True to its moniker, the total project cost of the "million-kroon toilet," opened in 2002, came in at more than 2.3 million Estonian kroons — or nearly €150,000 at the fixed exchange rate. Now, however, the famous toilet sits forlornly on a storage lot in Lasnamäe, still awaiting its ultimate fate.

How it ended up there is a strange story. Several people and groups have expressed interest in acquiring the luxury toilet — among the potential suitors are museums and even village societies.

The farthest it's hoped to be relocated is Hargla, near the Estonian-Latvian border. Twenty-two years ago, two brothers from the Valga County village pooled their money and traveled to the capital specifically to take a photo with the toilet.

"We really did drive up from the south to Tallinn to see the million-kroon toilet for ourselves, since it had ended up costing 2 million Estonian kroons and some change," recalled Rauno Rätsepp. "And we posed and took photos of it, and then forgot about it."

He remembered having to pay to actually access the toilet. "Because with the wages back then — it was a surprisingly large amount just to get in," he added.

When the toilet was first opened in 2002, using it cost 2 kroons — rising to 3 kroons in 2004.

"I even had this blasphemous idea that maybe Tallinn's million-kroon toilet could keep serving taxpayers out here in the forest," Rätsepp continued. "It could become a tourist attraction."

Difficult to move

But the Tallinn City Museum had set its sights on the toilet as well. The city initially gave the museum the go-ahead to come and take it, but the toilet unit weighs two metric tons and the museum has nowhere to put it at the moment.

"As we can see, moving this million-kroon toilet is a problem," acknowledged Tallinn City Museum curator Tõnu Pedaru. "If we do end up eventually moving it, we'd want to take it somewhere it could stay; we're not going to keep relocating it. Although there have been thoughts of putting it on wheels and exhibiting it here and there."

So the hefty structure remains unmoved on its Lasnamäe lot, once again waiting for interested parties and a worthy place to land.

"Right now, it's enjoying its retirement here on our storage lot," confirmed Erkki Vaheoja, director of the Tallinn Urban Environment and Public Works Department. "If someone finds a use for it, we're definitely ready to let it go. At the moment, we haven't struck a deal with anyone, so as long as it's sitting here on the lot, it's still up for grabs."

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