Names
Valve (Valve)
Watch, lookout, surveillance, duty. Named for the local level-crossing watch. Also, slightly dated woman’s name meaning white, bright or brilliant.
Vambola (Vambola)
Named after the mine-cruiser Vambola/Wambola, ex Soviet Spartak, ex Russian Kapitan 2, one of two Russian destroyers (sister ship/street Lennuk a block away) hijacked by the British and given to Estonia in 1919 (or maybe Dec 1918). Name almost certainly comes from the eponymous hero of Wambola: Jutustus wanast Eesti ajaloost (1209-1212), Vambola: A Story from Olde Estonian Historie (1209-1212) (1889, Publ. J. Solba), reviving interest in Lembit of Lehola, first tome of a trilogy including Aita (1891) and Leili (1892/93) by Saali A. Ship said to have been sold to Peru in 1933 and scrapped in 1954. It is not impossible that the similarly-sounding Varbola may have had played some initial influence in the name. Not to be confused with EML (Eesti Mereväe Laev, lit. Estonian Naval Ship) Wambola (M311), ex ‘Cuxhaven’ of German Navy, given to Estonia in 2003.
Vana (Vana)
Old. Also used in compound street-names. Soviet occupation renaming (1950-1987) of Vaimu. Didn’t last.
Vana Slobodaa (0)
Not a street, but the historical name of a district whose outline is not 100% clear, the approximate contour being Roheline aas, spreading over time along the NE side of today’s Poska, from roughly Wiedemanni to Koidula and back. Historically, a слобода (sloboda, ±‘free settlement’, from Old Rus. свобо́да, svobóda, freedom) designated a settlement free of certain obligations, essentially taxes and levies, often to encourage colonisation. Over time, they became villages, communities, suburbs or even towns (see Balti Jaam), while its Estonian ‘equivalent’, agul, often tended, especially late 18th, early 19th C, to downgrade this to ‘slum’, which seems a bit harsh, but shanty-town or favela don’t really cut it either. In general, it seems to have just been a suburb for poor people or new arrivals to the city on the ‘other side of the track’. Be this as it may, the fact that it was called this could also suggest a touch of everyday racism for being largely inhabited by immigrant Russian laborers. Known – presumably later with respect to Uus Slobodaa – as Старая Слобода (Staraya Sloboda, Old Sloboda) and as Russisches Dorf (Russian village) or even Екатерининтальская Слобода (Yekaterintalskaja Sloboda), the settlement dates back to 1718-25 when Peter the Great (Peetri) decided to build what would become Kadriorg Palace (now art museum) for his consort, future Empress Catherine (Kadri). Requiring the employment and housing of thousands of workers: masons and carpenters, cooks and cleaners, as well as palace staff ranging from lackey to Castellan whose house, now the Eduard Vilde Museum, can still be seen. Peter died in 1725 and Catherine was not that interested and died herself two years later so the project sort of fell by the wayside. See also Tatari.
Vana Tooma (Vana Toomas)
Old Thomas. Named after the character on the weather-vane atop the Raekoda (City Hall) spire. Toomas has stood there since 1530 at least. Damaged by the March 1944 bombing, a replacement was made in 1952 (or was it 1954?), and a new copy (the present one) in 1996. Legend has it (and by now you probably know I hate that word) that the character modeled was a city guard who <insert heart-warming story here> watches over his city to this day. Soviet occupation renaming (1963-1987) of Dunkri, although what political message they were sending out is not sure. Vana Toomas remains a popular symbol of Tallinn. For some, its spirit.
Vana Turg (0)
Old market. One of the oldest parts of Tallinn, the point at which all main roads to/from Narva, Viljandi, Tartu, Pärnu, the islands (Saaremaa & Hiiumaa), Riga, Novgorod and Rome converged. Initially forum inferior (1368) to differentiate it from plain forum, Raekoja plats, then retaining its name of old market throughout the ages: dat olde market (1442), Olde Marketh (?), wanna turro (1732), Alter Markt (1789), Vana Turu (1885) & Alt Markt (1942).
