"The meat production capitol of Estonia !" Rakvere by mcblacktiger

Rakvere is the meat production capitol of Estonia and also the namesake of the largest meat production company in all of the baltic states.

The first written mention of Rakvere was when Henry of Livonia first described the wooden stronghold of Tarvanpaa in 1226. Later in 1302, the Danes built a stone fortress and that same year Rakvere(present day name) recieved it's settlement charter. Throughout it's history it has been ruled by many different countries.

The aurochs(large bull) statue, pictured here, was commisioned for the 700th aniversary of Rakvere's city charter and was sculpted by the Estonian artist Tauno Kangro.

Today Rakvere is the county government seat and has a population of about 19,000 residents.

For more info: www.rakvere.ee

I read somewhere else in VT that this is also a was memmorial; this is not true. The names on the side of the monument are private donors to the bull. The war memorial is a ways south of the castle.

• Pros:Many things to do around Rakvere.
• Cons:It is definatly a "blue collar" working town.
• In a nutshell:A nice daytrip form Tallinn.