Fat Margaret Maritime Museum

Paks Margareeta was finished in 1531 as an artillery tower guarding the Great Coastal Gate, with walls up to five metres thick. It has been a gun position, a barracks and a prison, and after a long reconstruction it reopened in 2019 as the Estonian Maritime Museum's second site.

What you actually see

Four floors inside the round tower, connected by a new central stair, covering shipbuilding, navigation, the Hanseatic trade, harbours and life at sea. The exhibition leans on models, instruments and salvaged fittings, and the curved rooms are used well - the shape of the building is part of the display rather than a problem to hide.

The roof terrace is the other reason to come: it looks straight down onto the gate, along the old town wall, and out to the port.

When to go

• Any season - fully indoors apart from the roof.
• Clear days - the terrace is the highlight and closes in bad weather.
• Pair it with the Seaplane Harbour - the two sites are different in character and the combined ticket makes sense.

Honest expectations

This is the smaller and more conventional of the two maritime sites. If you only have time for one and want the spectacle - a submarine, seaplanes, a hangar - go to the Seaplane Harbour instead; Fat Margaret is the history rather than the hardware.

The stair is the only way up and there are a lot of steps for the floor area.

Nearby

St Olaf's Church is two minutes down Pikk street. Kalamaja, Patarei and the Seaplane Harbour are a fifteen-minute walk along the shore.