ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL

North of Lossi Square stands one of Tallinn's oldest buildings, the Dome, sometimes called St. Mary's Cathedral. Construction was ordered after the Danish invasion in 1229, and the church was consecrated in 1240 by King Valdemar II. The building has hardly been altered since, with only the bell tower added in the ^17th century. The wooden interior, destroyed in the great fire that ravaged part of the old town in 1684, also dates from this period. The Swedish king, Charles XI, imposed an exceptional tax on the population to finance the reconstruction of Tallinn, including the Cathedral. The Baroque spire was added in 1778. The cathedral boasts several interesting ^{16th-17th-century} funerary monuments, including a sarcophagus-shaped monument to Ivan Krusenstern, the first Russian navigator to circumnavigate the globe, in 1803. Note that the two globes adorning the tomb omit New Zealand's location. The most impressive tomb is that of the French missionary Pontus de la Gardie, who served in the Swedish army. In the north wing is the monument to Samuel Greig, a Scottish admiral who served for many years in the Tsarist navy, from 1763 until his death in 1788. The commemorative plaque expresses Catherine II's grief. The organ, arguably the most powerful in the country, was developed in Frankfurt in 1913 and was the last to be imported from Germany before the First World War. Organ concerts are held every Saturday at noon.