Today was our first day in Tallinn and our journey started with a city tour mostly through the Old Town of Tallinn, guided by Marju Meschin from the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. We learned a lot about Estonian history, a brief detour on the historical context is important in order to understand the different influences and forces on Estonia still visbile until this day.
Estonian was subject of various occupations and forces throughout the years. The Roman Empire send crusaders to Tallinn, later, the kingdoms of Sweden, Poland and Denmark fought over Estonia. Sweden won and ruled Estonia until it came under Russian occupation until 1918. In 1920 Estonia gained Independence, but not for long and was still highly affected by German crusader still living in Tallinn. There is this huge link between German and Estonian history, which can be seen for example in street names or family names influenced by the German language. During and after World War II Estonia experienced occupations both by Russia, Nazi Germany and later the Soviet Union until they finally gained full independence in 1991.
Many influences on culture, language and food can still be explored today. For instance, the most famous café we passed in the old town sells marzipan and chocolate which originate from Germany. The first church, built by the crusaders was named St. Mary´s Church and is Tallinn´s most famous and important church to this day. Also, Estonia itself was often referred to as Mary’s Land, a name still used today by Estonians in poems and songs.
In general, one will find many churches in Tallinn built by different invaders and representing different religions. Altough Tallinn is rich in churches and different religious representation, Estonians are not particularly religious. However, we also learned from one local participant that many aspects of Estonian culture, like holidays, food, tradition and society itself is strongly influenced by Christian values and culture.
Comments
Post a Comment