Linnahall – A Concrete Goliath with Soul

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

Whether you fly into Tallinn or come by boat. You can’t help but notice the huge derelict-looking concrete structure between the Old Town and the sea – this is Linnahall.

For those of you that are movie aficionados, you will know that this building featured in a number of scenes in 2020’s biggest movie – Tenet. Namely the huge concert hall at the very beginning of the movie where terrorists with machine guns barge in and take everyone hostage. Just like Tenet, in this short article, we will also work backwards and forwards.

If you visit today, you will encounter a brutalist concrete building that is long past its best. That for over a decade has seen numerous promises of a full renovation from the government and developers alike. But as yet, it continues to crumble.

But when it was built in 1980 (as part of the Moscow Olympics – the sailing events were held in Tallinn) it was state of the art and contained a 5000 seater arena (the largest in Europe capable of hosting symphony orchestras), an ice rink, as well as a number of cafes.

In the 90’s, with other similar and newer facilities being built in Tallinn, it began to fall out of favour. Despite this, you could still catch a fast ferry as well as a helicopter service to Helsinki until just a few years ago.

Let’s hope, just like Tenet, that this is just the beginning or middle of the story for Linnahall and not the end.

To learn more about this and similar topics
1980 Moscow Olympics Tallinn Architecture Tallinn Linnahall Must see Tallinn Tallinn Tallinn landmarks Tenet Tenet Tallinn