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3. Red Brick Gothic

3.5 Saint John’s Church, Tartu

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3.5 Saint John’s Church, Tartu

92 Conclusions

The most significant strengths of the church are related with the position of Jaani Church in the Public sector and the easy access to the end customers. If the goal is to develop new tourism products, the lack of other Red Brick Gothic heritage in the area is an important weakness. These circumstances can be successfully combined with the opportunities given by the variety of other heritage in the area and the growing potential of spiritual tourism, which is actually very much related to the heritage tourism. There should be a focus on the unique form of the sculptures.

History of Saint John’s church

Tartu City

The city of Tartu dates back to the six hundred century to the erection of Tarbatu fortress. In 1030 the fortress was raided by the Russian prince Jaroslav the Wise who built a new fortress to control the area. In 1061 the Estonians had had enough of being under Russian rule and recaptured the castle. In 1224 Tartu was invaded again but this time it was German attackers. The Germans were only in control for a short time because in 1234 Dmitri of Novgorod was assaulted, captured and destroyed the castle. The Russians did not bother with the settlement of German merchants that had risen up and during the 1280’s Tartu joined the Hanseatic League, mainly managing the trade between Lübeck and Russia (Lukka: 2009).

During the medieval times Tartu has been located in the centre of conflict for hundreds of years.

There has been a constant fight for power between Sweden, Denmark and Russia and in 1721 the population of Tartu was down to 21 inhabitants. The population eventually recovered and Tartu went on to be the cultural centre for the awakening of Estonian nationalism in the second half of the 19th century (Lukka: 2009).

Tartu Jaani Church

Although the church has been destroyed a number of times, the medieval identity of the church is still obvious. Medieval architecture is a valuable and important part of Estonian heritage and Saint John’s church is a very unique building in this context. The uniqueness is due to the extensive collection of terracotta sculptures, which is extremely rare in a European brick gothic context, more on this below (Alttoa: 2012).

The origin of the church is not fully known. It is certain that there has been a congregation since 1323, but whether or not the church in some form existed at that time is unknown. There has however been found evidence of a wooden building by archaeologists where the church is standing today (Alttoa: 2012).

The present building is a product of different construction plans and different restoration projects.

During the original construction the design of the interior was changed, which in turn let to changes in the supporting beams. This affected the foundation and ultimately the walls of the church became seriously unstable. These faults and general restoration was rectified between 2002 and 2004 and in

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2005 the church opened for visitors. The church was restored to medieval appearance (Alttoa:

2012).

Terracotta Sculptures

The collection of terracotta sculptures at Saint John’s church consists of approximately one thousand pieces which are almost seven hundred years old. Many of these sculptures are currently kept in storage rooms due to the delicate condition they are in at the moment. The burnt clay is especially vulnerable to corrosion due to salt accumulation in the clay. Therefore, many of the sculptures are currently under restoration, which is a time consuming process due to the delicate condition of the sculptures and the status of being under heritage protection. Focus should be on these.

There are sculptures everywhere inside and outside the church. They come in all shapes and sizes;

from the very elaborate Enthroned Christ with Mary and John the Baptist to the smaller decorative figures.

Viewing platform

The observation platform is accessible from the room in the thirty meter high steeple of the church.

From the platform there is an amazing view of the historical old Town of Tartu. When the visitor has climbed the 135 steps to the platform he or she can see the heart of Tartu. This is an ideal starting point for a visit to Tartu because it provides the visitor with a bird view of down town Tartu and therefore this viewpoint is a good starting point for anyone who is interested in the history of Tartu and the surrounding areas.

Photo: Peeter Säre

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There is no admission price for children under the age of seven to visit the viewpoint but for adults there is a ticket price of 1.6 € and for student and seniors the price is 1 €.

Key influences on the visitor experience at Saint John’s Church

The church is located in Tartu city, which is the second largest town in Estonia. There are more than 100.000 inhabitants and the city is located less than 200 km away from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Because Tartu is a relatively large town it has both an airport and a university. Besides Saint John’s church there is a wide variety of other tourist attractions in the town, from art Galleries to Viking museums.

The church is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday between 10 am to 6 pm from the 1st of September to the end of May. In June, July and August the opening hours is extended to 7 pm. The church has a regular Sunday service at 11 pm.

On the webpage of Saint John’s church there is great information on the history of the church and practical information for the tourists, like opening hours. On a smaller note there could be a remark about parking facilities and general entrance fee. But the webpage does indicate that parking facilities are good because of the location of the church and that there is no general entrance fee.

The webpage is very informative about the viewing platform from the church tower.

