Sillamäe, Estonia, Europe
 
 
Year1946latitude: 59° 23'
longitude: 27° 46'
Period
Initiator(s)
Planning organization
Nationality initiator(s)USSR
Designer(s) / Architect(s)
Design organization
Inhabitants13,666 (2017)
Target population
Town website
Town related links
Literature- Mart Kalm, Estonian 20th century architecture, Tallinn 2002

type of New Town: > scale of autonomy
New-Town-in-Town
Satellite
New Town
Company Town
> client
Private Corporation
Public Corporation
> policy
Capital
Decentralization
Industrialization
Resettlement
Economic
 

Main street Sillamäe, view towards the sea.
source: Michelle Provoost 2004



Plan of Sillamäe and industrial zone. Photo: Michelle Provoost 2004
source:



Theatre
source: Michelle Provoost, 2004



Interior
source: Michelle Provoost, 2004



Corner of main street
source: Michelle Provoost, 2004



Former uranium factory on the coast.
source: Michelle Provoost, 2004


Materplan. Photo: Michelle Provoost
source:


Sillamaë is a small New Town in the north west of Estonia, close to the Russian border. It is an area rich with oil shale. The prewar settlement which was mainly a resort village, was destroyed during the war. Because of the presence of uranium, the USSR decided to rebuilt the pre-war powerplant into a uranium factory. This was part of the policy of the USSR to industrialise the mainly agrarian Estonia.
During the occupancy by the USSR until 1991, Sillamäe was a closed city due to the secrecy of the uranium production. Therefore the town is only connected by one single road to the main highway, which was guarded by a checkpoint.
The inhabitants are mostly Russian seniors and the amount of inhabitants is shrinking.

source: Michelle Provoost

2008 - 2024 disclaimer