Church of the Holy Spirit
Gothic place of worship
At the northern end of Town Hall Square a small passage, Saiakang, leads through to Pühavaimu tänav and one of the city’s most appealing churches, the Church of the Holy Spirit (Pühavaimu kirik).
A small Gothic building with stepped gables, it originally served as the Town Hall chapel before becoming the main church of Tallinn’s Estonian-speaking population. In 1535, priests from the church compiled an Estonian-language Lutheran catechism, an important affirmation of identity at a time when most Estonians had been reduced to serfdom. The ornate clock set into the wall above the entrance, dating from 1680, is Tallinn’s oldest public timepiece.
The interior of the church – dark-veneered wood and cream-painted walls – has an intimate beauty and contains one of the city’s most significant pieces of religious art, an extraordinary triptych centred on an intricately rendered grouping of painted wooden statuettes representing the Descent of the Holy Ghost (1483) by the Lübeck master Berndt Notke (1430–1509).
Open: Monday - Saturday 11:00 - 16:00
Tickets: €2