Brutalism in architecture – Linnahall Tallinn Estonia

Last Saturday I joined a guided tour through the Linnahall in Tallinn. It’s one of those buildings I was interested in from the very first visit of Tallinn, so I was really happy, that the International Women’s Club Tallinn organized a tour. For a photographer brutalism in architecture is always kind of fascinating for me. And it is not a 100% lost place. It is still in use sometimes for special occasions like art exhibitions. So some parts still have electricity and a bit of a heating, which was really pleasant for us at -14° C outside temperature.

Brutalism architecture

Brutalism architecture is always about impressing someone, to show off. And this building still can show off. It’s really impressive standing on the stage of the main theater with a capacity of 4200 people. Build for the Olympic summer games 1980 in Moscow it had to impress the whole world and I’m sure, it did. After the summer games Tallinn tried to use this hall for other events, but over the years it was hard to fill this giant venue with enough visitors, so that in 2010 Tallinn (the city is still the owner) decided to shut it down and keep it only maintained as good as possible in order to prevent bigger damage. Which is really a challenge. Did I mentioned that it’s big?

Guided tour

The tour started by entering the building on the side through the VIP entrance. The main doorway was closed but we got a chance at the end of our tour to have a look from inside to that area. After strolling through the backstage we suddenly stood on this huge half moon shaped stage. And as I mentioned before, this was really impressive. I have to admit, that at this point I couldn’t follow our guide and his for sure very interesting explanations about this theater. But I had to take photos.

And here are my impressions of the Linnahall in Tallinn. Enjoy 📷