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The commercial streets of medieval Tallinn are lined by merchants' residences and warehouses. Pikk tanav (Long Street), running northeast from Pikk jalg gate and linking Toompea with the port area, has some of the city's most important secular buildings from the Hanseatic period, kicking off with the Great Guild (Suur Gild) at Pikk 17. Completed in 1430 this was the city's main guild, meeting place of the German merchants who controlled the city's wealth. Its gloomy Gothic facade now fronts the Estonian History Museum (Ajaloomuuseum; 11am-6pm; closed Wed; 10EEK) where a predictable array of weapons, domestic objects and jewellery offers an uninspiring history of Estonia from the Stone Age to the eighteenth century. A side room has more interesting displays of traditional costumes. Exhibits are labelled in Estonian and Russian but there are also English summaries. If the appearance of their headquarters is anything to go by, the guild who occupied the House of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads (Mustpeade Maja), Pikk 26, were a more exuberant bunch than the merchants of the Great Guild. The Renaissance facade of their building, inset with an elaborate stone portal and richly decorated door, cuts a bit of dash amid the stolidity of Pikk. According to legend the guild was founded to defend Tallinn during the Estonian uprising of St George's Day in 1343, though in later years it seems to have degenerated into a drinking club for bachelor merchants. The Brotherhood moved here in 1531 and remained until the guild was abolished by the Soviets in 1940. These days their building houses a concert hall - you can look inside for 10EEK. Continuing along Pikk brings you to the St Olaf's Church (Oleviste kirik), first mentioned in 1267 and named in honour of King Olaf II of Norway, who was canonized for battling against pagans in Scandinavia. Were it not for its size this slab-towered Gothic structure would not be particularly eye-catching, and extensive renovation between 1829 and 1840 has left it with an unexceptional nineteenth-century interior. The church is chiefly famous for the height of its spire which reaches 124 metres today and was even taller in the past. According to local legend the citizens of Tallinn wanted the church to have the highest spire in the world in order to attract passing ships and bring trade into the city. Whether Tallinn's prosperity during the Middle Ages had anything to do with the visibility of the church spire is not known, but between 1625 and 1820 the church burned down eight times as a result of lightning striking the tower. Bearing witness to the city's medieval wealth are the Old Town's merchants' houses. The best example are the Three Sisters (Kolm Ode), a gabled group at Pikk 71. Supremely functional with loading hatches and winch-arms set into their facades, these would have served as combined dwelling places, warehouses and offices, and are among the city's best-preserved Hanseatic buildings. At its far end Pikk is straddled by the Great Coast Gate (Suur Rannavarav), a sixteenth-century city gate flanked by two towers. The larger of these, the aptly named "Fat Margaret Tower" (Paks Margareeta) has walls four metres thick and now houses the Estonian Maritime Museum (Mere Museum; Wed-Sun 10am-6pm; 10EEK; Estonian, Russian and some English captions), a surprisingly diverting collection of model boats and nautical ephemera spread out over several floors. West of Lai is one of the longest-surviving sections of Tallinn's medieval city wall, complete with nine towers - to reach it, head down Suur-Kloostri. The walls that surrounded the Old Town were largely constructed during the fourteenth century, but they were added to and enhanced over succeeding centuries until improvements in artillery rendered them obsolete during the eighteenth century. Today just under two kilometres of city wall survive, along with eighteen towers
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