Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral sits atop Toompea Hill, capped by five onion domes painted black and topped with gold crosses. Built at the end of the nineteenth century, it served as a defiant statement of Russian imperial power in the heart of what was then a predominantly Lutheran Estonia. Tsar Alexander the Third commissioned the structure, and architects chose the highest point in Tallinn to ensure the Orthodox bells rang out over the city. It remains a fixture of the skyline today.