Niguliste kirik church description and photos - Estonia: Tallinn (Topic)

Niguliste kirik church description and photos - Estonia: Tallinn. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Niguliste kirik.

Photo and description

One of the most famous buildings in Tallinn is the Niguliste Church, located between Harju and Rataskaevu streets. The first written mention of the church dates back to 1316. The church was built with money from German merchants who moved to Tallinn from the island of Gotland, and is named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of seafarers. Previously, the building was used not only as a temple and a reliable fortress, but also as a place for storing especially valuable goods. In the following centuries, the church building was repeatedly rebuilt and completed.

The Niguliste Church is the only one of the churches of the Lower City that did not suffer or underwent ruin during the Lutheran Reformation in 1524. The parish headman filled all the church castles with lead. Thanks to this "trick", an angry crowd of townspeople having already destroyed the churches of St. Olav and St. Catherine in the Dominican monastery, she simply could not get into the church of Niguliste. Thus, the decoration of the church was preserved.

The building suffered most of all during the Second World War, during the bombing in March 1944. However, some works of art have been preserved. Some of them include a carved wooden altar. It was made in 1482 by the famous Lubeck master Hermain Rohde. Coats of arms, stone gravestones, a seven-candle chandelier, and epitaphs were also preserved. Another surviving value is the preserved part of the famous painting "The Dance of Death", painted by the famous Lubeck artist Bernt Notke. The painting depicts people of different classes, and next to them are dancing figures of death, luring people into a dance. The picture will help everyone to think about the frailty of life and the inevitability of judgment.

To the south of the Niguliste church, there is an old linden tree called Kelkh, which is considered the oldest tree in the city, its age is more than 300 years. According to legend, a famous chronicler, a pastor of the Church, who died during the plague that raged in the city in 1710, is buried under this tree.

Not far from the church, at the end of Rataskaevu Street, where the building rests against the city wall, there is an unremarkable one-story house. But earlier they were afraid to even walk past him. In those days, an executioner lived here. His sword was engraved with the following inscription: "The grace and faithfulness of God are renewed every morning, raising the sword, I help the sinner to gain eternal life." But not only with the help of the sword could the sinner leave the world of the living. A gallows and a wheel were depicted on the blade of the sword, thus demonstrating other methods of execution. An exact copy of this sword of justice is kept in the town hall, in a branch of the Tallinn City Museum.

Today, the Niguliste Church is a historical museum of sacred art, where an exhibition covering more than seven hundred years of medieval and post-reform Estonia is organized. In addition, the building has excellent acoustics, so organ concerts are often held here, as well as all kinds of lectures, excursions and other educational events.

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Topic: Niguliste kirik church description and photos - Estonia: Tallinn.