Old postcards Estonia

Nearly all the Soviet postcards of Estonia in this section show Tallinn, and they capture two layers of the city. The medieval one dominates the 1978 cards: Tallinn Town Hall and a view of Town Hall Square, the narrow Lühike lane, the Kiek in de Kök artillery tower, Tall Hermann tower and a stretch of the town wall on Nooruse Street. A 1973 card of the towers of Tallinn’s defensive wall continues the theme.

The Soviet layer appears in the same 1973 and 1978 sets: Hotel Viru, Estonia’s first high-rise building, opened in June 1972; the Mustamäe housing district and its new blocks; the Song Festival Grounds with the arched stage built in 1959; the Maarjamäe memorial ensemble; the flower pavilion on Pirita Road and a sailing regatta in Tallinn Bay. Official buildings feature too: the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR (1973) and the Central Committee building of the Communist Party of Estonia (1980).

Kadriorg is represented by its palace, the Kadriorg café and the Russalka monument, unveiled in 1902 in memory of the warship lost in 1893, as the caption of the 1978 card notes. Tartu has a handful of cards from 1976 and 1978: the bridge on Toomemägi, the Kaunas restaurant, and a 1976 card combining a pedestrian bridge with the Vanemuine theatre.

What you see are the printed 1973–1980 cards themselves, scanned rather than restyled; other Estonian towns in the collection will join Tallinn and Tartu over time.