Memorial to the Sunken Ship Rusalka in Tallinn
Pictures and text by Mark R. Hatlie
These pictures were taken on 27 June, 2006 outside of Tallinn. The memorial is located on the shore to the northeast of the city. While in most areas with sizeable Russian minorities the local Soviet war memorial is where wedding couples go to lay a wreath after tying the knot, in Tallinn, this is the destination of choice. This may be do to the inconvenient location of the Maarjamae Soviet memorial. It is a pre-Soviet memorial to a ship which sank in 1893, when Estonia was part of the Tsarist empire.
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The memorial stands on a large naval compass. The pylons holding the chain list the names of the dead seamen. |
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On the front, the memorial lists the names of the highest-ranking officers and that there were 12 officers and 165 seamen on board on 7 September, 1893, when the ship went down. |
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One side reads that the memorial was erected in 1902 during the reign of Tsar Nikolai II and funded by a general subscription under his auspices. |
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The back notes that the ship sank on 7 September, 1893. |
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The other sides reads, "Russians will never forget their hero martyrs". |
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