Passages and hidden city
· Kesklinn
Underground Ruins beneath Freedom Square
Remains of the Harju Gate defences beneath Freedom Square show that the open plaza rests on an older city.
Under the square’s present surface lie earlier layers of Tallinn’s buildings and fortifications. Remains around the former Harju Gate evoke a time when movement here passed through a guarded entrance. The square later changed shape and name repeatedly, making its medieval landscape hard to read from above. The underground structures reveal a basic feature of urban change: a city can become new without every trace of its past disappearing.
Practical information
Address: Vabaduse väljak
See the historical remains at Freedom Square only where access is officially provided. Do not enter closed underground areas.