Historical meeting point

Tallinn Old Town Conservation Area was established in 1966. The Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn was listed as a World Heritage site in 1997 under criteria (ii) and (iv) along with many other historic towns. The conservation governance framework was already established by the time the World Heritage Convention was drawn up in 1972. Although considerable work on protecting the history and heritage of the capital was done at specialist level as early as the 1960s, the involvement of the local community in protecting and evaluating heritage has developed in parallel with the Convention and informed by growing universal consciousness and responsibility for heritage conservation.

Tallinn World Heritage site is the heart of the busy capital of Estonia. Sustainable development of this living city depends on diverse factors, principles and even aftermaths of historical events. Tallinn is a significant meeting and interchange point of different cultures – religions, lifestyle, building traditions and nationalities. Estonia since the Crusades of the 13th century has been a multinational and multicultural society. Safeguarding the diverse values, authenticity and integrity in the urban area made it imperative for the heritage authorities and local communities to take on considerable responsibility, demonstrate flexibility, broad scope and diverse actions.

The stakeholder community is locally understood as a group of interacting people living in a common location and sharing some common values.