Tallinn fair centre faces demolition for 300-home district

The Eesti Näituste fair centre in Tallinn, which hosted major exhibitions, concerts and parties for decades, is being demolished to make way for a residential district, ERR’s Ringvaade programme reported.

Demolition work is under way at the centre on Pirita Road. Its first building was completed in the early 1960s, and its first exhibition was titled “25 Years of Soviet Estonia.”

The complex expanded over time. Finnish builders constructed the Blue Pavilion using Finnish structures, and it opened in 1977. The White Pavilion was completed in 1994. Altogether, the centre had 11,000 square metres of covered space.

“These walls have seen legendary events,” said Epp Sultsmann, the centre’s project manager for exhibitions. In 1999, the exhibition calendar included 28 fairs and events, including the Motorex car show, which she said was notable because there were still relatively few new and expensive cars on Estonia’s streets.

The “Estonia Builds” exhibition was among the centre’s largest and most important events. Sultsmann said she organised it for 20 years, while visitors also attended beauty, food and tourism fairs.

The centre hosted parties and performances by Bryan Adams and Kimmo Pohjonen, as well as corporate galas. A bar scene from German Golub’s feature film “Our Erika” was filmed there, and the centre also provided catering for song festival participants.

“There is some nostalgia, of course, but I understand that the time of Eesti Näitused here in central Tallinn has simply come to an end,” said Mait Allas, chief executive of Metro. “It is time to complete the development of the quarter that has been under development here for the past 20 years.”

The planned multifunctional district will include 300 apartments, various service premises, a grocery store and a kindergarten.