 The building served as a gunpowder cellar until 1809 when it was converted to a beer storage room.At the end of the 19th century the building began to be used by the University of Tartu which meant that lectures and scientific work were often conducted on top of gunpowder barrels.In the 1990s it functioned as a large medieval restaurant before reopening in 2001 as a pub and disco though retaining a wine cellar.