Tallinn

Photographer's Note

Medieval forts, which first appeared during the early development of the medieval city in the latter 13th century, surrounded the downtown to create a closed-o. defense zone. Constant additions and improvements meant that, by the 16th century, Tallinn boasted one of the most powerful and strongest defense systems in Northern Europe. The town wall was then 3m thick and 16m high, stretching 4km around the city, and connecting 46 defense towers. Today, 2km of the original wall and 26 of the towers remain intact.

Tallinn (recent historical name: Reval) is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia. It is located on Estonia's north coast to the Baltic Sea, 80 kilometres south of Helsinki.
In 1154 Tallinn was marked on the world map of the Arab cartographer al-Idrisi.
As an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia, it became a target for the expansion of the Teutonic Knights and Kingdom of Denmark during the period of Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century when Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in 1219.
In 1285 the city became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League - a mercantile and military alliance of German-dominated cities in Northern Europe. The Danes sold Tallinn along with their other land possessions in northern Estonia to the Teutonic Order in 1345. Medieval Tallinn enjoyed a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between Western and Northern Europe and Russia. The city, with a population of 8,000, was very well fortified with city walls and 66 defence towers.
With the start of the reformation the German influence became even stronger. In 1561 Tallinn became a dominion of Sweden.
During the Great Northern War the Swedish troops based in Tallinn capitulated to Imperial Russia in 1710, but the local Baltic German rulers retained their cultural and economical autonomy within Tsarist Russia. The 19th century brought industrialization of the city and the port kept its importance. During the last decades of the century Russification became stronger.
On 24 February 1918 the Independence Manifesto was proclaimed in Tallinn, followed by German occupation and a war of independence with Russia. On 2 February 1920 the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed with Soviet Russia, wherein Russia acknowledged the independence of the Estonian Republic. Tallinn became the capital of the independent Estonia. After World War II started Estonia was annexed by the USSR as a result of coup with help of the Red Army in 1940-41, and later invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941-44. After Nazi retreat in 1944 it was restored as part of the USSR again. After the annexion into the Soviet Union, Tallinn became the capital of the Estonian SSR.
In August 1991 an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established and a period of quick development to a modern European capital ensued.

Albrecht, dawekato, Paolo, dorte_s_t, pablominto, cunejo200, Deepforest, emjleclercq, carper, TeresaT, Wanda1, daburg, pasternak, zeca, Angshu, berek, Andrzej_HHH, npecanhuk has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Albrecht (11283) 2006-11-10 10:22

Hi George
I like the scene of that old place.Nice soft colours and atmosphere. Only the new part of town in th right upper corner should not be there.....
grs.Albrecht

dawekato (2269) 2006-11-10 10:25

Great POV. Excellent exposure and colour. Informative note. Bravo! Gratulalok!

Paolo (41258) 2006-11-10 10:52

Hi George wonderful view, really colorful and captured from a great POV. excellent note too.
thanks, and have a nice w.e.
ciao

oriolm (1142) 2006-11-10 11:25

All colors in one: green fields, yellw fa蓷des, red roofs... and a fantastic point of view!

flory (4848) 2006-11-10 11:30

ciao George,
excellent POV and amazing atmosphere is here..good exposure and colors..
tks for informative note,
have a nice weekend,
flory

dorte_s_t (2287) 2006-11-10 12:05

Hi , George .
Excellent photo and note !
I like your composition - and wonder how could you take this photo - from a plane ?
The newer part of Tallin in the upper right corner doesn't matter to me - that's how it is , but my eye feels a bit " provoked" by the extremely bright green colour of the grass...
Anyway :
I like your photo :o)
Have a nice weekend !
Greetings
Dorte.

danyy (0) 2006-11-10 12:13

Bonjour George,
Un POV en altitude vraiment parfait pour montrer l'angle le plus avantageux. On y voit un agr嶧ble environnement de verdure qui s廧arce cette vieille ville des endrois plus modernes.
Couleurs vives, lumi鋨es parfaites, une mise au point pr嶰ise.
Regards.
Daniel.

pablominto (53746) 2006-11-10 12:45

Hello George,
I like these images of cities and towns shot from above!
The old town is well framed and captured with very good clarity in colours, the red roofs are always attractive...
Fine details in the ancient architecture, all presented in a good composition!
Greetings,
Pablo -

cunejo200 (7281) 2006-11-10 13:03

Hi George,
The colors in this composition are quite attractive. Also very well composed with good DOF. Best wishes. Danilo

bakes888 (18499) 2006-11-10 13:53

Hi George. Nice photo. I like the colours and unusual POV. The green belt around the wall is a good border also. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

