Construction of Toompea Castle

Toompea Castle stands on Toompea hill, a limestone plateau overlooking the old town of Tallinn, which was for centuries the seat of the rulers of Estonia. A fortress was built there in the early thirteenth century, after the Danes conquered northern Estonia, and it was then taken over by the Livonian Order, which rebuilt it as a convent-style castle with four towers. It later served as the seat of Swedish and Russian governors. The tall tower known as Pikk Hermann, Tall Hermann, carries the national flag of Estonia. Today the castle complex houses the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, while the pink baroque front facing the square was added in the eighteenth century as a governor's palace.

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