Tallinn Town Hall
Tallinn Town Hall is the only surviving Gothic-style town hall in Northern Europe. Dating back to the 13th century, it is the oldest town hall in the Baltic and Scandinavian regions. It is listed as a cultural heritage monument (No. 1199).
Located on the southern side of the old market square, the building is 36.8 meters long, 14.5 meters wide on the western side, and 15.2 meters wide on the eastern side. The two-story structure features a spacious cellar. The weathervane Old Thomas (Vana Toomas), placed atop the town hall’s tower in 1530, has become one of Tallinn’s symbols. The tower stands 64 meters tall.
Tallinn Town Hall is situated on Town Hall Square (Raekoja plats). The surrounding streets include Kullassepa (Goldsmith Street), Dunkri (Tavern Street), and Vanaturu kael (Old Market Neck). Behind the town hall lies one of Tallinn’s shortest streets, Raekoja tänav (Town Hall Street).
The town hall served as the administrative seat of medieval Tallinn’s lower town government. The city council worked here until the 1970s, and today, it remains a ceremonial building for the city government. It is open to visitors as a concert venue and museum, showcasing centuries of architectural and historical heritage. Since 1997, Tallinn Town Hall has been part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List as part of Tallinn’s Old Town. In 2004, the town hall celebrated its 600th anniversary.
The earliest mention of a large assembly hall in Tallinn Town Hall dates back to 1322 in a property register, where it was referred to as a consistorium with a massive storage cellar (cellarium civitatis). Parts of the original walls and seven windows in the cellar and first floor remain. In 1364, it was called a theater (teatrum), and in 1372, a town hall (rathus).
The town hall was the center of political, economic, and even social life in medieval Tallinn. It often served as a courthouse, a marketplace for goods, and occasionally as a theater (as suggested by the term teatrum). Thus, its central location and prestigious appearance were crucial.
The town hall was built near the market square. Parts of the original walls survive in the eastern section of the current building. In the 1370s, it was extended to its present length. By 1374, the single-story stone building with a cellar and a wooden roof likely had an attic used for storage. The northern façade of this long, narrow structure now forms the arcade’s back wall, where simple stone-framed windows from that era can still be seen.
In 2005, Tallinn Town Hall received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage, the Europa Nostra medal, a prestigious European honor. On June 27, 2006, Queen Sofía of Spain presented the award to the town hall’s director, Elvira Liiver Holmström, at a ceremony in Madrid. The medal was later handed over to Tallinn’s mayor and the town hall on September 15, 2006, by European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas and Europa Nostra Council member Thomas Willoch.
