There was already a Christmas tree in Tallinn’s Town Hall Square in the Middle Ages

Text and photo Timo Huttunen

Town hall square has been the centre of Tallinn’s lower town since the Middle Ages, being both a market and a meeting place for festive activities.

Next to the town hall square are two landmark buildings: Northern Europe’s best-preserved medieval Gothic town hall and Raeapteek, which is one of Europe’s oldest operating pharmacies, having sold medicines since 1422.

The town hall square plays an important role in Christmas traditions. The Brotherhood of the Black Heads fraternity erected a Christmas tree in Tallinn’s town hall square for the first time in 1441. This is the world’s oldest recorded Christmas tree in a public urban space.

The tradition of the Christmas tree in town hall square and its preservation is important to the people of Tallinn, because the townspeople think that without a Christmas tree there is no real festive atmosphere.

Choosing the Christmas tree is a thorough project. First, 6 are carefully selected through a pre-competition, in which all trees must be at least 15 meters tall. Before finally the most important Christmas tree in all of Estonia is chosen.

This year, the chosen tree was brought to town hall square on November 17 from the village of Mustjõe in Anija municipality. The bringing of the tree, which has become a national media event, is led by Santa Claus and secured by the police. 

On Friday, November 25 at 6 pm the Christmas tree will be lit and the official opening of the Christmas market will take place. Two days later on the first day of Advent, on November 27 at 4 pm, the Mayor of Tallinn will light a candle on the Christmas tree in town hall square. This is the official start of the Christmas season in Tallinn.

A noon on Christmas Eve, December 24, the Mayor declares Christmas peace from the window of the Town Hall, which will last throughout the country until January 13. Declaring Christmas peace is a centuries-old Scandinavian tradition.

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