Ornate door and building
Architecture,  Estonia,  Thursday Doors,  Travel galleries

Gallery: the doors of Tallinn

What is it that makes so many doors and windows beg to be photographed? Is it that they intrigue us by hinting at what might lie beyond, if we were to open them? Or more simply, that they provide decoration and interest to what would otherwise be blank walls?

I enjoy photographing all sorts of architectural details but there is something especially interesting about doors and windows. Doors in particular present us with an array of patterns, colours, textures, and designs that can come to define our lasting impressions of a town, city or even a country. One such place, for me, was Tallinn.

As I walked around the oldest parts of the city, both the lower and upper towns, I was struck by the large number of beautiful wooden doors on the old buildings. They remain one of my abiding memories of a European city that became a firm favourite among the many I have visited.

The photo featured above is of the entrance to the Blackheads Guild House. Its door dates from 1640, but the hall to which it gives entry is even older, built mainly in the late 16th century with a Dutch Renaissance faรงade. The Brotherhood of Blackheads was one of the most powerful of Tallinnโ€™s medieval guilds. Its members were all young, single merchants and foreigners. This Brotherhood was founded sometime around 1399. It was active only in Estonia and Latvia, never taking hold in the rest of Europe.

Below is a selection of the many other striking doors of this beautiful city, posted in response to the Thursday Doors challenge:

  • Ornate pink door
  • Ornate green door
  • Green door
  • Ornate green and gold door
  • Grey and blue door
  • Open door with steps inside
  • Door with steps and flower boxes
  • Ornate green and gold door

I visited Tallinn in 2014 and 2015. Most of these photos were taken on my first visit.

27 Comments

  • ourcrossings

    This is such a wonderful post! I’ve been to Tallinn several times and always look forward to wandering its streets in search of cute doors – there are so many cute ones to choose from yet the doors of the House of the Brotherhood of Black Heads is my firm favourite. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day ๐Ÿ™‚ Aiva xx

  • Forestwood

    Oh wonderful doors. Craftsmenship was so proud in those days and rightly so, it is a testament to their skill. I have seen doors like this in Denmark and always stop to photograph them. I recall the first one, but not the second.

  • starship VT

    I visited Tallinn about 15 years ago but for some reason I don’t recall seeing lovely doors such as these so it’s nice to see those you saw and took photos of. Unique, colorful or interesting doors are also some of my favorite subjects for my photos — doors in Morocco and Tunisia being favorites so far. Oddly enough, an original photo I purchased and framed many years ago was of a door and the carved stone face above it taken at Sissinghurst Castle!!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      Thank you Sylvia ๐Ÿ™‚ I know you also enjoy photographing doors as I’ve seen them in your own blogs. I’m surprised you didn’t spot them in Tallinn though. When did you visit? Maybe they didn’t always paint them so colourfully? You would have loved that VT meet btw – a small friendly group and some really fun times together!

      • starship VT

        We visited in 2005, Sarah. If the doors you photographed were in Old Town, I’m surprised I missed them too or like you mention, maybe they only more recently began painting the doors in such fashion. I would have loved to have been at the Tallinn VT meet, but also in Riga. I love your photos of the Art Nouveau architecture there so I hope you will write about that very soon!!

        • Sarah Wilkie

          They were all in the Old Town – the Blackheads Guild House and the pink door in the lower part, and the others in the upper town near the orthodox cathedral, if I remember rightly! And yes, the Riga Art Nouveau buildings are on my ‘to do’ list for this blog ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Norm 2.0

    Welcome to #ThursdayDoors
    From this as well as other posts I have seen it sure seems that Tallinn is a hotbed of beautiful old architecture and some truly stunning doors. Thanks for sharing these ๐Ÿ™‚

  • katieshevlin62gmailcom

    You got me thinking about doors too! I like taking pictures of them too, got some nice ones somewhere of doors in Morocco. I agree Tallinn is beautiful! x

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