Just outside the Old Town’s southern border is Vabaduse väljak (“Freedom Square”), a large open space formerly used for parades on Soviet holidays, and given a thorough re-vamp in 2009.

The Freedom Monument

The square is overlooked by the Freedom Monument, erected in 2009 to commemorate the struggle to establish the first Estonian republic in 1918-20. Comprising a large Estonian cross mounted on a 24m-high pillar of dimpled glass, it looks rather like an ice sculpture that’s in imminent danger of melting – a deliberate effect designed to symbolize freedom’s fragile nature. The monument is a controversial piece of work, however, with many Tallinners regarding it as an overstated patriotic gesture rather than the dignified memorial the square needs.

Modernist buildings

Elsewhere, the square boasts several architectural monuments dating back to the inter-war years. Standing on the northern side of the square is the seven-storey modernist cube erected by an Estonian building society in 1934 and clearly intended as a muscular statement of the republic’s self-confidence. Also dating from the 1930s – and a major institution ever since – is the Tallinn Art Hall (Tallinna Kunstihoone), whose high-profile exhibitions showcase the best in contemporary Estonian art.

The EKA building

The dominant feature of the south side of the square is a vivacious red-brick structure built for the EKA insurance company in 1931 and now serving as the seat of Tallinn City Council; its facade is enlivened by chevrons and zany brickwork patterns.