Swan Pond

The Swan Pond is the most famous of the Kadriorg Park ponds.  Originally called the Lower Pond, it was featured on the plans of  Kadriorg Park as early as 1723. In 1741, an islet with a pavilion and
several trees was erected in the middle of the pond. At the beginning
of the 20th century, various buildings were located around the pond
(e.g. a tram depot on the side facing Poska Street).   A wooden villa housing the famous café-restaurant Kontsertaed stood at the spot of the current F. R. Kreutzwald statue. A favourite winter pastime for townsfolk was ice-skating on the pond under the streetlights.  

Renovation of the surroundings of the pool was undertaken in the mid-1930s. The rundown restaurant buildings were demolished and replaced by lawns, flower beds and hedges.

 It was then, in the 1930s, that the pond came to be called the Swan Pond (as swans made it their summer home). Fountains were erected in the pond and a round, pillared bandstand designed by Villem Seidra was built on the islet. A sundial and flower beds designed after Estonian ethnic patterns were installed on the south bank of the pond in 1937.