Tartu Things to Do

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St. John's Church, the gothich cathedral, was originally built at the beginning of the 14th century. It was badly damaged during the wars but is now fully renovated. With its heavy red brick walls it seemed too big for its location. There were houses surrounding it so close that I got a feeling of claustrofobia.

The Hanseatic city of Tartu has a beautiful old center with this Town Hall (raekoja in Estonian). The clock has an interesting striking pattern. Sometimes it stroke at a quarter to and sometimes on even hours. Didn't quite get it.

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Tartu was surrounded by wall and towers. Some fragments of wall still exist near Vabaduse street and Dome hill. There were strong defensive structure, having 27 towers and 9 gates.

That is more on Dome hill there should be left ruins of bastions, built by Swedes in end of 17th century.

Uspenski (Assumption) Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1776-1783. Later, in 19th century, Cathedral was enlarged and now it has form of rectangle. It is a church for mainly Russian Tartu minority.

Jänese Path is a fantastic walking path which leads out of Tartu alongside Emajogi. It starts at a parking area just next to the beach and takes you through the quiet and peaceful landscape to the railway bridge crossing the river. The whole path is approximately 5km long, but of course it's possible to just turn around at some point. There's not really much to see, but if you like nature and enjoy being on your own away from the hectic city (which Tartu is, if you consider it from outside...), this trail is a must!
See my travelogue for more impressions of the hike!

Toomemägi is home to a number of (smaller) sights - statues, lookout places, the park. The most interesting among all of them is the ruin of the Dome Church (Toomekirik). It was built 600 years ago, but soon after destroyed in a war. The site was abandoned and left as it were, until in the 19th century parts of the building were restored to house a part of Tartu's university. Today, these parts house the University History Museum. The ruins are very impressive and beautiful, but unfortunately the sight is always disturbed by construction work going on - after all, the harsh Tartu winters do their best in destroying more and more of the church. For a small fee you can ascend the tower platforms of Toome Kirik. From up there, you have a great view on the ruins themselves and on Tartu.

Toomemägi, or Dome Hill in English, is the town's most prominent hill. To be found just behind the town hall, the hill covers a wide area of trees and several sights. I'd suggest walking around Toomemägi first and then checking out the sights, as this provides you with a general overview first. Toomemägi is best accessed from Lossi street just behind the town hall, but another option may be from Vallikraavi.

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Jaani Kirik was built in the 14th century and is said to be one of the most outstanding architectural treasures of Northern Europe. It is decorated with roughly 1000 terracotta sculptures, most of them hardly discernible somewhere above your heads. There are plenty of different items - Jesus, John the Baptist (after whom the church is named), but also the devil and portraits of citizens.
Jaani Kirik squeezes between several houses of the old town and really looks massive in there. What it doesn't look, is impressive. I'm not a church historian or an architecture professional, but at first sight, most churches are more interesting than Jaani Kirik. The same is true for the terracotta figures. If you're not very much into this kind of stuff, you'll hardly be able to understand the fuzz about it...
Never mind, this is my opinion, and it's always best to check it out yourselves.