In Tallinn we were lucky enough to join the off-season tour of Patarei prison. The stone building opened its doors in 1840 as a sea fortress that included a cannon battery (hence the name: Patarei – Battery). It later served as an army barracks, and, for most of its history, as a notorious Soviet prison. Now the cells is filled by awkward teenagers on a school tour, happy to get lost in the dark and make out. Their giggles added an extra layer of chill to the stories about prisoners taken out from the shower queue in the morning to be shot.
Anastasia Artemeva 