History
Gunpowder Cellar’s history reaches back more than 300 years
Read about the Gunpowder Cellar’s history and browse photos
- 1700–1721
The Great Northern War which brought along a significant change for Estonia in general as well as for Tartu.
- 1763
Fortification of Tartu begins again under the orders of Empress Catherine II of Russia. It was decided that a gunpowder magazine be built in the location of the former city moat; the moat’s thick and strong walls made perfect walls for the magazine.
- 1768
Field-Marshal General de Villebois’s Engineer Commando begins construction work on the gunpowder magazine. The bricks are brought from the old St. Mary’s Church (about the current location of Tartu University’s Main Building) and from the ruins of the bishop’s fortress on Toome Hill.
- 1778
Construction on the Gunpowder Cellar is complete. This building with its interior height of 11 metres is the only building constructed by Tartu Engineer Commando that is still standing today.
- 1800
Emperor Paul I gives Toome Hill with all the buildings to the University of Tartu.
- 1809
The last 12 tons of gunpowder remaining in the magazine are finally removed to Narva after a long correspondence between the Tartu City Council, Governor General and the Riga Plenipotentiary of the War Minister.
- 1817
University carriages, fire-fighting equipment and building materials are kept in the magazine.
- 1827
A rental contract is signed with J.R. Schramm, an entrepreneur whose company will use the magazine as a beer storage facility for 69 years.
- 1896
The University uses the premises for research – a horizontal pendulum is placed here on Professor Lewitzky’s initiative to observe earthquakes and magnetic phenomena.
- 1915
The cellar is used as the student kitchen’s storage room; after World War II the premises are used as a vegetable warehouse for quite a long period.
- 1960
In the early 1960s archaeological excavations are carried out here and a reconstruction project is prepared in order to for the former gunpowder magazine to be made suitable for public use.
- 1982
A popular café and restaurant opens and remains in operation till 1999.
- 2000
After lengthy restoration and construction activities the Gunpowder Cellar (one of Tartu’s legendary restaurants) opens its doors in November, this time as a beer restaurant.
Gunpowder Cellar is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest pub ceiling in the world, at 11 metres.
11 m
Source: Wikipedia / Guiness Book of World Records
The Gunpowder Cellar (Estonian: Püssirohukelder) is a historic building in Tartu, Estonia which now functions as a beer restaurant.
The name is derived from the restaurant’s location: it is situated in an 18th century gunpowder cellar constructed in 1768–1778 by order of Catherine II of Russia on the site of an earlier fort, making use of the natural valley and pre-existing very thick brick walls for added safety. The building served as a gunpowder cellar until 1809 when it was converted to a beer storage room. At the end of the 19th century the building began to be used by the University of Tartu which meant that lectures and scientific work were often conducted on top of gunpowder barrels. In the 1990s it functioned as a large medieval restaurant before reopening in 2001 as a pub and disco though retaining a wine cellar.
Its unique structure also lends it a unique distinction: it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest pub ceiling in the world, at 11 metres (36 ft).
The restaurant is a popular meeting place among Tartu’s student population. It boasts a regular cultural programme, including a number of plays by the Vanemuine theatre. This programme includes regular live music events.
Interesting facts about the Gunpowder Cellar
Facade masonry with two buttresses form a breast wall on the northern side of the bank. The Gunpowder Cellar was constructed on the site of a former moat which separated the fort from the barbican. Upon construction the old thick walls of the castle moat served as side walls for the new building. The size of the Gunpowder Cellar is remarkable: anteroom 33m², main cellar 250m² and the passage surrounding it 163m².
The lancet arch above both cellars reaches up to more than 10 metres. Cellar walls are ca 2.5 metres thick. On top of the arches’ three-metre-thick filling surface there are trees and pathways; the bank is equipped with a metal guard-rail. The Gunpowder Cellar is a building of value in terms of heritage protection.
It is owned by the City of Tartu and rented from the City by OÜ Moonaladu. The building’s current interior is designed by Aivar Roosaar, a well-known interior designer who also helped to redesign Villa Ammende in Pärnu.
Did you like it?
If you found the History section interesting, take a step further: come and visit us! Have a bite to eat while experiencing history and admiring the magnificent interior of our beer restaurant with the ceiling height of 10.2 metres.
Book a table