St John's Lutheran Church


Dating to at least 1323, this imposing red-brick church is unique for the rare terracotta sculptures placed in niches around its exterior and interior (look up). Shattered by a Soviet bombing raid in 1944, it long lay derelict, and wasn't fully restored until 2005. Climb the 135 steps of the 30m steeple for a bird’s-eye view of Tartu.


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1. Citizen’s Home Museum

0.05 MILES

This handsome wooden house, dating to the 1740s and nestled in one of the oldest surviving sections of the city, is furnished to show how a bourgeois…

2. Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum

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Chronicling more than just Estonian Olympic excellence (although the glittering medal display serves that purpose admirably), this offbeat museum has a…

3. Tartu Toy Museum

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A big hit with the under-eight crowd (and you won’t see too many adults anxious to leave), this is a great place to while away a few rainy hours. Set in…

4. Tartu University

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Fronted by six Doric columns, the impressive main building of Tartu University was built between 1803 and 1809. The university itself was founded in 1632…

5. Tartu University Art Museum

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Within the main university building, this collection comprises mainly 19th-century plaster copies of ancient Greek sculptures, plus some mummies and other…

6. Tartu University Botanical Gardens

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Founded in 1803, these lush, mature gardens nurture 6500 species, including a large collection of palms and other exotics in the greenhouse. In summer it…

7. Town Hall

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Built between 1782 and 1789, this graceful building was designed by German architect JHB Walter, who modelled it on a typical Dutch town hall. The clear…

8. Town Hall Square

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Tartu’s main square is lined with grand buildings and echoes with the chink of glasses and plates in summer. The centrepiece is the town hall itself,…