Big beach gate

Large beach gate, view from the city side

Outside, fat Margaret on the left

City side of the Great Beach Gate in 1875

The Great Beach Gate ( Estonian Suur Rannavärav ), also Great Sea Gate or Great Beach Gate is a city ​​gate of the Reval city fortifications in the Estonian capital Tallinn (Reval).

location

It is located on the northern edge of the old town of Reval at the northern end of Langstrasse (Estonian: Pikk ). Immediately to the east of the gate is the defense tower Dicke Margarethe in which the Estonian Maritime Museum is located .

Architecture and history

Postage stamp from the Soviet Post depicting the Great Beach Gate from 1973

A first gate in this area was built together with the Reval city wall in the 14th century. At the beginning of the 16th century the gate was reconstructed and at the same time the fat Margaret was built. From the original gate system only the front gate, which was completed in 1529, remains. The facility served as a northern entrance to Reval and to defend the city from attacks from the Baltic Sea in front of the gate . At the same time, it should also impress people arriving via the Baltic Sea. The proximity to the sea and the port of the city gave the gate system its name. The gate was so close to the sea that it happened in a storm that the waves hit the gate. Today the area between the gate and the harbor, which is a few hundred meters away, is partially built on.

literature

• Valeri Sepp, Tallinn History of an Unusual City , Felistella, Estonia 2013, ISBN 978-9949-9264-8-0 , p. 59 f.

Web links

Commons : Large Beach Gate  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Great Beach Gate and Fat Margaret. In: visitestonia.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thorsten Altheide, Heli Rahkema: CityTrip Tallinn (= CityTrip series ). 4., rework. and completely updated. Edition Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8317-2815-2 , p. 31
2. ↑ Karsten Brüggemann, Ralph Tuchtenhagen, Tallinn: Little History of the City , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar 2011, ISBN 9783412206017 , page 42
3. ↑ Karsten Brüggemann, Ralph Tuchtenhagen, Tallinn: Little History of the City , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar 2011, ISBN 9783412206017 , page 42

Coordinates: 59 ° 26 ′ 33.2 "  N , 24 ° 44 ′ 57.2"  E