Venue Information

The conference will be held at the Tallinn University in Tallinn,
which is located at Narva mnt. 25.

Additional site information

Tallinn, the medieval, mobile-mad capital of Estonia, owes its fortunes and seemingly endless misfortunes to its strategic location on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where northern Europe and the Orient collide. The city has been moulded by a curious combination of Teutonic efficiency and Russian extravagance. Although its Old Town is often described as ‘fairy-tale’, there’s not a hint of tweeness in the architecture: the soaring spires of the churches and the narrow, Hanseatic merchants’ houses, leaning perilously into the streets and washed with watery limes, yellows and pinks, are unfussy, even austere. The ‘sleeping beauty’ feel comes from the forest that encircles the Old Town, softening the edges of the rugged city walls. Seagulls wheel above the rough grey limestone castle of Toompea before spiralling down past russet turrets and the cubist jumble of red-tiled roofs to the silvery Bay of Tallinn, where cruise ships sound their horns before edging out towards Stockholm, Helsinki or St Petersburg.

Ten of the best

Raekoda (Town Hall) Northern Europe’s only surviving Gothic town hall is a proud, rough-hewn charmer, with spectacular dragon waterspouts.
Pühavaimu church A modestly sized but magical medieval church with an exquisite old clock and interior.
Lossi plats (Castle square) The spirits of Estonia (the pink parliament building) and Russia (Nevsky cathedral) face off in the foreground, with soaring Pikk Hermann Tower and enchanting woodland providing a powerful backdrop.
Oleviste church Once Europe’s tallest edifice, it is still able to stir the soul with views of Toompea and the Lower Town from its needle-thin copper spire.
Applied Arts Museum Glassware, textiles, jewellery and copper work, all Tallinn traditions.
Katariina käik Tallinn’s most enchanting alleyway, with low vaulting, wrought-iron lamps and a displaced unusually radical gravestone.
Tornide väljak (The Square of Towers) One of the city’s most breathtaking vistas, with three rampart towers shrinking into the distance.
Kadriorg Palace Baroque splendour in leafy surrounds, built for Peter the Great and living up to his name.
St Birgitta’s Convent, Pirita Lofty and lonesome, these skeletal seaside ruins form one of the city’s most fragile silhouettes.
Rocca al Mare An open-air museum of peasant dwellings, barns and windmills, set in a rolling rural landscape with clifftop views over Kopli Bay.