Lake Ülemiste
lake in Estonia
Lake Ülemiste (Estonian: Ülemiste järv, also Järveküla järv, Mõigu järv, or Kuningajärv) is the largest of the lakes surrounding Tallinn, Estonia. Ülemiste is the main part of the Tallinn water supply system, which supplies the city with most of its drinking water. The lake is fed mostly by Kurna Creek and the Pirita River, through the Vaskjala–Ülemiste canal.
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport is located on the eastern shore of the lake, and aircraft regularly take off and land over the lake. The airport maintains the necessary equipment ready to salvage in a short time any aircraft that crashes into the lake, as required by International Civil Aviation Organization regulations.
The Tallinn Water Company, AS Tallinna Vesi, has a treatment plant on the north shore of the lake which supplies 90% of the water to the city. The remaining 10% comes from ground water wells, which are maintained as a backup in case the lake becomes contaminated. On 18 March 2010, a DHL Antonov An-26 aircraft made an emergency landing on the ice of the lake, leaking about 1 ton of fuel. All of the pollution was eventually removed.
Administratively, Lake Ülemiste is part of Tallinn's central district Kesklinn, and constitutes Ülemistejärve subdistrict with its neighbouring forests.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lake Ülemiste” as lake in Estonia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as lake in Estonia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q334761. VIAF identifies the subject as 315527880. The Library of Congress control number is sh94006222. Authority coordinates are 59.399, 24.769. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lake Ülemiste”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lake Ülemiste primary sources, Lake Ülemiste archive and Lake research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lake Ülemiste”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lake Ülemiste” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.