It’s time to set sail for two historic harbors on the northeast frontiers of Europe. Tallinn in Estonia and Turku in Finland are set to reign as the official European Capitals of Culture through 2011. For 26 years, the cultural crown has passed from city to city across Europe, and this year the chosen two share some cultural history and a piece of the ocean — the Baltic Sea. Helsinki links the two cultural ports, with Tallinn just 50 miles across the Gulf of Finland and Turku some 50 miles west by road or rail.
Tallinn is a popular cruise-ship port, best known for the walled medieval town at its heart, while Turku, Finland’s oldest city, contains a formidable medieval castle of its own, dating from the 1280s. These two T’s of the Baltic are renowned for their myriad music festivals, which promise to anchor a full fleet of special celebrations in 2011.
Turku
The oldest and largest city in Finland until Helsinki eclipsed it in 1812, Turku (population 176,401) remains a major passenger and commercial port on the Baltic Sea. Turku’s twin centerpieces are the Cathedral of Turku, consecrated in 1300, and Turku Castle, a renovated fortification with medieval dungeons, dating from 1280. The River Aura divides the city, its banks allowing for a stroll from Market Square (Kauppatori) at city center to Turku Castle near the ferry terminals and the archipelago of nearby islands.
Many of the events and festivals marking Turku’s year of culture will be staged on Market Square, in Turku Castle and at the Forum Marinum maritime center, but the leading-edge facility is Logomo, a newly renovated cultural center that long served as an engineering workshop.
In 2011, Logomo, complete with its own cafe and gift shop, will be the designated hub for a wheel of special activities and exhibits. Performances to be staged at Logomo range from “Middle-Age Hair” Feb. 13-20, featuring a cast of 200 middle-age locals, each with one foot in the late 1960s, but with no prior musical experience, to the Nov. 22 world premiere of a very Finnish opera, “Eerik XIV,” which recounts the travails of a young Renaissance king of Sweden-Finland who ends up imprisoned in Turku Castle.
Turku Castle offers a magnificent medieval setting for the Aug. 5 opening of “Alvilda in Abo,” an Italian opera composed in 1692 by Carlo Agostino Badia. This sweeping work tells the story of an armada of women warriors who disembark on the Finnish coast at Abo (the Swedish name for Turku). Then, on Oct. 15, the Medieval Mummers Procession, consisting of gigantic puppets, mimes, opera singers and street rappers, winds its way from castle to harbor.
Other Turku highlights include “Klip, Klap,” when everyone pitches in to cut the world’s largest weft rag rug as it unfolds on Old Great Square near Turku Cathedral, May 19, and the “New Potato Festival,” an inaugural celebration of the spud set to sprout along the banks of the River Aura June 18-19.
Turku’s most famous native is Paavo Nurmi,winner of nine Olympic gold medals in the 1920s. Often hailed as the greatest track and field athlete of all time, he is remembered in the annual marathon in his hometown. The 20th running of the Paavo Nurmi Marathon takes place July 2 in the heart of Turku’s cultural capital calendar.
Tallinn
Tallinn is Estonia’s capital, largest city (population 411,196) and biggest port, and home to a famous IT startup, Skype. Tallinn also is the region’s best preserved medieval treasure house. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Tallinn Old Town has been fortified since 1050, but its historic heyday began in 1285, when the Hanseatic League took control of the port, then known as Reval. After occupation by Swedes, Soviets and others, Tallinn and the rest of Estonia achieved full independence in 1991.
At the outer boundary of Tallinn Old Town is the new center of the city, Freedom Square (Vabaduse Valjak). To the east is Kadriorg Palace, built for Peter the Great in 1718, and to the northeast is Pirita, the Baltic beach district and sailing site for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The port and Old Town are connected by the Rotermann Quarter, an industrial sector that is rapidly becoming a stylish shopping and dining destination.
For its cultural capital year, Tallinn is adding new art to the old, much of it whimsical. Visitors should be on the lookout for ATMs dispensing poems, traffic lights flashing Zen koans and telephone booths serving as confessionals. Just to reinforce this playful tone, Tallinn will take a cold plunge into 2011 by hosting the Pirita Open Winter Swimming Festival Jan 7-8, a competition capped by what’s described as a “450-meter resistance event.”
Topping Tallinn’s spring flings is “Music Week” March 24-26, when the hottest Estonian pop groups charge up the concert halls and clubs, followed by the “Choir Festival” April 13-17 with singers from five continents giving recitals in churches and cathedrals. The Head Read Literature Festival unfolds May 26-29 with book signings and poetry slams in a big tent on Freedom Square. The Baltic’s premier jazz festival, Jazzkaar 2011, with headliner Bobby McFerrin, heralds the approach of summer April 22-June 1.
June begins with the 30th annual Tallinn Old Town Days celebration, and July continues the summer celebration of Tallinn’s heritage with the Festival of Medieval Times July 8-10, transforming Town Hall Square into a Hanseatic marketplace of master crafters, minstrels, archers and knights. Medieval magic metamorphoses into maritime magic during Tallinn Maritime Days July 15-17, with a regatta and the launch of a waterfront promenade for seaside strollers.
August, perhaps the busiest month, spices the annual Birgitta Festival Aug. 11-21 with a new Estonian opera, “The Man Who Speaks the Language of Snakes,” performed in the 500-year-old Pirita Convent. Wagner’s last opera, “Parsifal,” sets sail Aug. 25-28 during the annual Nargen Festival at the Foundry of Noblessner Shipyard, and all of Estonia will be folk dancing from Tallinn Town Hall Square and back again during a nation-long “Chain Dance” Aug. 20-28.
The densest stomp of all, however, comes Sept. 11 as 15,000 harriers enter the Tallinn Marathon, the Baltic’s biggest run. Tallinn closes out its cultural year Dec. 18, but not before striking one last spark with the “Battle of EST” Dec. 2-3, an icy street-dance competition starring performers from 20 countries.
Information
For Turku, go to turku2011.fi or visitfinland.com.
For Tallinn, go to tallinn2011.ee or visitestonia.com.
The two European Capitals of Culture for 2012 will be Guimaraes, Portugal, and Maribor, Slovenia.
