Doors of Mercy

St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral, Tallinn is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Tallinn, Estonia.

This pseudo-Gothic church with it neoclassical façade sits aside the ruins of the medieval Dominican monastery.

In fact, it is built on the foundation of what was once the monastery's refectory. When St. Catherine's monastery was closed after Reformation in 1524, the refectory was given to the town school. The local Roman Catholic parish obtained the rooms in 1799 and built the church between 1841 and 1844. The church's neoclassical façade and two low, stumpy towers were added in 1924.

Catholicism was introduced to Estonia by force via the Northern crusades and dominated religious life during the Middle Ages.

Estonia is know also as Terra Mariana (Land of Mary), proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1215 in Lateran Council (IV) in Rome.

Today there are approx. 6000 catholics in Estonia and it has growing quite rapidly during last 10 years.

St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral is just in city center, 2 minutes from Old Town Square and the Door of Mercy is next to the Cathedral (right side, the way to the old Dominican Monastery).