| Kadriorg (Tallinn) | |
 | |
Location  | |
| State | Estonia |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Estonia |
Kadriorg is a neighborhood of Kesklinn, the central district of the city of Tallinn.
To know
The name of the neighborhood in Estonian means "valley of Catherine" and refers to the vast park surrounding the building built by Peter I the great for his second wife Catherine destined to succeed him on the throne in 1725.
Much of the neighborhood is occupied by the magnificent palace park inside and at the edge of which are other prominent attractions listed below.
Kadriorg also has a number of hotels but these are not competitive with those of Kesklinn or of the old City and the prices are generally higher. Even the restaurants in Kadriorg are not as popular as those in other areas of the country city and the nightlife is almost absent.
Geographical notes
The district extends along the seafront of the bay of Tallinn where there is a narrow beach not equipped and not at all inviting at the height of the Aquamarine hotel. On the border with the Lasnamägi district it presents a slight but abrupt rise where the modern museum of fine arts is located (KUMU) and the house museum of Peter the Great.
The district has an area of 2.56 km² and a population of less than 4000 inhabitants as there are many green areas within it. Its inhabitants are 70% nationals Estonian and the remainder of mother tongue Russian. The proportion of the latter, in the majority at the time of Soviet rule, has progressively decreased since the restoration of the independence ofEstonia of 1991.
The district borders to the north with the tourist district of Pirita, to the east and southeast with the populous Lasnamägi district and to the west with the rest of Town center.
Background
The history of the neighborhood is connected to that of the building of the same name. Four years after he snatched the swedes the domains ofEstonia and of Livonia, Tsar Peter I of Russia visited the city of Tallinn. He was so impressed by the view of the sea and the harbor from the Lasnamägi hill that he decided to buy a small Dutch-style manor house and the vast surrounding plots of land from the local Drenteln nobles and set them up as a park. Since the manor on the Lasnamägi hill was very modest, the Tsar ordered the construction of a Baroque palace in 1718, entrusting it to the Italian architect Nicola Michetti who had just finished tidying up the gardens of the Peterhof palace in the surroundings of St.Pietroburgo.
The neighborhood developed around the gardens of the palace. Some old wooden houses still remain standing sloboda on 1 via Jaan Poska at number 33 and later. These houses on the western edge of the park housed servants, gardeners and craftsmen in the service of the tsars.
In the 19th century, Kadriorg became an upper middle-class neighborhood as opposed to eastern neighborhoods such as Kalamaja exclusively proletarian in character. It was frequented by vacationers from Tallinn and by members of the Russian imperial family itself. In 1832 the three daughters of the emperor stayed in Kadriorg Nicholas I. In 1881, the Koževnikov restaurant and the "Georg Witte" bathing establishments were inaugurated at 80 on the expressway (maantee) Narva of which today remains a surviving construction. At the end of the century, numerous cottages and real villas were built surrounded by large parks. The most significant examples are villa Patria (Jaan Poska 36a), villa Mon Repos (Narva maantee 92) and villa Favorita (Narva maantee 108). In 1880, the third Estonian Song Festival was held in Kadriorg.
In the period before World War I and after, condominiums were erected between Köler and Vesivärava streets and other Art Deco villas in the local dolomite stone between Weizenberg and Koidula streets. In 1926 the Kadriorg stadium was completed and in 1938 the presidential palace erected right in front of that of Peter the Great.
On 9 March 1944 the neighborhood suffered a heavy attack by theAir Force of the Soviet Union. During the bombing the deposit inside the park where works of art were kept was destroyed. In 1956, the open-air theater "Lauluväljak" was completed, where today the five-year festival of Estonian singing takes place.
Today Kadriorg has retained its characteristics of a bourgeois district in the center and much of its wooded heritage.
How to orient yourself
Kadriorg: full screen map.Assuming that from the center you have taken a tram of lines 1 or 3, getting off at the Kadriorg stop you will find the main entrance to the park and the beginning of the August Weizenbergi avenue that cuts through the park in all its length ending at the museum of Arts. The main attractions of the park are located along the boulevard.
The main artery of Kadriorg is the Narva expressway (maantee) which starts from central Viru square, on the edge of the old City. At the height of the monument to Rusalka, maantee Nerva forks into Pirita tee, the avenue along the sea that ends inhomonym district. Along the Pirita tee is one of the entrances to the open-air theater "Lauluväljak".
How to get
- Line 1 trams come from the Kopli terminus and stop at the central station (Balti Jamm - district of Kalamaja and at the center (Hobujaama stop, near the Viru shopping center).
- The trams of line 3 follow the same route as those of line 1 only for the stretch from the Hobujaama in stop center in Kadriorg. They do not come from Balti Jamm central station but from the terminus in the peripheral district of Kristiine and cross the southern sector of the center.
Buses of lines 31, 67 and 68 come from the center and stop at the Estonian art museum. You can pick them up from the stop in front of the opera house or the next one at the Virus shopping center (via Gonsioni).
Other buses that from the underground terminus of the Viru shopping center make intermediate stops in the district are those of lines 1a, 8, 19, 29, 34a, 35, 38, 44, 51.
Keep in mind that buses are not as frequent as trams. To get information in real time you need to download theMoovit App or consult the site of the urban transport company or that of the portal peatus.
How to get around
What see
- Kadriorg Park (Kadrioru park), A. Weizenbergi 26, ☎ 372 601 4548.
Mon-Sun 00: 00-24: 00. 
Mon-Sun 00: 00-24: 00.
