Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nearby at Pikk 59 (the second house after the church, on the right) was, be-
fore 1991, the sinister local headquarters of the KGB. “Creative interrogation
methods” were used here. Locals well knew that the road of suffering started
here, as Tallinn's troublemakers were sent to Siberian gulags. The ministry
building was called the “tallest” building in town (because “when you're in
the basement, you can already see Siberia”). Notice the bricked-up windows
at foot level and the plaque (in Estonian only).
A few short blocks farther up Pikk (after the small park), the fine house of
the
Brotherhood of the Black Heads
(on the left, at #26, with the extremely
ornate doorway) dates from 1440. For 500 years, until Hitler invited Estonian
Germans back to their historical fatherland in the 1930s, this was a German
merchants' club.
Until the 19th century, many Estonians lived as serfs on the rural estates
of the German nobles who dominated the economy. In Tallinn, the German
big shots were part of the Great Guild, while the German little shots had to
make do with the Brotherhood of the Black Heads. This guild or business fra-
ternity was limited to single German men. In Hanseatic towns, when a fire
or battle had to be fought, single men were deployed first, because they had
no family. Because single men were considered unattached to the community,
they had no opportunity for power in the Hanseatic social structure. When a
Black Head member married a local woman, he automatically gained a vested
interest in the town's economy and well-being. He could then join the more
prestigious Great Guild, and with that status, a promising economic and polit-
ical future often opened up.
Today the hall is a concert venue. Its namesake “black head” is that of St.
Maurice, an early Christian soldier-martyr, beheaded in the third century
A.D.
for his refusal to honor the Roman gods. Reliefs decorating the building recall
Tallinn's Hanseatic glory days.
Architecture fans enjoy several fanciful facades along here (including the
boldly Art Nouveau #18 and the colorful, eclectic building across the street).
Just ahead, pause at the big yellow building on the right.
