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The KGB Prison Cells are located at Pagari 1 in Tallinn in a structure that was constructed in 1912 as an apartment building. It was briefly used by the Estonian Provincial Government in 1918 and then by the Estonian Ministry of War between 1920 and 1940. Following the Soviet occupation of Tallinn, the building was taken over by the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs), which later became the KGB and they built the cells in 1941. It was opened as a museum in 2017 to remind visitors what totalitarian regimes were like and the cells used up until the late 1950s were made accessible.

We got free admission with our Tallinn Cards, but to visit individually it would be €9 which felt very excessive to me given that it’s effectively one corridor with some cells.

Susanna reading everything. There are some museums and galleries in the world where she has got there first thing in the morning and then had to leave at the end of the day as they’re closing. We use Bev to try and keep her under some control as otherwise Susanna rarely seems overwhelmed by the number of exhibits or the amount that there is to read.

That’s the reverse of a staircase and was used as a very tight cell. I’m slightly sceptical just how many times that this might have been used.

This old plan of the floor shows where the above cell is located. The only area open to the public is the corridor on the right hand side and the six cells.

It’s noted that chairs such as this were used for the interrogation of prisoners, although I’m not sure that this particular one actually comes from this building. There is though an interesting document written in 1977, which has been translated into English, which is on display as is a guide for prisoners on how they should behave during interrogation and questioning. It’s a ‘Samizdat’ document, which is means self-published and relates to documents that were copied and handed around to dissidents and members of the resistance movement.

The cells wouldn’t have been pleasant and those who found there way here would have nearly always ended up in a larger prison or would have been executed.

A cupboard. The museum claims that cupboards such as these would have been used from the 1940s until the 1980s to temporarily isolate individual prisoners, although that wouldn’t have happened here for that length of time. I’m not sure that the museum has much detail about this particular structure, although they say that it does come from the property. The cells were mostly cleared out in the 1950s, so there’s been a lot of imagination required here.

As with all these things, they’re useful reminders of the repression that took place in Tallinn during the Soviet occupation between 1945 and the late 1980s. However, the prison cells stopped being used by the KGB in the 1950s and although the museum notes that were “the most notorious cells in Estonia”, they weren’t much used as they were turned into a space for archives in the late 1950s. A visit here isn’t likely to take more than around twenty minutes, but it’s worth popping in for holders of the Tallinn Card and I’m glad that these have been preserved for future generations. It is though difficult to leave a museum such as this with feeling a slightly heavy heart for the dark side of history that feels so nearby so often.

I’ve already written about Jaan Poska (1866-1920), one of the architects of Estonian independence, but there are numerous representations of him around Estonia. This one was unveiled in 2016 in Kadriorg Park to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth and was designed by the sculptor Elo Liiv. Anyway, I mention this as the designers wanted him to be at street level as one of the people instead of on top of a pedestal removed from the people.

Located just after the Bastion Tunnels is the Carved Stone Museum, all of which is located within the Kiek in de Kök tower fortifications complex museum. There are over 200 carved stone fragments from around Tallinn and they date from between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

I rather get the impression that they didn’t know where to put this collection and here seemed as good as place as any. It’s one of those collections which museums need to keep, but are unlikely to attract enough tourists in their own right, so this seems like the perfect compromise.

It’s an interesting little arrangement.

There are short summaries about many of the pieces of stone, although not a great deal is known about a lot of them.

There were a few gravestones in the mix.

The stone background of the walls felt appropriate.

Some stalactites had started to form, it all added to the atmosphere somewhat.

Lots more stone and they’ve done a decent job here given that some of this was usually partly underwater about 25 years ago before they started the repairs. There are four different rooms, ‘Garden of Eden’, ‘Pillar Hall’, ‘Death Hall’ and ‘Sun Hall’ and if I have to pick a favourite (and who doesn’t when visiting a carved stone museum?) it would be the room with the pillars in it. Another exciting surprise was finding where the tunnels came out, it was much further away from the museum than we had anticipated.

Built in the 17th and 18th centuries, the tunnels were an integral part of Tallinn’s formidable defence system. As cannons and firearms became increasingly powerful, traditional medieval walls were no longer sufficient protection so they went underground. The Bastion Tunnels snaked through the city’s earthen fortifications, connecting various bastions and allowing soldiers to move undetected, transport ammunition, and even launch surprise attacks. Since then, they have been used in numerous different ways throughout the generations.

The warning about not slipping.

But I was more worried about the sign warning of no wi-fi or mobile signal. It sounded a very dangerous place that I wouldn’t be spending much time in.

Ross, Steve and I trekked down the stairs and wondered where Bev and Susanna were. It transpired that they were still visiting the museum as we’d missed a bit out, but my loyal blog readers needn’t worry as we returned to the museum that afternoon to ensure we didn’t go without seeing what the young ladies had.

It looked rather exciting. Signage explained that the tunnels had been extensively renovated between 2004 and 2007 as they had filled with junk and parts had flooded. They removed 800 cubic metres of stones and dirt whilst installing new ventilation and fire safety systems.

The tunnels were used unofficially for a while by partying punks and there were even small-scale concerts that were held down here.

And also by the homeless. It couldn’t have been very pleasant, but at least it would have offered some shelter. There are numerous sightings of ghosts down here, although I suspect the naturally eerie surroundings of the whole arrangements somewhat add to that. They must have a fair number of rodents floating about the place though, and for a while the tunnels were used by a family of foxes who must have used some initiative to get in.

The tunnels provided potential refuge for any nuclear war which might have broken out, something which didn’t look unlikely in the 1960s. A whole new set of air ventilation had to be put in at this stage just in case residents would have been forced to live down here for some time.

Some Soviet leaders to remind visitors about the constant threat of war.

The text on the banner says “AU TÖÖLE!” in Estonian, which translates to “HONOUR TO WORK!” or “GLORY TO LABOUR!” in English. This phrase reflects Soviet-era propaganda themes emphasising the value of labour and work to support society, or, more precisely perhaps, to support the wealthy elites.

I thought initially that this was a ghost, but it was Ross.

The tunnels were used to protect locals from the air raids of the Second World War.

This is Metropolitan Arseni, an important religious figure in Estonian Orthodox history. He opposed many of the reforms made by Catherine the Great and he was punished by being held in the tunnels as a prisoner until his death in 1772. There are some rumours that he was walled up, but these seem fanciful and he was just imprisoned in a more traditional manner.

It’s a fascinating piece of history and I’m pleased that they’ve made such efforts to drain and repair the tunnels to make them accessible. There is more than in the above photos as the next stage of the tunnels goes to the carved stones museum, more of those in a later post.