EST ENG GER FIN • 1763 - Russian Empress Catherine II ordered to fortify Tartu again. It was decided to build a powder-magazine in the former city moat. • 1768 - Field-Marshal General de Villebois's Engineer Commando starts to build the magazine. The bricks are brought from the old Mary Church (about where the University Main Building is now) and the ruins of the bishop settlement on Toome Hill demolished in 1708. • 1778 - The magazine is ready. The 11 m high building with 2.5 m thick walls is the only Engineer Commando's building that has survived until now. • 1800 - Emperor Paul I gives Toome Hill with all the buildings to the University of Tartu. • 1809 - The last dozen tons of gunpowder is taken from the powder-magazine to Narva after a long correspondence between the Tartu City Council, Governor General and the Riga Plenipotentiary of the War Minister. • 1817 - University carriages, fire extinguishing gear and building materials are kept in the magazine. • 1827 - After renovation the University lets the magazine to Baron Bruincks of Vorbuse as beer storage. • 1896 - A rent contract is signed with entrepreneur J.R. Schramm who uses the building as a beer warehouse for 69 years. • 1896 - The University uses the premises for research - a horizontal pendulum is placed here on Professor Lewitzky's initiative to observe earth vibration and magnetic phenomena. • 1915 - The laboratory is evacuated and the building is used as the student kitchen's storage. • 1944-… - After World War II the premises are used as a vegetable warehouse. • In the early 1960s archaeological excavations are done here and a reconstruction project is worked out for the former powder-magazine. • 1982-1999 - The legendary café and restaurant operate on the premises. • 2000 - Stylish restaurant "Gunpowder Cellar" opens here after profound restoration and building works.