20 Facts About Tartu

Tartu is the second-largest city in Estonia after the political and financial capital, Tallinn.

Subsequently, known as Dorpat, Tartu became a commercial centre of considerable importance during the later Middle Ages and the capital of the semi-independent Bishopric of Dorpat.

Tartu's troops did not manage to capture the bishop's fortress on Toome Hill.

Tartu was the setting for the foundation of the Society of Estonian Writers in 1872.

Tartu Airport was opened in the south of the city in 1946.

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Mostly known as a university town, Tartu is a site of heavy industry.

Tartu is connected to other Estonian cities by many bus routes and trains to Valga and Tallinn.

Outside Estonia, Tartu can be reached by Lux Express, Ecolines and Simple Express buses to Riga, St Petersburg, Pskov, Moscow and Minsk and by Nordic Regional Airlines flights to Helsinki.

Tartu is officially divided into 17 neighbourhoods, which carry no administrative purposes.

City is best known for being home to the University of Tartu, founded under King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1632.

Mainly for this reason, Tartu is – tongue-in-cheek – known as "Athens of the Emajogi" or as "Heidelberg of the North".

Tartu is the seat of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, the Baltic Defence College, Estonian Aviation Academy, and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

Tartu has been an intellectual centre of both Estonia and the Baltic countries for several centuries.

Scholars hailing from Tartu include the pioneer of embryology Karl Ernst von Baer, a pioneer of animal behaviour studies Jakob von Uexkull, and a cultural theorist and semiotician Juri Lotman.

Tartu was one of the earliest scientific explorers of the Pacific region, making significant collections of flora and fauna in Alaska, California, and Hawaii.

The Tartu School is one of the leading scientific schools in semiotics.

Architecture and city planning of historical Tartu mainly go back to the pre-independence period, with Germans forming the upper and middle classes of society, and therefore contributing many architects, professors and local politicians.

Presently, Tartu is known for several modern buildings of the "steel, concrete and glass" variation, but has managed to retain a mix of old and new buildings in the centre of town.

Tartu is the hometown of Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, captain of Team Secret, a professional Dota 2 team.

Tartu won the first International, and was runner-up two years in a row with Natus Vincere.