Tartu Old City

Tartu Old City (Estonian: Tartu vanalinn), one of the most beautiful historical sites in Estonia, is Tartu's oldest neighborhood. The Old City is without a doubt Tartu's heart and soul, a maze of small pedestrian lanes that house the city's most remarkable architecture as well as the city's most dense concentration of restaurants and taverns. This is the site of a medieval city, but battles and fires, notably the 'Great Fire' of 1775, obliterated almost all traces of ancient Tartu. The majority of what you see now is its successor, a lovely neoclassical ensemble from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Tartu's historic conservation area protects the old town.

A village arose several centuries ago in the marshy plains of the Emajgi River, where the sandy hills that had developed in the Tartu area made crossing the river easier. The presence of the fortress on Toome's foreland goes back to the 5th century, and the finding site of the Kunda culture settlers in Chaste, which falls inside the city's present limits, might extend Tartu's history up to 10,000 years. Tartu was first recorded in Russian chronicles in the year 1030 when Yaroslav the Wise's army conquered the city. Tartu is the oldest city in the Baltic States, according to documented sources.

Tartu Old City has played a significant role in the development of Estonian culture and national consciousness: the first national elite emerged from the local university, the first newspapers and cultural societies, and the first national theatre all began their work here, as did the first national song festival. Many ancient structures, distinctive wooden communities, active cultural and sporting events, societal movements, and countless museums, all with their own narrative to tell, assist to maintain, and carry on traditions that have endured for decades or even centuries.

Lcation: Tartu, Estonia