Patarei prison exhibition "Communism is Prison"/ Patarei vangla näitus "Kommunism on vangla" — Attraction in Tallinn

100% spooky. The prison closed in 2004, so everything including documents/books/journals in Russian and Estonian languages was kind of abandoned in a hurry. Accurately depicts the terrible conditions people had to exist in. The execution room will send the chills down your spine. Note to some people who are too used to seeing warning signs: as most places in Europe there are NO WARNING SIGNS ANYWHERE in Patarei, proceed inside with caution. It's best not to touch anything and to be very careful. There are no guards inside to hold your hand. You will find drug paraphernalia and remains of various things. Just let them be, there are better souvenirs in...

▶️ In 1828 Nicholas I of Russia started the building of the sea fortress of Patarei in Tallinn, mainly to protect the sailing route to St. Petersburg.

Fortress was completed in 1840. It has had different functions over the years.

In 1867 the complex functioned as military barracks.

Between 1919 and 2004 as a prison.

Today it gives you an idea of Soviet-era prison life. You can explore the hallways to see cells, work areas, medical rooms, execution rooms, exercise yards etc. Up to 2000 prisoners were normally detained in Patarei, but top of occupancy was reached with about 4600.

▶️ Today there is a really nice restaurant and bar area in the...

We only visited the entrance gate, and were greeted by a grumpy woman who might have been a leftover Russian prison guard. She was in charge of selling tickets for the "exhibition". We told her that were not particularly interested in an exhibition, and only wanted to see the buildings. There were three gates next to the entrance booth. The one on the left had a arrow with "Exhibition" in it. So we walked to the gate on the right. The ticket woman started to yell at us and ran out of the booth after us. She shouted hysterically that the gate on the right was the exhibition. We were worried that we would end up in the prison and ran...