Deepforest (9260) 2006-11-10 14:24

Hi George,
very nice, colourful picture... I love Tallinn and its atmosphere :) I would like to return to Tallinn in the future... The photo... fantastic perspective from the height. It seems be a dummy...
Very well done. Best regards,
Andrzej

imrek (4) 2006-11-10 14:46

Hi George,
nice panorama shot from the top of Niguliste Church...well done!!!
regards,
imre
PS. Tallin was long long time before occupation and and after that capital city of Estonia!

emjleclercq (15778) 2006-11-10 16:38

I really enjoyed Tallinn and this nearly aerial view is very spectacular, provide an excellent image of the surrounding walls. Very goodframing and colors and godd sharpness. But the point of view remains the best of the picture. I wonder from where you managed to get that.

Thanks for sharing,

Emmanuel

MIG13 (0) 2006-11-10 19:29

Hi, George! A surprising walled city, in a composition that mixes roofs and green in a good balance! A very good note, as ever! Well done, my friend! Best regards! Miguel.

carper (96) 2006-11-11 3:54

very nice one George,
very nic point of view, good light and very good details, beautiful colours, very nice job.
gr. jaap

TeresaT (10806) 2006-11-11 17:18

Hello George,
beautiful aereal viewof this medieval fort.
Perfect details of the houses and a great mix of strong warm colours tthat really contrast with the green environment.
Regards
Teresa

chanjits (4460) 2006-11-11 19:38

again a marvelous city shot dear nice contrast of earthy orange roofs with lush green grass well detailed and marvelous depth of field. Thanks for sharing.

capthaddock (28790) 2006-11-11 19:55

Hi George - wondeful colours despite the seeemingly overcast weather, the old town looks very charming, wil only a minimal glimpse of the industrial aspects at the upper right corner.

Wanda1 (15142) 2006-11-12 1:22

Hi George,
Great colours here, the buildings contrsting so well aginst the green of the trees and grass.
I love your point of view from above and you have captured some great details on the buildings.
Regards
Wanda

pasternak (15185) 2006-11-12 17:18

Hi George, always nice to visit your gallery. Here you show an aerial view of one of the most beautiful old cities in Eastern Europe, I've been there in 1990. Love the POV and the saturated colours of the tower tops.

Cheers
Alexander

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2006-11-13 2:03

A pleasant reminder for me of my trip to Tallinn last year. Such a beautiful place, calm, old architecture...beautiful !!! Your picture have captured this beautiful town very well.
Achim

Angshu (56760) 2006-11-13 3:55

Hello George
The view from the hight POV is specatcular. the colours especially of the turrets are wonderful. Composition wise also you've done very well with the main attraction kept to the left in a diagonal. Bravo here!
Regards
Angshu

sabyasachi1212 (19779) 2006-11-13 13:10

Hi George,
This picture reminds me so much your pictures from Riga which attracted me to your gallery in the first place. Excellent combination of colours and the POV looking down at the city is pretty unique.
With Greetings from India
Sabyasachi

zeca (19762) 2006-11-13 22:11

Hi George!
Nice medieval architecture presented from this nice POV. Its nice to see all that roofs and its beautiful colours!
Regards,
Zeca

berek (50518) 2006-11-14 1:51

Hi George,
outstanding work. I like all roofs . good point of view and composition. congratulations.
have a nice day.
Burak
my overall evaluation -> ****

Andrzej_HHH (2480) 2006-11-14 20:00

Great overwiev of the city, very good frame, interesting perspective. Sharpness and very natural colors are also stong point of this picture. Very good post! With best regards! Andrzej

sothy81 (9646) 2006-11-15 10:37

Hi George: Very beautiful picture with great color contrast between the green trees and the orange roof. Great contribution from Estonia. Sothy.

paura (25802) 2006-12-06 12:01

George,
Interesting this POV. This is a beautiful place, full of colors and nice shapes. Nice note.

Regards

Paulo

npecanhuk (79329) 2008-02-14 6:00

Hi There!
From this side of the world, it's kind of difficult to hear about Estonia! So, nothing more special than seeing such wonderful pictures from this Country!
Great picture!
Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing!
Neyvan Pe蓷nhuk - Brazil