Picture Show: Medieval Streets and Soviet Scars in Tallinn, Estonia

The medieval district of Tallinn, seen from the 390-foot-tall spire of St. Olav's Church; before the Berlin wall fell, the KGB used the church tower as a surveillance center.

Estonia is a complicated place. Ruled by foreigners for nearly its entire hist

Rain falls on the old city district of Tallinn.

Women leave Aleksander Nevski Cathedral after a morning service.

This building was the local headquarters of the KGB until the fall of the USSR in the late 1980s. An inscription in Estonian reads "Here was the headquarters of the repressive Soviet occupation authorities. Here began the trail of suffering for thousands

Making up for past injustices: T-shirt shop, Tallinn.

Genre statement; old city, Tallinn.

The spire of St. Nicholas's Church, seen through the old city wall.

A Soviet-era uniform hangs in a Tallinn antique shop.

Courtyard gates on Muurivahe Street.

This Stalin-era theater now shows art films from Estonia and around the world. "Soprus" means "friendship" in Estonian.

Decades of decay.

An apple seller in Balti Jaam, Tallinn's murky central train station. Part of the station has been converted to an outdoor market.

Wheat-paste poster on Pikk Street.

Old Soviet paraphernalia for sale in the Balti Jaam.

A flag from the former USSR hangs in the window of a trinket shop in the train station.

For several years, Estonia had one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but was hit extremely hard by the 2009 economic crisis.

Outside of the touristy medieval walls of Old Tallinn, apartment buildings betray signs of decades of economic hardship.