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Southwestern Estonia & the Islands

Architectural, Cultural sights in Southwestern Estonia & The Islands

  1. Historic Buildings & Churches

    The best of Kuressaare's other old buildings are grouped around the central square Keskväljak, notably the town hall (built in 1670), on the eastern side, with a pair of fine stone lions at the door, and the weigh-house (now Vaekoja pub) across from it, both 17th-century baroque. There's a handsome Lutheran Church at the northeast end of Keskväljak and an Orthodox Church (Lossi tänav 8).

    reviewed

  2. 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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  3. A

    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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  4. Beach

    The wide, sandy beach, and Ranna puiestee, the buildings along which date from the early 20th century, are among Pärnu's finest attractions.

    reviewed