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Major city of south-central Estonia, and only two and a half hours away from Tallinn by bus, TARTU 's main sights lie between Cathedral Hill (Toomemagi), right in the centre of Tartu, and the Emajogi river. The train station is about 500m southwest of the city centre at Vaksali 6, and the bus station is just east of the centre at Turu 2. Tartu's focal point is its cobbled Town Hall Square (Raekoja plats) lined by prim Neoclassical buildings, the most eye-catching of which is the Town Hall (Raekoda), a toy-town edifice at the head of the square, painted lilac and purple and topped by a spire. The Neoclassical architectural theme continues in the yellow and white stucco facade of the main Tartu University (Tartu Ulikooli) building at Ulikooli 18, a couple of hundred metres north of Raekoja plats. The university was founded by the Swedish king Gustaf Adolphus in 1632 but closed by the Russians and not reopened again until the start of the nineteenth century (the present building dates from then). It wasn't until the country achieved independence after World War I, however, that Estonians finally supplanted Germans in the lecture hall. A hundred metres or so beyond the university is the red-brick shell of the Gothic St John's Church (Jaani kirik), founded in 1330, bombed out in 1944 and now undergoing extensive restoration. The building is inaccessible, but from the street you can admire the unusual terracotta sculptures in niches that surround the main entrance. From behind the Town Hall, Lossi climbs Cathedral Hill (Toomemagi), now a pleasant park with a few historic buildings dotted among its trees. On the way up, the street passes beneath Angel's Bridge (Inglisild), a brightly painted wooden bridge dating from the nineteenth century. At the top of the hill you'll find the remains of the red-brick Cathedral (Toomkirik), built by the Knights of the Sword during the thirteenth century. The cathedral was ruined during the Reformation and subsequently used as a barn. Tacked onto the end of the cathedral is a new building housing the University History Museum (Wed-Sun 11am-5pm; 10EEK), with three floors of ancient-looking text books, scientific instruments, and the sabres and flags brandished by nineteenth-century student fraternities. Within a few minutes' walk of Toomemagi is the Estonian National Museum , J. Kuperjanovi 9 (Eesti Rahva Muuseum; Wed-Sun 11am-6pm; 10EEK, free on Fri). Devoted to peasant life and the development of agriculture in Estonia, it includes some imaginatively re-created farmhouse interiors, good English labelling, and a thorough display of folk costume from all over the country.
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