Construction commenced in 1985, but the Raine Karp–designed Estonian National Library wasn’t completed until 1993, making this exemplary Soviet structure ironically one of independent Estonia’s first new public buildings. It's clad in the local dolomite limestone and it’s well worth popping in to the foyer, if only to check out the pointy red chairs. Frequent exhibitions take place on the upper floors.
Estonian National Library
City Centre
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
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Nearby City Centre attractions
1. Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom
0.15 MILES
The permanent exhibition here, ‘Freedom Without Borders’, is divided into five sections examining the suffering of Estonians over five decades of…
0.29 MILES
Shaded by the 250-year-old linden trees of Lindamäe Park, this small mound near the top of Toompea is named after Linda, wife of Kalev, the heroic first…
0.3 MILES
This large paved plaza, once the staging ground for 'spontaneous' displays of Soviet enthusiasm, is now used for summer concerts, skateboarding, impromptu…
0.31 MILES
Tours exploring the 17th-century Swedish-built tunnels connecting the bastions that ring the town walls depart from the Kiek in de Kök tower. Over the…
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This stout, five-storey cannon tower was one of Tallinn’s most formidable defences when built in the 15th century. Its name (amusing to English ears) is…
0.36 MILES
This Janus-faced pile turns a sugar-pink baroque facade towards Toompea, and a stern 14th-century Livonian visage to the sea and intervening suburbs…
7. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral
0.37 MILES
The positioning of this magnificent, onion-domed Russian Orthodox cathedral (completed in 1900) at the heart of the country's main administrative hub was…
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Dating from the 13th century, the imposing St Nicholas' Church (Niguliste kirik) was badly damaged by Soviet bombers in 1944 and a fire in the 1980s, but…