The newly-restored tower at St. Mary's Church is perhaps Tartu's newest landmark. After three years of reconstruction work, it finally opened this February. The Open House Tartu tour of the building on Saturday proved popular among the crowds.

"Since the tower was just finished and I've heard a lot of these bells chiming here, so,  I wanted to check it out and it was great," said Aaro, was was attending the Open House festival.

"The tower offers a really nice view of Tartu from here over the Emajõgi River, and there aren't that many places like this. I think it's unique in that sense. For example, I didn't know that this parish of St. Mary is the oldest in Tartu, and it dates back to the thirteenth century. That was definitely new for me," he said.

The red brick building complex belonging to the A. Le Coq brewery also opened its doors to the public as part of the Open House festival. The brewery tour included the opportunity to visit the tower, a landmark, which is well-known, if not always appreciated by every Tartuvian.

"We presented the A. Le Coq City Tower [to visitors]. We looked at the different floors of the tower and saw how malt was produced in the old days. We also had a look at the factory grounds. What is definitely special is that it is perhaps one of the few industrial buildings in the Estonian context that has been in continuous operation for over 100 years. And of course, the city tower is a really beautiful landmark. The people of Tartu know this beautiful city tower," said Annika Teder, program manager at the A. Le Coq Beer Museum.

Signe, who also attended the Tartu Open House festival, chose the brewery's tower from the 28 sites available due to its convenient location close to the city's railway station. She travelled from Tapa for the day especially for the event.

For three years I've been going to the Open House festival in Tallinn, and when the opportunity arose here, I came to Tartu, because I've very rarely  seen Tartu's buildings from the inside," she said. In addition to the brewery, she was also planning to go on a tour of the Supreme Court, the Old Anatomical Theater and the old observatory.

Open House Tartu continued on Sunday with several additional tours. Among the newer architectural gems open to the public were the Estonian National Archives' Noora House, Naerumaa Kindergarten, the Lydia Hotel and the Tartu Nature House.

"We sincerely hope that it will continue next year. But we'll see how we do. It's certainly got off to a promising start," said Open House Tartu curator Piibe Piirma.

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