Kiek in de Kök
On Gingerguide's self-guided Tallinn audio tour, Kiek in de Kök is a stop worth about ~60 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type landmark
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Tallinn Tallinn guide
About Kiek in de Kök
A squat 1475 artillery tower whose Low German name means 'peek into the kitchen', still studded with old cannonballs and linked underground to the Bastion Passages beneath Toompea.
Kiek in de Kök is a stone artillery tower on Toompea's southern side, built in 1475 and regarded in its day as one of the strongest cannon towers in Northern Europe. It stands about 38 metres tall with walls up to some four metres thick. Its Low German name means roughly 'peek into the kitchen', because its height let its occupants see into the houses below. Cannonballs from the Livonian War siege of 1577 remain lodged in its outer walls.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the two lowest floors were buried in earthworks, new gun openings were cut and the top was reinforced, but by around 1760 the tower had become militarily obsolete. Today it is a museum and photographic gallery run by the Tallinn City Museum, connected to the Bastion Passages, tunnels built inside the seventeenth-century Swedish earthen bastions below Toompea and later used as air-raid shelters.
Did you know? Kiek in de Kök is Low German for 'peek into the kitchen': the tower stood so tall that its gunners could look down chimneys and into the cooking pots of the houses below.
How much time do you need at Kiek in de Kök?
Around ~60 min works well for Kiek in de Kök — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Kiek in de Kök?
Yes — Kiek in de Kök made the cut as one of 21 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Tallinn. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Tallinn
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Kiek in de Kök and read more:
Day 2 of the Tallinn in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Kiek in de Kök
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