St. John’s Church, known locally as Jaani kirik, is located in Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city, and dates from the 14th century. The building is a three-aisled basilica with a single west tower, an elongated choir, and a polygonal apse. In the absence of locally available stone, St. (...)
St. John’s Church, known locally as Jaani kirik, is located in Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city, and dates from the 14th century. The building is a three-aisled basilica with a single west tower, an elongated choir, and a polygonal apse. In the absence of locally available stone, St. John’s Church was constructed in brick, a tradition introduced to southern Estonia from northern Germany. The interior and exterior of the building was adorned with terracotta, and originally incorporated more than a thousand unique blocks. Over the building’s long history and as a result of regional conflicts such as the Great Northern War of 1700-1721 and changing tastes in the Neoclassical period, the church sustained damage and alterations. The church was mostly destroyed during World War II, and it remained in a ruined state while Estonia was a republic of the Soviet Union, until 1991.
