Oleviste Church

Oleviste church

In Tallinn there are very many different churches. And all of them as practically all of the building in the old town have their own story. Oleviste church has it too.

A long time ago Tallinn was growing pretty slowly. (Why? Look in the legend Why Tallinn would never stop to grow). But all the inhabitants wanted Tallinn to be a big seaport, but the merchant ships would not come to Tallinn. All the citizens were thinking how to make Tallinn famous.

Then someone got a very interesting idea: to build a chuch with such a high tower, which nobody has ever seen before and the ships would see the church from the open sea and would come to Tallinn with their goods.

Everybody liked the idea. But where would they find such a craftsman to build such a church which none has seen before? They were looking for him but couldn't find him anywhere. Tallinn citizens were almost in despair, but out of nowhere came a valiant knight and applied for the job. Citizens gladly accepted him, but only he asked a very high price for his job - 10 barrels of gold with one strange condition: if someone would find out his name, then he would work for free.

Of course citisens agreed, hoping that craftsman is going to build them a church but they will find out his name.

The craftsman started working. He was working fast, very fast and the people in Tallinn were getting dimmer and dimmer. They still didn't find his name. Every evenig they would come to him and say different names hoping that that would be his name. But in vain. The church was almost finished. Tallinn citizens were getting more and more scared: they would have to give him 10 barrels of gold! Then they sent a spy to where his wife was and he overheard how she was singing to their baby:

Sleep my baby,
Tomorrow our Olev is coming back,
And will bring us 10 barrels of gold!

The spy rushed back into the city. He knew the name!

The craftsman was on the roof of the church, placing the cross. Then the people started calling him:
Hei, Olev! Make sure the cross is steight!

When Olev heard his name he understood that he wouldn't get gold! His hands opened and he let the cross go and fell on the ground. At the same moment his body turned into the stone. In out time one can see the picture of Olev on a stone by the church. And since then the church was called Oleviste.

Tallinn SeaportPeople were rejoicing: new church became the pride of all the city, the lighthouse for all the ships. And more and more merchant ships started to come to the seaport.

In our day the old seaport is for passenger ships only. A lot of people in summer time prefer to sit or walk by the water and watch the beautiful white, blue, red passenger vessels come and leave the port, which looks like the ship is going straight into the streets of the Old town. For larger ships was build a new Muuga seaport.

The ships come in and leave the port, but your memories of what you have seen always stay with you. You may not remember the little details, but you will remember the overall picture of your trip. 

What exactly you are going to remember depends on you. 


Photography by Irina Nesterenko