Sights in Pärnu
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Red Tower
The main thoroughfare of the historic centre is Rüütli tänav, lined with splendid buildings dating back to the 17th century. Just off the main street is the Red Tower, the city's oldest building, which dates from the 15th century. Originally bigger, this was the southeast corner of the medieval town wall, of which nothing more remains. At one stage the tower was used as a prison. Today a small gallery is housed on the top floor, and a craft market fills the courtyard.
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Pärnu New Art Museum
The Pärnu New Art Museum, in the former Communist Party headquarters, is among the cultural highlights in Estonia, and it often features some of the country's most forward-thinking exhibitions. Founded by film maker Mark Soosaar, the centre also hosts an annual film festival. There's a café and art shop near the entrance, and a decapitated Lenin statue out back.
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Historic Centre
The oldest building in the central square, dating from the early 15th century, is the misnamed (it's actually white) and originally bigger Red Tower, once the corner of the medieval town wall. Two blocks west is a fine pair of 17th-century conjoined houses. One block further is the former Town Hall, a classical yellow and white edifice originally built in 1797.
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17th-century conjoined houses
On Pühavaimu tänav, is a pair of large 17th-century conjoined houses, a fascinating example of ambitious early home-renovation efforts. Originally separate residences belonging to a chemist and an eminent city councillor, the buildings received a neoclassicist face-lift in the 1840s before becoming a department store in 1877.
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Town Hall
The former Town Hall is a yellow and white classical edifice originally built in 1797 as the home of a rich merchant. The grey and white Jugendstil north wing with its little spire was added in 1911.
Across Nikolai from the main Town Hall building there's a half-timbered house dating from 1740.
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Pärnu Museum
Despite its modest size, the Pärnu Museum covers 11,000 years of regional history. Archaeological findings along with relics from the country's German, Livonian, Russian and even Soviet periods are on display.
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Lydia Koidula Memorial Museum
The charming Lydia Koidula Memorial Museum stands on the north side of the river. Here you can learn about one of Estonia's great poets in the former school she attended.
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Beach
The wide, sandy beach, and Ranna puiestee, the buildings along which date from the early 20th century, are among Pärnu's finest attractions.
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Elisabeth Church
On the corner of Nikolai and Kuninga is the baroque Lutheran Elisabeth Church, from the 1740s and named after the Russian empress of the time.
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Ranna Park
Open in summer, Ranna Park, west of Seedri tänav, is a small amusement park with a Ferris wheel, bumper cars and bouncy rides.
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Catherine Church
The Russian Orthodox Catherine Church, from the 1760s, is named after the Russian empress, Catherine the Great.
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