Description of the attraction
Glena Castle - located in Tallinn in the Nõmme region on the Mustamägi slope. There is a beautiful park around the castle. Landowner Nikolai von Glen founded a park on this slope. The castle was built in 1886. It is not known why the baron exchanged the fertile land beyond Lake Harku for the pine-covered slope of Mustamägi. Such an act from the point of view of the contemporaries of the landowner von Glen seemed almost insane.
This hill has been popular since the mid-19th century as a picnic spot. Apparently, the baron planned to found a city on this place, since the project included a town hall, a post office, several churches, a hippodrome, and even a mud bath.
The castle itself was built according to the project of the owner of the territory. The landowner personally participated in the construction. The main work was carried out by the inmates of the Tallinn prison. Von Glen sometimes, for the sake of aesthetic development, played excerpts from Wagner's operas on the clarinet for the prisoners. The castle was built in the medieval Gothic style.
Opposite the castle you can see the ruins of the "palm house", which during the Baron's time was a semi-underground greenhouse. Unfortunately, today the baron's winter garden is in a sorry state. Not far from the ruins, on a hill, there is a four-sided obelisk built in honor of the beloved horse of Baron von Glen.
Nearby, between the tall trees, stands a huge sculpture, popularly called the "Glenovsky Devil", although, according to the author's idea, the giant sculpture personified the Estonian character Kalevipoeg. The sculpture that we see today is a copy, the original was destroyed during the First World War, its fragments can be seen several ages from the copy.
Not far from the "Glenovsky line" there is another stone giant, popularly called "crocodile", which, according to the plan of the baron, was supposed to be a dragon. Between the two sculptures, you can see a depression that looks like a wide ditch. The baron planned to make a river here, the source of which would be the Pääsküla bog. The river was supposed to flow through the park, and fall like a waterfall from a cliff. However, this venture was not carried out, since the sandy soil absorbed all the water, and the park remained with a dry bed.
There is also the building of the baron, which has survived to this day - this is the "observation tower". According to the plan of the baron, the tower was supposed to be high enough to see the Finnish coast. Unfortunately, von Glen failed again: the foundation was too frail, and the idea had to be abandoned. Today this building houses an observatory. The eccentric Baron von Glen made many more sights in the park, which, unfortunately, have not survived to this day.
