Veltsi Manor

The pride of the locals. It is believed that Rakvere is the smallest city in the world, which has its own theatre and theatrical company. This location is the historical centre of Rakvere: ancient Estonian settlements were located here, and it also features the Rakvere Cultural Center. Formerly a classical farmstead, it was converted to a theatre in 1940 with the addition of a new building. Although, the manor and the theatre are made in completely different styles (the theatre itself is impregnated with the spirit of functionalism), they look surprisingly harmonious. Behind the building a pretty landscape park with ponds can be found.
The repertoire of the theatre are 20 productions, although it is not very clear who in Rakvere works on them.

It’s considered to be the largest animal statue in the Baltics. According to the legend, there was an ox once in the world the size of the distance between Tartu and Rakvere, which destroyed everything in its way. One day it was killed, and his head fell down in Rakvere. So, the city began to be called Tarbapea (bull's head), and the rest fell to Tartu, called Tarbatu (bull). The attitude of the Tartu inhabitants to this legend is cautiously silent.

A largely interactive museum, designed to tell visitors about the daily work of police. You can check your reaction behind the wheel of a car, take fingerprints, or look at a forensic laboratory. For children this will be especially interesting.

The original church was a two-storey building purchased according to an order of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I and the Most Holy Synod in 1839. Parishioners of the church were families of the orthodox merchants, city officials, teachers of the local educational institutions, and soldiers of border guards. From the middle of the 19th century the size of the parish was increased by Estonian peasants, who had adopted the Orthodox faith. It was completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century. Consecration of the temple was done by the Archbishop of Riga and Mitava Agaphangel (Preobrazhensky). Nowadays, it looks like a strange, very provincial, rather boring variation of the pseudo-Russian style, but it looks very unusual for the Baltic landscape. The interior is modest and mostly wooden, containing the holy remains of the martyred priest Sergei Florinski (Sergius of Rakvere), brought here in 2003, which are the only public holy remains in Estonia. Sergei was a chaplain, who was shot by the order of Estonian Labour Commune in Rakvere on December 30th, 1918.

The first fortifications on the castle hill appeared at the beginning of the 13th century, when conquered by the Danes. In those years there was either a wooden one, or an unpretentious stone fortress, which the Russians tried to capture. After the transition of Estonian lands from Denmark to the Livonian Order, in the middle of the fourteenth century, a large, well fortified castle was built on the site of the old one. Some fragments can still be seen to this day. At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, the castle was destroyed in the course of numerous wars between Sweden, Poland, and Russia. Afterwards, the locals used the ruins as a source of stone, until the first attempts of restoration began at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the main restoration was already in the late 1970s. Nowadays, it is something in between ruins and a full-fledged castle. The castle is very picturesque (inside and outside). To get inside you will have to buy a rather expensive ticket, which includes various amusements like archery, smithy, ancient armour, and the notorious "hell" chamber. In the summer, the castle works in a medieval style tavern (with no potatoes), but if its visit is not included in your plans, you can confine yourself to an external examination.

This is a late medieval church with an unusually high and slender spire that was built in the 17th century. Built at the beginning of the 15th century, the church was a shelter during the Livonian war (1558-1583), during which it suffered a lot of damage. The nave of the church was even in a state of collapse due to the demolition. However, it was reconstructed between 1684-1693 as a three-nave chamber church. Between 1703-1708 it was burnt twice, and later rebuilt between 1727-1730. The existing spire of the church was built in 1852. The part made of stones is 37.8 m in height, but the church has a total height of 62 m. The church's history is related to grave marker of Bishop Arnoldus H. Annabat. Eye-catching Baroque fretwork masterpieces – the pulpit and altar wall, can be found inside, besides other art objects.