As Tartu prepares to begin construction on its Siuru Cultural Centre in the heart of the city, archaeological excavations must first be carried out. On 12 June, there will be two tours of one hour each available to the public. Visitors will be escorted into the active dig site, but only if you have a ticket, and the number is very, very limited, so get yours now!<\/p>\n
The Siuru Cultural Centre itself is a massive project that will bring together several cultural institutions in Tartu into one venue, including the Tartu Art Museum and Central Library. Currently known as Kesklinna Park, or Downtown Park, the large plot is rather underused by the public, yet it rests in the centre of the city of Tartu. The completed Siuru, named for a mythical blue bird, is expected to fill the gap, linking Vabaduse Boulevard, K\u00fc\u00fcni Street, next to the Kaubamaja shopping centre. Kaubamaja itself was built over the previous central market, which was destroyed in the Second World War. The market was famous for its pillars, and in the modern Kaubamaja building, you can see tall pillars in honour of the old market.<\/p>\n
Tartu is a medieval city, and parts of it were occupied by humans long before the medieval era. The deeper you go into this archaeological dig site, the farther back in time you will go. The current findings have yet to be released to the public, so who knows what you might see? Human remains? Ancient architecture? Maybe even fragments of a meteorite or evidence of ancient alien technology? Probably not that last one, but if you\u2019re lucky, the site might have remains from the era of the Plague, and the disease itself is still active, waiting for new hosts.<\/p>\n