Address: Estonia, Tallinn, st. Toom-Kooli
Foundation date: XIII century
Coordinates: 59 ° 26'13.4 "N 24 ° 44'20.5" E
Content:
Short description
A few hundred meters from the Tallinn Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, on Cathedral Square rises the main Lutheran church in Estonia, dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary.
It is also called the Dome Cathedral and deserves attention primarily because it is the oldest religious building in Vyshgorod. The first wooden church on this site was erected in 1219, right after the conquest of Tallinn by the Danes. After 10 years, the Dominican monks decided to replace the temple with a stone one, but during the feud that arose between the knights-sword-bearers and the supporters of the Pope's viceroy, the novices were killed.
In 1233, the church was continued to be completed by the sword-bearers, and in 1240 it was consecrated as the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Mary. At the end of the 13th century, the temple was a three-nave building covered with a gable roof. During the reconstruction in the 15th century, it was rebuilt into a basilica. Over the centuries, the cathedral was completed and rebuilt: for example, the main church tower, which served as a bell tower, belongs to the Baroque era, and the chapels belong to later architectural styles.
For 800 years of history, the cathedral has experienced wars, robberies and epidemics, but the most significant damage to the building and the entire Vyshgorod was caused by a terrible fire in 1684... Then only the walls and tombstones survived from the temple, and even the details of the sculptural decor hewn from the stone cracked from the heat. The inscription on the main bell of the cathedral reminds of this tragedy: "In the summer of 1684, the fiery heat melted me down, and I spread, and a year later I was molded into a new shape and named the bell of St. Mary."
Attractions of the Temple of the Virgin Mary - tombstones and coats of arms
Today the Dome Cathedral is known throughout Estonia for concerts of cut music. Citizens and tourists come here to listen to the 19th century organ. In the interior, attention is drawn to the noble coats of arms that adorn the walls of the temple, as well as the tombstones of the medieval nobility and ordinary people, installed on the floor.
In the 13th - 18th centuries, the church served as a burial vault, and the latest burials and epitaphs date back to the 19th century. Along with the tombstones of the workshop of the butchers of the Dome guild and shoemakers, in the Dome Cathedral you can find the white marble tomb of the famous Russian naval commander Samuel Gray and the grave of the famous navigator I.F.Kruzenshtern, who made the first Russian round-the-world expedition. From the observation deck of the Dome Cathedral, equipped at a height of 69 meters, amazing panoramas of the towers and old houses of Tallinn open up. Right in front of the entrance to the temple, there is another tombstone with a less loud name, known from the legend. This is the grave of the nobleman Otto Johann von Tove. During his lifetime, the Honorable Otto lost the glory of the Tallinn Don Juan. A cheerful person who adored abundant feasts and wines, Otto enjoyed success with the fair sex.
In 1696, before leaving for another world, the Tallinn womanizer repented of his dissolute life and bequeathed to bury him in front of the main entrance to the Church of the Virgin Mary, and then every visitor will trample on his sinful ashes, and Don Juan will find forgiveness from above.... However, Estonians say that Otto's true intention was not atonement for sins. As the guides assure, and after death, the crafty Otto looks at the legs of pretty parishioners trampling on his tombstone.
