Tartu (Tarto in Võro, Та́рту in Russian) is
a 93,865
inhabitants city by river Emajõgi, 2nd largest city in Estonia. It's widely considered as the intellectual capital city of the country, home of the country's oldest university, the University of Tartu (1632). Tartu is also home of the Supreme Court of Estonia, the Ministry of Education and Research and the birthplace of the famous Estonian Song Festival. Tartu is the European Capital of Culture in 2024.
How do I arrive to Tartu?
Tartu is quite well connected with other destinations in Estonia.
- Plane:
there are only flights to Helsinki, Finland. It's located 9 km south from Tartu and there are buses 10 minutes after and 80 minutes before every flight.
- Train:
there are at least 8 daily train routes from Tartu to Tallinn (aprox. 2.5 hours) and vice versa. There are also three trains to Sangaste (aprox. 1 hour) and to Valga (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes).
- Bus: Tartu has 10 daily connections with Otepää (aprox. 1 hour), 14 daily buses to Võru (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), 5 connections with Valga (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes), every 30 minutes with Tallinn (aprox. 2.5 hours), 12 daily busese to Pärnu (aprox. 2 hours 45 minutes) or two daily buses with Kuressaare (aprox. 5 hours 30 minutes), among other destinations. From Tartu there's only 1 daily bus to Palamuse (aprox. 1 hour).
- Car:
if you rented a car, it's a 40 minutes from Otepää and Alatskivi, 50 minutes from Mustvee, one hour away from Võru, a 1 hour 10 minutes journey from Valga, Viljandi and Rõuge, 2 hours 15 minutes from Tallinn and Narva and 2 hours 20 to Pärnu. It can also be reached going from Russia, it's 1.5 hours away from Petchory and 2 hours 15 minutes from Pskov as well as from Latvia, being 1 hour 50 minutes far from Valmiera, the entrance to Gauja National Park.
History
The archeological evidences show that the first permanent settlement in current Tartu was around the 5th century. It was first mentioned as in the chroniclers of the Kievan Rus. In the beginning of the Northern Cruisades, in the first part of the 13th century, Tartu fortress was conquered by the Livonian Knights, recaptured several times by the Estonians but finally conquered by the Livonian Order, becoming an important trade center and capital of the semi-independent Bishopric of Dorpat (former name of Tartu in Germanic languages). In 1262 Alexander Nevsky's son attacked and destroyedd Tartu and in the 1280s the city joined the Hanseatic League. Tartu was dominated by the German-speaking nobility and burgeoise (it can be seen in the architecture of the city), that mostly left in the beginning of the 20th century. In 1558 tsar Ivan the Terrible invaded Tartu but then, in the Truce of Yam-Zapolsky, it was transfered to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the Polish-Swedish War Tartu was given to Sweden and in 1632 Gustav II Adolph founded the University of Tartu. Tsar Peter the Great took control of the city in 1704, becoming part of the Russian Empire with the name of Derpt. The Great fire of Tartu (1775) destroyed much of its medieval architecture, being rebuilt in late Baroque and Neoclassical style. In the 19th century it was the cultural center for Estonians but in the end of the century, there was a russification process (making Russian compulsary and moving the properties of the university to Voronezh (1918). In the interwar period here it was signed the Treaty of Tartu (1920) between Estonia and Bolsheviks and with independence, the culture flourished in the city. During the Soviet occupation it was built Tartu airport (becoming because of this a closed city) and the city doubled its population thanks to inmigration from other parts of the Soviet Union. Since the Estonian independence Tartu renovated its Old Town.
Tartu's top 5
If
you have little time, here's a
list of the 5 things to do and places you can't miss in the city.
- University of Tartu.
- Tartu Town Hall.
-
- St. Jaani Lutheran Church.
- KGB Cells Museum.
What can I visit in Tartu?
