Researchers: Tallinn's Soviet-era Mustamäe district well worth exploring
Despite, or perhaps because of, its myriad of prefabricated buildings constructed during the Soviet era, researchers believe Tallinn's Mustamäe district has plenty of interesting places worth exploring.
While the average visitor to Tallinn usually spends most of their time exploring the Old Town, according to architecture historian Karin Paulus, Mustamäe, once planned as a kind of "satellite town," is also well worth a visit.
The construction of Mustamäe began 60 years ago with the campus of what is now Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech).
"This is definitely a place worth visiting. For example, the courtyard of the main building of the current TalTech is also a public space where you can see a variety of sculptures. The buildings constructed here in the 1960s and 1970s feature modernist composition alongside contemporary high-tech solutions. I highly recommend coming here for a walk. It is also worth going inside the building, having a coffee, and looking at Enn Põldroos' beautiful mosaic, which depicts youth," said Paulus.
On the apartment buildings opposite the American-style university campus, it is still possible to see the last remaining wall panels created by artists Valli Lember-Bogatkina and Margarete Fuchs. Many of the panels, including those entitled "Girl with a Dove" and "Children Playing" have already been hidden underneath insulation. The same fate awaits those that remain visible.
Mustamäe fits neatly with the modern principle of the "15-minute city": each micro district had kindergartens, schools, shops near the houses, as well as pubs, such as "Kännu Kukk." In addition to the university and hospital, there was a separate industrial zone here – only the center of the district was never built up.
However, if the grandiose plans of the Soviet era had been implemented, what is now Männi Park would not exist—in its place there would be shopping malls, a cinema, a cultural center and a registry office. Today, only the name of the trolleybus stop "Keskuse" remains from those plans.
Another unusual attraction in Mustamäe is the series of "home" stores, where a hairdresser's, a post office, and a registry office were all located next to what were then ultra-modern self-service shops.
"Each ABC shopping complex was built according to a different design. For example, if we look at ABC 8, we can see that the architects took the landscape into account – the building is located on several levels. ABC 5 is very interesting – it is an open courtyard. The ABC next to the Kaja Cultural Center is very spacious, and I like the layout of its windows. Looking at them, you can imagine how new architecture came to Tallinn," said Denis Yatsenko, director of The People's Museum of Tallinn.
Mustamäe also occupies an important place in Estonia's cultural history, with writer Mati Unt and artists Mare and Tõnis Vint all living in the district. According to Karin Paulus, the buildings where they lived ought to be marked with commemorative plaques.
"There are so many layers of history here – and it shows that it is not only the people who lived in the Old Town or in the luxurious houses of the 1930s who are of value. This gives the area and those who research it a nice additional layer of meaning," said Paulus.
Mustamäe is also home to one of Estonia's first underground parking lots, as well as a new Lutheran church, the architecture of which blends in perfectly with its surroundings.
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Editor: Michael Cole,
