Looming large near the castle, this massive 7-tonne, 3.5m-high, 7.1m-long statue was completed by local artist Tauno Kangro to commemorate the town’s 700th anniversary in 2002. You might be forgiven for thinking that’s a lot of bull, but actually it’s an aurochs – a large, long-horned wild ox that became extinct in the 17th century.
The 1226 Chronicle of Livonia included a description of an ancient wooden castle on Rakvere hill, called Tarvanpea. In Estonian, Tarvanpea means ‘the head of an aurochs’ – hence the statue.