Given the central location of the church there should be good access to dining places and accommodation facilities. The city of Tartu also has a webpage with lots of useful information for potential tourists; among other things it presents daily and upcoming events in the vicinity. Primary awareness sources are recommendations, the internet, and travel guides/brochures, while many have also visited by chance.

Visitor Characteristics of Saint John’s Church cliental

In relation to Saint John’s Church no questionnaires were collected in 2011, as the partner had not joined the project at that time. Therefore, the analysis of visitor characteristics for the church will be based on the figures from 2012, where 366 questionnaires were collected.

At Saint John’s Church, 63 pct. of visitors are visiting for the first time, while the rest are (on average) visiting 8 times, which is a very high number compared to other attractions in the project.

The primary means of transportation at the church is walking (50 pct.). Primary awareness sources are recommendations, the internet, and travel guides/brochures, while many have also visited by chance.

In terms of time spent at the church, 53 pct. of visitors spent less than 30 minutes and 32 pct. spend between 30 and one hour. This means that only 15 pct. of visitors spend more than one hour at the attraction, which is a number that could be improved by improving the product. When they visit, 75 pct. of visitors are accompanied by others, mainly adults. The average age of visitors at the church is 39 old, and it seems that ages of the visitors are spread rather equally from 10 to 60

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old. 61 pct. of visitors are females and 39 pct. are males. Of these, 52 pct. are from the home country, Estonia. It means that Saint John’s Church actually has a very high number of foreigners visiting the attraction, with most people coming from Germany (10 pct.), Russia (8 pct.), and Finland (6 pct.).

The primary motivations for people to come visit the church are that they are on cultural holidays (29 pct.), holiday to relax (23 pct.) and on a city trip (13 pct.). In terms of accommodation, 20 pct.

are staying at hotels, 20 pct. private and 13 pct. at youth hostels, while the rest is spread across the other categories. These two dimensions are interesting to look into, because they can state how the average visitor prefers to have his/her vacation, and where you can reach them with your marketing efforts.

Strategic Recommendations for Saint John’s Church

Recommendations on how to increase the number of visitors:

Recommendations for product development: Parking facilities (3, 5) and catering facilities (3, 8) are rated the lowest, so these elements should have the attention from the management at the church.

Also, sanitary facilities could be improved, although it is rated relatively decent. Generally, however, Saint John’s Church is doing great in terms of satisfaction rates in the questionnaire survey. In fact, the overall impression and general satisfaction are both at 4, 6. Also, price, price performance, service / assistance, content, and cleanliness are rated very high. This means that in relation to product development at their own church, management have to focus on very few things that should be improved. What should be mentioned, however, is that a very clear majority (85 pct.) of visitors are spending less than one hour at the attraction, which could indicate that they is not enough entertainment for visitors. Therefore, it could be considered to improve shopping facilities and ways of entertaining even further. For example, museum or exhibitions related to the church could be beneficial. Internationally, it could be an idea to collaborate more with similar attractions, and in that way create products such as events or exhibitions that can be used by all partners. Of course, the fact that it is a church sets certain limits for the Saint John’s (and might also be a main reason for the relatively short time spend at the place), but it is argued that the recommended product developments listed above will not compromise this perspective.

Recommendations for marketing development: Saint John’s church has a very well developed webpage with useful information on English, making the attraction available for foreigners. To improve the awareness of the attraction cooperating with all the interested parties in Tartu is recommended.

Combining efforts can boost tourism and therefore it is recommended taking the initiative to create this kind of cooperation. Even further of free tools for marketing the attraction on the internet should also be exploited. According the 2012-survey, very few concrete marketing tools have been part of spreading awareness for the visitors. In fact, the internet is on top of list, even though it only has a relatively low number of 12 pct. The rest is more or less equally spread on the rest of the

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available tools for spreading awareness, which means that most of the tools have less than 6 pct... In that way, it could be argued that management at the church should focus on fewer, but more concrete tools, in spread of trying to exploit all available tools. Here, the internet has some free opportunities such as social media that could be exploited. Travel guide/brochures also seem to have been relatively successful for the attraction.

Recommendations for development of Baltic Sea Region heritage:

Like the other Red Brick Gothic attractions it is recommended to develop heritage tourism at Saint John’s Church through the rich history of the city. If the history of Tartu is incorporated in the product development, like a guided tour or a combined visit to a museum and the church, the historical heritage will become visible. This will be of interest to many potential customers in more than one way. It will attract more visitors directly to the church, but indirectly it will make Tartu city more attractive to tourists in general and over time increase the number of guests in the city and eventually increase the number of visitors in Saint John’s Church. Cooperation between the different attractions in Tartu will also serve this purpose.

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