These are Tartu's main attractions:
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| Tartu Town Hall |
- Tartu Town Hall: 18th century building similar to Dutch town halls by the German architect J.H.B Walter. It has a clock to encourage students to arrive punctual to their classes and the city hall is located in Raekoja plats, a very beautiful and central square.
- Tartu Art Museum (11-18 Wed-Sun; 5€/ 4€/ free adults/ retiree and students/ kids under 8): museum located in former Baltic German general Barclay de Tolly (built over former Old Town wall) that hosts paintings, sculptures, photography and temporary expositions.
 |
| Façade of the University of Tartu |
- University of Tartu: university founded in 1632 by Gustav II Adolph to teach Lutheran priests and civil servants inspired in the University of Uppsala. It's impressing main building was built in the beginning of the 19th century and it became one of the main learning points in the Russian Empire (focused on science) with scientists like Wilhelm Ostwald, Heinrich Lenz or Karl Ernest von Baer. The university has also several collections. One of them is University of Tartu Art Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 11-17 Wed-Sun from Oct to Apr; 6€/ 4€ adults/ retiree and students), museum with an Egyptian mummy and plaster copies of Greek statues, located in the main building of the university (there were more works of art, sent to Russia in 1915 and never returned). It has a cell to punish students (for not returning a book on time, insulting or fighting a duel) too. Another one is University of Tartu Museum (11-17 Wed-Sun; 6€/ 5€ adults/ retiree and students), museum about student's life located in former Tartu Cathedral (first built by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century), with the historic library and curious objects like Pushkin death mask or an engraving by Albrecht Dürer. There's a combined entrace for the museums, Natural History one and the Old Observatory (12€/ 10€ adults/ reduced).
 |
| Univesity of Tartu Museum |
- Old Observatory (10-18 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 11-17 Tue-Sat from Oct to Apr; 4€/ 3€/ free adults/ retiree and students/ kids under 16): Estonia’s first astronomical observatory from 1810 that has the world’s largest telescope of its time, Fraunhofer Refractor. It's also possible to observe the sky with the historical telescope in the tower with a rotating dome and enjoy a wonderful green view of Tartu.
Gunpowder Cellar of Tartu: building that used to be used as a gunpower cellar until 1809 (being part of the complex of the bishop's citadel) and until 1982, it served as a storage room. Now it works as a restaurant.
- St. Jaani Lutheran Church (10-19 Mon-Sat from Jun to Aug; 10-18 Tue-Sat from Sep to May; 2€/ 1.50€ adults/ kids): red-brick church from 1323 with unique terracotta sculptures. The chuch has a tower with panoramic views of the city, it was damaged during WW2 and restored in 2005.
- Estonian Sports and Olumpic Museum (11-18 Wed-Sun; 5€/ 4€/ free adults/ retiree and students/ kids under 16): original museum that shows the Olympic achievements of Estonia. There are medals displayed, as well as photographies of 20th century body builders or interactive expositions.
 |
| Tartu Russian Orthodox Cathedral |
- Tartu Russian Orthodox Cathedral (17-18 Sat, 10-12 Sun; free): 18th century Russian Baroque style cathedral built when the previous one, built under Peter the Great, was destroyed by a fire.
19th century Tartu Citizen's Home Museum (11-17 Wed-Sat, 11-15 Sun; 2€/ 1€ adults/ kids): small but interesting museum that shows how bourgeioses used to live in the 1830s.
- Tartu Toy Museum (11-18 Wed-Sun; 5€/ 1€ adults, retiree and students/ kids under 3): museum located in a 18th century building that shows dolls, train mockups, rocking horses and toy soldiers. There are playing rooms and interactive objects.
