Great Coastal Gate, Fat Margaret's Tower and Maritime Museum, Tallinn

If you take a trip down to the sea along Pikk Street in Tallinn, you will find two of the remaining 26 defensive towers for the city. They are the Great Coastal Gate (Suur Rannavärav) and Fat Margaret Tower (Paks Margareeta). They were designed to protect the city from seafaring invaders, as well as impress visitors that would have arrived in the city by the sea. The message they portrayed was clear: don’t even think about attacking the city from the sea.

The Great Coastal Gate is one of six remaining gates that are still intact from the old city wall system. They controlled access to the city during medieval times. This particular gate was added during the 14th century. Fat Margaret Tower was added during the 16th century, while improvements were being made to the fortifications. It was built from 1511 until 1530, and rose 25 meters above the surrounding area. The Great Coastal Gate and tower have walls that are actually a little thicker than most of the surrounding structures. They measure up to 5 meters thick. (The average thickness of the city walls is 3 meters.)

The origins of Fat Margaret's name are not well known. The best conjecture is that the tower was named for one of its larger cannons, while others hint at a cook called Margaret who once cooked for the troops that stood guard. Visitors should take a moment and climb to the top of the tower to get one of the best views in town.

Today the Estonian Maritime Museum is located in the Fat Margaret Tower. The Museum is a very popular tourist attraction in Tallinn. The institution puts on display the history of the ships of Estonia, as well as related information on what sea life was like on the Baltic. There are old tools on display here, as well as other Maritime objects. Some of the old objects here were original bone tools made before the time of Christ. So, you will not want to miss them.