Estonia · 13th century
The Walls of Tallinn are the medieval defensive walls constructed around the city of Tallinn in Estonia.
The first wall around Tallinn was ordered to be constructed by Margaret Sambiria in 1265 resulting in its name, the 'Margaret Wall.' This wall was less than 5 metres (16 ft) tall and about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) thick at its base. Since that time it has been enlarged and strengthened. The walls and the many gates are still largely extant today. This is one of the reasons that Tallinn's old town became a World Heritage Site. The walls were enlarged in the fourteenth century, and citizens of Tallinn were required to turn out for guard duty, which meant to wear their armour and demonstrate their readiness to face invaders.
Text adapted from “Walls of Tallinn” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Walls of Tallinn ranks #1,101 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #9 of the 36 mapped in Estonia. Founded 1265, it is older than 66% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 1090 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,088 times in the last 60 days, more than 78% of the atlas. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Tallinn, 1 km away. See how Estonia compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →