St. Mary's Cathedral

The limestone spire of St. Mary's Cathedral dominates the skyline of the Upper Town in Tallinn, rising as a sharp, white silhouette against the sky. Built in the thirteen hundreds, this church served as the primary place of worship for the German nobility residing in the castle district. Inside the heavy oak doors, the walls hold hundreds of carved coats of arms from Baltic German families. Pontus de la Gardie, a Swedish commander who died in fifteen eighty-five, lies buried under an ornate stone sarcophagus here.