Tartu - Raekoda

Tartu (German Dorpat) is the second-largest city in Estonia, after Tallinn.

In the early 11th century Yaroslav I the Wise, Prince of Kiev, invaded the region and after a victorious battle with the locals built his own fort there, Tartu probably remained under Kievan control until 1061, when the fort was burned down by an Estonian tribe. Soon afterwards the fort was rebuilt.
During the Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century, the fort was captured by the crusading Brothers of the Sword — and recaptured by Estonians. In 1224 the fort was besieged and conquered for one last time by the Teutonic crusaders. Subsequently, Dorpat became a commercial centre of considerable importance during the later Middle Ages and the capital of the semi-independent Bishopric of Dorpat.

German merchants and artisans settled alongside the bishop's fortress. In the 1280s Dorpat joined the Hanseatic League.

In 1558, tsar Ivan the Terrible invaded Tartu beginning the Livonian War. His forces encircled the town. After a heavy bombardment, the town surrendered. In 1582, the city became part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1598. A Jesuit grammar school "Gymnasium Dorpatense" was established in 1583.

In the effect of the Polish-Swedish War, in 1625 Tartu was captured by Sweden. The city became part of the Dominions of Sweden, which led to the foundation of the University of Tartu in 1632 by king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. So the University of Tartu is Estonia´s oldest and still most renowned university

In 1704 the town was taken by the Russians army. In 1708 the fortifications and houses, including the remains of bishops castle, were blown up, all movable property was looted and the citizens deported to Russia. In 1721, the city became part of the Russian Empire and was known as Derpt. A great fire in 1775 destroyed most of the buildings in the centre. The city was rebuilt along Late Baroque and Neoclassical lines.

During the second half of the 19th century, Tartu was the cultural centre for Estonians in the era of Romantic nationalism. The city hosted Estonia's first song festival in 1869.

The raekoda (town hall) is the third consecutive town hall built on the same site in the Hanseatic city's more than eight hundred-year history. Its predecessor, built in 1693, collapsed in 1726 after being badly damaged in the Northern War. The devastating fire in the old town in 1775 created both the need and the opportunity to erect a new building.

The architect Johann Heinrich Bartholomäus Walther designed the new representative council building. The building was officially inaugurated in 1786 and finally completed in 1789. From the outset, the building was designed to house a number of tenants in addition to the city government; a prison and storage for weighs and measures were included already in the original drawings. To this day a pharmacy is located in parts of the premises

The fountain in the foreground shows two students kissing.