New Tallinn city tour focuses on stories of equality and inequality

TALLINN – The Office of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner has released a free-to-use script for a Tallinn city tour, inviting people to discover Tallinn's Old Town through the history of equality and inequality.

The tour reveals familiar locations through stories of women's suffrage, national and religious diversity, racism, disability rights, and the LGBT+ community.

The tour will answer questions such as: who was one of the first known Black public figures in Estonia; how is Komandandi tee connected to Estonia's LGBT+ history; and how did Estonian women achieve the right to vote? The new city tour offers a completely new perspective on Tallinn's Old Town, revealing the challenges and achievements on the path to a more equal society.

"Every place has its story. We often remember historical events but forget the locations where they happened. Tallinn's Old Town is a place that has seen great injustice, but it is also where significant strides were made on the journey toward the rights and freedoms we now take for granted. This city tour helps reconnect these events and societal changes with familiar places, allowing us to discover Tallinn from a completely new perspective," said Christian Veske, the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner.

The tour is based on the protected characteristics under which discrimination is prohibited in Estonia by the Gender Equality Act and the Equal Treatment Act. In addition, it addresses economic and social inequality, as well as accessibility issues. The route runs from Toompea Hill through the Old Town to the Mere Kultuurikeskus (Sea Cultural Centre) and consists of ten stops.

The material was prepared primarily for tour guides, but the Commissioner's Office is making it available free of charge to anyone interested. It is a flexible resource from which guides can select stops and stories that suit them and incorporate them into their own tours.

The tour script is available in both Estonian and English and can be used on a computer or a smartphone. The mobile version allows users to follow the route and learn about the stories while walking.

"Anyone can pick up their phone today, open the tour, and go discover Tallinn with a completely fresh pair of eyes. Hopefully, tour guides will also discover it, use these stories in their excursions, and thus help more people see how issues of equality have shaped Estonia's history," Veske said.

The script for the city tour was created by Piret Karro-Arrak and Airi Triisberg.

The city tour script is available at https://www.volinik.ee/infomaterjalid/vordsuse-ja-ebavordsuse-ajalugu-eestis-linnatuuri-kasikiri.html .