There was a fine view of this tower, Pikk Hermann, from the fifth floor of one of the Radissons in Tallinn.
It is part of Toompea castle, was first built in the 14th century and has 215 steps up to a viewing platform. I have not been up yet (it is open three days a year), nor have I been inside the parliament which sits in the castle (not open for individual visitors until next month). At 7.00 every morning I could hear music, the same music, the Estonian national anthem; a mystery Wikipedia solved.
“The national flag, a blue-black-white tricolour measuring 191 centimetres (75 in) by 300 centimetres (120 in), is raised and the national anthem is played at the time of sunrise (or at 7 am, whichever is later) and lowered at the time of sunset. While it is lowered, the melody of “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (My Fatherland Is My Love) is heard. For the first time, the national flag was raised to the top of Pikk Hermann in 1918, when Estonia became an independent country. The Soviet troops who later occupied Estonia lowered the flag from the tower in the summer of 1940 and later replaced it with the flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. The original flag was raised back on the tower on February 24, 1989. Since then, raising the flag to the top of the tower is one of the traditions of Estonia’s Independence Day.” (Wikipedia)
There are 101 parliamentary seats of which 37 are held by the Reform party and the rest by five other parties. I do not know what the Reform agenda is but I do sense disillusion with politicians in Estonia in general. But I digress. Across the courtyard in front of the parliament is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. You can see one of the onion domes in the background of the top photograph. It is Eastern Orthodox and richly (that means a lot of gold) decorated. The iconostasis is very fine but photography is not allowed. It looks so good because a lot of money was spent restoring it when Estonia broke away from the Soviet Union. This makes it all the more surprising that demolition has been mooted for the last hundred years.
“After Estonia had become an independent country, the parliament and government, by the popular demand, had to discuss and consider removing the cathedral on multiple occasions in the 1920s and 1930s, however no final decision on the demolition of the building was ever made.
In 1924 Estonian architect Karl Bur-man proposed to demolish Cathedral or rebuild it to the Pantheon of Estonian Independence. The demolishing was planned on 1 May 1929 but was cancelled.
Since 2022, the issue of demolishing or relocating the Cathedral has been revived in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – initially on social media and blogs – among others, Mario Kadastik, member of Estonian parliament from ruling Estonian Reform Party proposed to create a park in its place. – and later in media publications.” (Wikipedia)
I can reassure you that this blog does not advocate demolition. Goodness knows we have seen enough significant architecture demolished in the British Isles, particularly since World War Two. It is often said that town planners did a better job than the Luftwaffe destroying the centres of towns and cities.