St Michael Cheese Restaurant

Our house is located on the grounds that were once home to the St. Michael nunnery or as the locals would simply call it, the Michael’s nunnery.

The back wall of the house and the restaurant is a medieval city wall built especially to take the nunnery into the protective fold of the city. Thus, one end still features the Nun Tower. On the other side was the Nun Gate that led to the Toompea. The nunnery was founded by the Cistercian order on the foot of the Toompea bluff in 1249 AD and was active here until the Lutheran reformation.

The nunnery was a haven mostly to the widows and daughters of the noblemen of Estonia. The former main building of the nunnery is still visible from the windows of our restaurant. Since 1631 AD, the nunnery is home to the Gustav Adolf Gymnasium. The nunnery’s chapel was also dedicated to the archangel Michael, the heavenly „chief of militia“, as he was called. The task of the saint was to protect the whole nunnery, its inhabitants and visitors.

And so we can hope that we are well protected and kept safe on the grounds patrolled by the brave heavenly guardsman.