Siselinna
Under this name there are three cemeteries established at
different times, which are located half a kilometre away from
tartu Road towards the west, downtown from Ülemiste sand
drifts. These are the former Russian Orthodox Cemetery
established in 1775 and known as Aleksander Nevski Cemetery,
Estonian Vana-Kaarli Cemetery opened in 1864, and Military
Cemetery established at the end of the second decade, all in
all about 18 hectares.
The biggest among the above-mentioned cemeteries is Aleksander
Nevski Cemetery with the area of 13,01 hectares. It is the
oldest among the cemeteries of Tallinn used today, its
contemporary cemeteries were Kopli and Mõigu. Tens of thousands
of people have found their last resting place at this cemetery
over 200 years, there are many outstanding figures in history
and culture among those people. The cemetery has been
established at the time when over half hundred years had passed
from the northern War that ended with Russian victory, 65 years
after Tallinn surrenderedd. Probably, giving a name for the
cemetery also refers to that victory, which was crucial to the
fate of the Baltic States. In 1856, traders of Tallinn,
Aleksandr Jermakov and Ivan Germanov had a small church of
brick to the cemetery dedicated to Aleksander Nevski, which was
destroyed as a result of bombing by the Soviet Russia on March
9, 1944. Near the place of the church the chapel building of
red bricks has remained. Originally, the cemetery had occupied
the relief, which reaches farther from the church. Most part of
it has been for the purpose of military cemetery, therefore
there are signs on the graves of warriors as the older grave
marks, the part of which is the historical memorial under
public protection. 
Vana-Kaarli Cemetery
The two
cemeteries are separated by a high limestone wall, in the
northern part of it there is a hole where a wide road runs from
one cemetery to another. Here the so-called Vana-Kaarli
Cemetery, which is ninety years younger than the so-called
Russian cemetery described above, and it has been established
in 1864 as the cemetery of Kaarli Congregation because Kalamaja
Graveyard ecome too small for the growing congregation.
There is also archaic milieu at the Vana-Kaarli Cemetery and we
can see quite remarkable things like old grave marks that are
over hundred years old. Quite a few limestone or forged crosses
from the 19th century have become rare. On the right side of
cemetery's main road we can see a 1,5 metre high statue of red
granite with the bust of composer Peeter Süda. The text on the
front side of the statue brings back to the memory one of the
first lecturers of Tallinn Higher Music School and musician
Peeter Süda (30. I 1883 - 3. VIII 1920). The grave statue
created in 1927(sculptor Ferdi Sannamees) was destroyed in
World War II in 1944 and it was restored in its original form
in 1970. By plaster models of F. Sannamees. (In the beginning
of 1990s the bronze bust was stolen and it was replaced by
granite bust.).
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