Reval city fortifications

Reval city fortifications with Reeperbahnturm, Plate tower, Epping tower and the tower behind Grusbeke (from front to back)

The Revaler city fortification ( Estonian Tallinna linnamüür ) is the historical city fortification of the Estonian capital Tallinn (Reval).

Architecture and history

Mauerstrasse

Battlement

The city wall of Reval was built in the second half of the 13th century, initially on the order of the Danish Queen Margarethe in 1265 . The expansion of the fortifications dragged on over 300 years, they had to be repeatedly adapted to the changed weapon technology. Reval was one of the best fortified cities on the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages . A first list of the towers is from 1355 and listed eleven towers at that time. The city wall was ultimately 2.35 kilometers long. It was 13 to 16 meters high, two to three meters thick and had 40 towers. Other data mention 46 or even almost 60 towers. 26 towers and 1.85 kilometers of city walls have been preserved to this day.

Another modernization took place in the 17th century under Swedish rule. Before the old tower Kiek in de Kok was Bastion Ingermanland , at the harbor in front of the Fat Margaret , the Bastion Scania built.

In the middle of the 19th century, as in other cities, the demolition of the city fortifications began. The bastions, which had become militarily insignificant, and parts of the older city fortifications were removed . In terms of monument protection, however, it was decided to largely preserve the historical fortifications. Today the city fortifications are an important sight of the city. In place of the demolished bastions, parks such as the Lindaberg were often used .

literature

• 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. 34
• Kristina Porgasaar: Tallinn. Translation into German: Kaja Ziegler. Grenader Grupp, Tallinn 2012, p. 41 ff.
• Valeri Sepp, Tallinn History of an Unusual City , Felistella, Estonia 2013, ISBN 978-9949-9264-8-0 , p. 54 ff.

Web links

Commons : Revaler Stadtbefestigung  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Valeri Sepp, Tallinn History of an Unusual City , Felistella, Estonia 2013, ISBN 978-9949-9264-8-0 , p. 54
2. ↑ Kristina Porgasaar: Tallinn. Translation into German: Kaja Ziegler. Grenader Grupp, Tallinn 2012, p. 41

Coordinates: 59 ° 26 ′ 24.8 "  N , 24 ° 44 ′ 33"  E