St. Olav's Guild

Attached to the Black Heads guild hall is another of medieval Tallinn's key guild houses: St. Olav's.  

Oleviste Guild (St. Olav's Guild) was an organisation that united craftsmen from what were considered the lower-class trades – butchers, tanners, gravediggers – who were by and large ethnically Estonian as opposed to German.

The guild began using the house a gathering place as early as the 14th century, but in the 15th century it was extensively rebuilt. At the end of the 17th century however, the Oleviste Guild was merged with the Kanut Guild and faded out of existence.

In 1919 the hall was bought by the Black Heads' guild next door and incorporated into its interior. Through repeated rebuilding the hall's façade has lost its medieval look and instead bears an Art Nouveau-inspired appearance. What remains of the Oleviste Guild Hall's original interior today are its two-naved, vaulted guild hall and six star vaults.