronze bull in front of the castle, now the town's emblem.
Rakvere, about 100 km east of Tallinn
With children, clearly yes: the castle is interactive and the journey only an hour and a half, and Tallinn itself has nothing of this kind. Without children it is a good castle but not exceptional, and your time may be better spent in Tallinn.
A huge bronze statue of an aurochs, a wild cattle species that lived in this region and went extinct in the seventeenth century. It was placed in front of the castle in 2002, has become the town's emblem and its most photographed thing, and is said to be among the largest animal statues in northern Europe.
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