House of Blackheads (Mustpeade maja) (Tallinn)

House of Blackheads (Mustpeade maja) (Tallinn)

Pikk 26
Tel. 631 3199
Bus: 5, 40
Trolley: 1, 2, 3, 4
www.mustpeademaja.ee

 

House of the Blackheads is a public building in the historical part of Old Tallinn. Originally it belonged to the Brotherhood of Blackheads that bought current building from Rathmann Fianta in 1517.

 

Position

It is located in the historical old town of Reval on Long Street (Estonian Pikk tänav), at the address Long Street 26.

 

Architecture and history

The Brotherhood of Blackheads was formed in 1399 when the unmarried members left the Great Guild of merchants. After marriage, the Blackheads then transitioned into the Great Guild. Later, foreign merchants who stayed in Reval also belonged to the Blackheads. The name goes back to the patron saint of the brotherhood, Saint Mauritius, who was depicted as a Moor.

The German-speaking Blackheads held an important social position in Reval. Close relations existed with the Catherine Monastery. The Blackheads participated in jousting tournaments. A tournament has been handed down from the year 1536, in which a blackhead probably threw a country nobleman out of the saddle, which led to considerable unrest in the city. The Blackheads also provided a mounted unit to defend Reval. A confrontation with Russian troops on September 11, 1560 in front of the walls of Reval has been handed down, in which ten Blackheads fell. The Blackheads had their own armaments and carried out summer exercises in the country until the 19th century. Later in the 19th century, the Blackheads were still responsible for providing the mounted escort of honor in Reval for the imperial family or sovereigns. They wore the uniforms of the Guards Dragon Regiment, which had been given to them by the Russian Tsar Nicholas I.

Originally, as there were no upmarket inns in Reval, the Brotherhood also had the task of accommodating traveling merchants. The brotherhood kept a brother's book in which guests of the brotherhood, including the Russian monarchs since Peter the Great, signed themselves.

In 1517, the brotherhood leased a merchant's house at Langstrasse 26, which they then acquired as their property in 1531. It had two rooms, with a large hall above the vestibule instead of the usual attic. In the course of the Reformation, there was an iconoclasm on September 14, 1524, during which the interior of the Catherine Monastery associated with the Blackheads was destroyed. However, the Blackheads had previously managed to secure the magnificent altar of the Blackheads, which had come from Lübeck in 1495 and was located as a side altar in the church. The altar then stood in the House of the Blackheads for centuries. In 1531/1532 another hall was built south of the courtyard on Heiligengeiststrasse. It was 4.50 meters high and had a large octagonal pillar complete with supporting arches as a supporting element. There was no vault. The hall was divided into two naves by means of three columns. On one of the capitals the year of completion 1531 was written in Roman script (MVCXXXIJ).

There are several stone sculptures on the facade of the building facing Langstrasse. The oldest sculptures are the plaques on both sides of the entrance donated by Ewert Schroeder and Hans Koser in 1575, which show a coat of arms of a Moor's head with a forehead bandage.

In 1597 extensive renovation work was carried out by the master builder Arent Passer, who was well-known in Reval. The facade in particular was also changed. Although the old structure and the Gothic elements were preserved, elements of the Dutch Renaissance were added at the same time. Due to the preservation of the building structure, the asymmetrical division of the facade remained, which is shifted slightly to the right in the left part of the building, whereby the gable itself is symmetrical and decorated with volutes at the edge. Carnies are executed at the height of the storeys. The coats of arms of the Hanseatic branches of Bruges, Novgorod, London and Bergen are on Renaissance shields on the cornice above the ground floor, and the cornice above the first floor is decorated with lion heads and mascarons. On the second floor there is a goods hatch designed as a rusticated portal.

Other stone sculptures adorning the building were also created. The design of the portal with lion heads and rusticated pilasters is particularly noteworthy. The decorations are designed in the style of Dutch Mannerism. The bas-reliefs in the window gables on the ground floor show portraits of the Polish royal couple Sigismund III. Vasa and Anna of Austria. Between the windows of the first floor there are two other reliefs depicting knights armed with lances with closed visors at a tournament. They bear the Low German inscriptions HELF GODT ALLEZEIDT and GODT IST MEIN HULF in the Gothic style and are attributed to Arent Passer.

Reliefs are arranged on both sides of the goods hatch, which represent the female symbolic figures Pax and Justitia. Above is another relief with an image of a blessing Jesus Christ. The gable is crowned by a massive Karnies.

The building on the right has been redesigned in a similar style only on the ground floor. The coats of arms of two Revaler families can be found on its facade, as well as a representation of Saint George in the gable. Otherwise, with large floor hatches and jibs, it still has the outward appearance of a granary.

A large hall, the so-called brother hall, was set up on the upper floor in the left part. The Brothers' Hall was then decorated with life-size portraits showing German, Swedish and Russian rulers acting as sovereigns of Estonia and Reval respectively. There were portraits from the Roman-German Emperor Charles V to the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II. There was also an epitaph for the ten Blackheads who fell on September 11, 1560 in the Brothers' Hall. This is the oldest surviving town view of Reval. The hall on the ground floor is called Dornste, which means something like a heated room. Cultural events took place in the house, in particular it was the venue for festivals of the Baltic Germans in Reval.

Berent Geistmann created the bezel carvings in 1604. The colored front door itself was made in the 1640s. The carvings above the door show the head of Mauritius.

Another major renovation took place in 1908, but this only affected the interior. It was directed by the architect Wilhelm Neumann. In this context, the furnishings dating back to the 16th century were removed and replaced by Neo-Renaissance style furnishings.

On November 30, 1918, Alfred Rosenberg, later a leading ideologue of the NSDAP, gave a speech in the rented large hall of the House of the Blackheads on what he called the Jewish question.

The character of the Blackheads as an association of merchants declined over time. In 1895 it was dissolved as a professional organization. There was a corps of Blackheads, which was supplemented by the election of unmarried merchants, although they no longer had to resign if they got married. The corps rented the rooms on the ground floor of the house to the secular Blackheads Club, which existed until 1940. The upper rooms remained in the use of the corps, where in particular the valuables of the Blackheads were kept. After the Second World War, the house was a socialist culture and youth center. Period furniture belonging to the brotherhood and parade portraits went to the city museum, silver cups went to the art museum.

The house was registered as a monument on April 15, 1997 and is registered under number 3040 in the Estonian Register of Monuments.