Viljandi: A Jewel of a Town in Deepest Estonia
Viljandi would be my choice for the most attractive country town in Estonia, a nation that rather specialises in attractive country townsContinue Reading →
Monuments and Memorials: the Predicament of a Nation State
In Estonia, the most blatant symbols of foreign power were indeed removed, but not without hesitation.Continue Reading →
Fiction: "The Saviour of Lasnamäe"
Natalya Filippovna may be a middle-aged single mother and member of the Russian minority in Estonia, but she is content with her simple life.Continue Reading →
A Ghost Town Unsuitable for Humans: Patarei Sea Fortress
“When I walk through the place, memories of other people keep popping up; it is a geography of grief."Continue Reading →
The Quick Brown Fox: Remembering Slothrop's English-Language Bookshop
We opened Slothrop’s English language bookshop in Tallinn in December 2011. It was Estonia’s first second-hand English language bookstore.Continue Reading →
Landscapes of Communism Revalued: An Interview with Owen Hatherley
In Landscapes of Communism, published earlier this year, Owen Hatherley turned his attention to the architecture of Communism across the former Eastern Bloc, including in the BalticsContinue Reading →
Split By a Border and Fading Fast: Estonia's Unique Seto People
For Estonia’s Setos, it wasn’t the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain that split their community in two – but the border Estonia built to keep the Russians out.Continue Reading →
The Baltic Revolution 25 Years On: An Interview with Anatol Lieven
Anatol Lieven was the only Western journalist permanently stationed in the Baltic states during the most dramatic years of their struggle for independence.Continue Reading →
Bohemian Adventures in Tallinn's Fish House
The quiet former fishermen’s district of Kalamaja is today one of Tallinn’s last remaining areas with a hodgepodge of old wooden houses and old-fashioned industrial complexes.Continue Reading →
From East Asia via Great Britain: the Story of Estonia and Latvia's National Game
Novuss is the national game of Latvia; Koroona is the national game of Estonia. But what are these games and where did they come from?Continue Reading →
The Strange Story of Walk – United by the Soviets, Divided by Freedom
It certainly doesn’t look like a national border – a forgotten, slightly gloomy pedestrianised backstreet...Continue Reading →