- 2 [link not working]Kadriorg Palace (Kadrioru loss), Weizenbergi 37. Russian imperial summer residence built by the Italian architect Niccolò Michetti for Tsar Peter the Great in 1718. It is located within a magnificent park of 90 hectares. The tsar himself preferred to stay in a modest house nearby. This event marked the beginning of the fame of Tallinn as a summer resort for the Russian nobles and wealthy for most of the 18th and 19th centuries. The public can only visit the wing of the building where some collections of paintings and other works of art from the Estonian Museum of Art are exhibited.
- 3 Office of the President of the Estonian Republic, A. Weizenbergi 39, ☎ 372 631 6202, fax: 372 631 6250, @[email protected]. A 1938 mansion, designed by architect Alar Kotli in a neoclassical style according to the wishes of the then president Konstantin Päts and also so as not to clash with the palace of Peter the Great which is right in front of it. The interiors are not open to the public but you can try by sending a request to the e-mail or telephone or fax address listed here. The entrance for visitors is through a side door.
- 4 Estonian Museum of Art (Kumu kunstimuuseum), Weizenbergi 37 (From the Hobujaama del tram stop center take a tram of lines 1 or 3 and get off at the Kadriorg stop. Walk to the end of the Weizenbergi avenue that crosses the Kadriorg park in all its length and you will find yourself at the entrance of the museum), ☎ 372 602 6000, fax: 372 602 6002, @[email protected]. The museum was inaugurated in February 2006 with a ceremony in the presence of the Estonian president Arnold Rüütel and the Finnish president Tarja Halonen. The building that houses the collections was designed by the Finnish architect Pekka Juhani Vapaavuori (born in 1962), winner of an international competition held in 1993-1994 which saw 233 participants of which just under half were architects of Finnish nationality.
- The building has seven floors, two of which are underground, has a round plan and a total surface area of around 25,000 m². Materials such as dolomite, wood and copper were used for its construction, all of which are part of the Estonian tradition.
- The collections constitute a cross-section of the history of art Estonian from the Middle Ages to the present day. The works on display are about 60,000, the oils on canvas about 6,000. Among the latter, the paintings of Johann Köler (1826 - 1899), by Ants Laikmaa (1866 - 1942), exponent of impressionism and those of the twin brothers Kristjan and Paul Raud,
- 5 Mikkel Museum (Mikkeli muuseum), A. Weizenbergi 28, ☎ 372 606 6400, 372 601 5844 (ticket office), fax: 372 602 6002, @[email protected]. Tue 10: 00-18: 00, Wed 10: 00-20: 00, Thu-Sun 10: 00-18: 00. The museum is a branch of the museum exhibiting collections of art and porcelain, donated by the art collector Johannes Mikkel in 1994. The most interesting part of the art collections is made up of paintings by artists of various nationalities and from different eras, from Albrecht Dürer is Lucas Cranach to Rembrandt is Claude Lorrain. A painting by Antoon van Dyck depicting the artist's studio. In the porcelain collections there are Chinese and other pieces from the Sèvres factory, from the royal factory of Copenhagen and from the Russian imperial one.
- The museum is housed in the former kitchens of the Kadriorg palace.
- 6 House Museum of Peter the Great (Peeter I majamuuseum), ☎ 372 601 3136.
Free admission for Tallinn Card holders.. Mon-Thu 10: 00-18: 00, Fri 10: 00-19: 00, Sat 10: 00-18: 00, Sun 10: 00-17: 00. The museum exhibition includes a living room, a dining room, a bedroom, an attic and a cellar. The museum exhibit contains unique objects that surrounded Peter I and Catherine I during their time in Tallinn while the nearby palace was completed. The museum also has a unique collection of paintings. Tours, museum courses and lectures take place in the museum. Events can be organized for smaller groups in the rooms. In 1941 the house became a branch of the Tallinn City Museum.
Free admission for Tallinn Card holders.. - 7 Rusalka Monument, Pirita tee 1. Monument of 1902 erected in memory of the victims of the sinking of the ship Rusalka (siren), which took place in September 1893 in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. The wreck was found, thanks to sonar research, only in July 2003. It was embedded in an almost vertical position in the seabed and was in perfect condition due to the low temperature of the water.
- The monument is the work of the Estonian sculptor Amandus Adamson and depicts a bronze angel placed on a high marble base. One hand of the angel holds an Orthodox cross facing in the direction of the shipwreck.
- 8 Pae Park (bus 68 towards Priisle, get off at the KUMU stop and then walk for about 300m). Free. An old quarry in the largest residential district of Tallinn, transformed into a beautiful park. You can also see a lighthouse in the center.
What to do
Shopping
How to have fun
- 1 Auditorium of the Estonian Song Festival (Lauluväljak), Narva maantee 95, ☎ 372 611 2102. Mon-Fri 09: 00-17: 00. Open-air theater built in 1959 as a dedicated space for the Estonian song festival. The stage is covered and very large: choruses of 15,000 people can perform there. The stage is flanked by a 42m fire tower. accessible to visitors and open all year round at the times indicated.
- In addition to the festival, the auditorium often sees performances by singers or bands of international fame. In 1997 Michael Jackson drew 75,000 spectators while Madonna sold out in 2009. More recently Lady Gaga, Robbie Williams and Andrea Boccelli performed on the auditorium stage.
Where to eat
Moderate prices
- 1 Vesivärava kohvik, Vesivärava 42, ☎ 372 5645 9566. Mon-Sat 07: 30-19: 00, Sun 10: 00-18: 00.
- 2 Gourmet Coffee, Lydia Koidula 13a. Mon-Thu 09: 00–21: 00, Fri 09: 00–22: 00, Sat 10: 00–22: 00, Sun 10: 00–21: 00.
- 3 Taverna Del Gallo Nero, Jaan Poska 45, ☎ 372 601 3344. Mon-Sun 11: 00-23: 00.
Where stay
Average prices
- 1 Aquamarine Pirita Hotel, Pirita tee 20, ☎ 372 600 0010.
