Estonian Experience
Best Private and Small Group Tours in Estonia
Comments from John about our Soviet Legacy Tour
15.10.09, Eva-Maria, Comments: 0We got a really wonderful and thorough comment from one of our Soviet Legacy Tour participants - John Chappell from UK - which might be of interest also to other travellers. Thanks a lot, John!
Feedback on Soviet Legacy Tour
Tallin is a beautiful, fascinating city, part of its’ charm is derived from the years of Soviet occupation, a lot more from how the Estonian people have emerged from their country’s annexation. Forget what you think you know about occupation by the Soviet Union, it was different in Estonia. This was not simply the imposition of an economic and political system, there was a concerted attempt to erase the Estonian national identity. The language, the flag even the national flower, were subject to degrees of censorship.
This Soviet legacy tour will give you a good introduction to the modern history of Estonia, how the culture survived occupation, the changes since independence and the effect of a large ethnically Russian minority in the population. There are straightforward relics of the Soviet regime, the grim KGB headquarters (note the bricked up cellar windows), and the nightmarish Paratei prison, with its’ incongruous shoreline location.
The story gets more complicated at the Song Grounds complex however. This building was regarded in its’ day as a landmark modernist construction, its’ main significance to Estonians though, is as the site where the first tentative steps towards independence were taken in the “Singing Revolution.” Another highlight is the legendary “Bronze Soldier”, who was originally titled the “Monument to the liberators of Tallinn” not a name to endear him to anyone other than the Baltic Russian population of Estonia. You’ll also hear how the statue was moved from the original location in “Liberators Square in central Tallinn and the resulting riots, known as “Bronze Night”.
The Tallinn TV tower was built to support the transmission of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, part of which was staged in Estonia. It is still operational though undergoing refurbishment. The tower was also the site of an attempted takeover, by Soviet forces in 1991. Estonian radio operators foiled this assault with a mixture of ingenuity and no little courage. For the sake of some semblance of brevity, I’m going to stop here (or rather soon), I’ve not even mentioned the Maarjamae War memorial, the Sorus cinema and the Linnahall.
There’s also a bar your guide can show you that’s practically unchanged since the soviet days, complete with formica and charning Russian china cat. In summary, if you have any interest in modern history take this tour, go to the “Museum of Occupation” as well.
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