- Botanical Garden of the University of Tartu (7-21 from Jun to Sep; 7-19 from Oct to May; 3€/ 2€/ free adults for the greenhouse/ retiree and students for the greenhouse/ outdoor parts of the garden): botanic garden with more than 6,500 species (many palm trees among
them) created in 1803. It has an artificial lake that is very popular
for families in summer.
 |
| KGB Cells Museum |
- KGB Cells Museum (11-17 Tue-Sat; 12-14 Sun; 5€/ 2€ adults/ retiree and students): gloomy exposition that provides an excellent analysis of deportations, life in gulags, the Estonian resistence movement and all what happened here. There's a combined entrace for this museum, Oskar Luts Home Museum, 19th century Tartu Citizen's Home Museum and Tartu Song Festival Museum (15€/ 8€ adults/ reduced).
-
Estonian Literary Museum
(9-17 Mon-Thu, 9-16:30 Fri; free): museum created as the leading center for Estonian Studies in Estonia with aims that include the
preservation of Estonian language and culture, advancement of Estonian
Studies and participation in international research and development
activities.
- Natural History Museum of the University of Tartu
(10-18 Tue-Sun; 8€/ 4€ adults/ retiree, students and kids): museum with the collection of the university related to natural history. There are rocks and minerals from all over the world, flora and fauna from Estonia and the rest of the world too.
 |
| Aparaaditehas |
St. Pauluse Lutheran Church: red-brick church in Finnish National Romanticist style by the architect Eliel Saarinen.
- Aparaaditehas: district with former factories that is in a period of renovation, transforming it into a modern cultural center, similar to Telliskivi Creative City in Tallinn.
- Oskar Luts House-Museum (11-17 Wed-Sat; free): the last home of Oskar Luts in Tartu hosts this small museum dedicated to this artist, one of the most important ones in Estonia. It shows Luts' life and his abundant literary work.
- St. Aleksandri Estonian Orthodox Church: 19th century church designed by Vladimir Lunski that has cupolas inspired by the Old Russian church architecture.
- AHHAA Science Center (10-19 Thu-Sun, 10-20 Fri-Sat; 15€/ 11€ adults/ retiree, students and kids):
interactive museum that allows to explore the scientist side of every kid and adult, about physics, chemestry or biology (with a horrific colletion of human organs and foetus).
- Tartu City Museum (11-18 Wed-Sun; 5€/ 3€ adults/ reduced): small museum, placed in a Neoclassic palace from 1790, that has exhibitions provides a good insight into Tartu's long history up to 1920.
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Tartu Song Festival Museum (11-18 Tue-Sat; free): branch of Tartu City Museum teaches about this popular and old festival whose birth was in Tartu.
 |
| AHHAA Science Center |
St. Peetri Lutheran Church: Neo-Gothic church built in 1903 on the grounds of the first Estonian song festival (1869).
- Upside Down House (10-18; 14€/ 10€/ free adults/ retiree, students and kids/ kids under 4): dizzying museum that consists on a house turnt upside down, with all its furniture in the floor and the area you walk is the ceilling.
- Estonia National Museum (10-18 Tue-Sun; 14€/ 10€ adults/ retiree, students and kids): big museum built over a former Soviet runaway that substitued the former museum that was placed there during the interwar period, devoted to the folkorist Jakob Hurt's heritage. The museum is dedicated to Estonian ethnography and folk art that tracks the history, life and traditions of the Estonian people, the culture and history of other Finno-Ugric peoples and the minorities in Estonia. It has a comprehensive display of traditional Estonian national costumes from all regions, a collection of wood carved beer tankards and an array of other handicrafts from hand-woven carpets to linen
tablecloths.
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| Estonia National Museum |
- Raadi Manor and Park (7-22): remains of Raadi manor, a nice former Baroque style building partially destroyed during WW2. Before it was damaged, Raadi's park used to be one of the most wonderful parks in Estonia and it's still very popular between locals to walk.
- In Tartu there are several statues all over the city, some of them very popular like The Kissing Students or Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde sit in a beach. Others are more unknown but not for that less eye-catching like Father and Son Sculpture or Monument to Semiotician Yuri Lotman.
- Tartu has some river beaches like Emajõe City Beach or Emajõe free swimming place, popular in case the day is sunny.
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Banknotemaniac
