Pikakose House Museum

Info Telefon: 56 457 839
Besucher-Email: pikakose@hot.ee

St John`s Almshouse Museum (Jaani Seek)

Tel.: 53935352
Fax.: 6 441 574

Info Telefon: 6 446 553
Besucher-Email: kristiina.hiiesalu@linnamuuseum.ee
http://www.linnamuuseum.ee...

Tallin City Museum

from May to October:
Wednesday to Sunday 10.30-18.00
Closed on Monday and Tuesday
Closed from October to May.

The main complex of St John the Baptist's Hospital or Almshouse was located south-east from the town wall, about half a kilometre away, where the Old Tartu Road crossed the Härjapea River. It was the former Kivisilla Suburb.

It was a neglected corner in the centre of the town up to the mid-1990s when the breakthrough of the tartu Road was started and the place began to change rather fast. When old buildings were demolished, well-preserved basements of the 13th-14th-century buildings were unearthed together with a part of the almshouse's cemetery. In 2001 extensive archaeological excavations were made and it was decided to preserve a part of the almshouse complex that was quite rare in the North-European context. In May 2004 a pavilion was opened on the alleged site of the almshouse hospital to present a display about the history of the almshouse and Kivisilla Suburb.

In addition to the information on stands and in showcases, there is a multimedia programme with a contact screen. Slides illustrate the history of the Kivisilla Suburb.

The pavilion in the centre of the City that was designed by the architects' bureau AD Ansambel is suitable for various exhibitions, presentations, concerts and lectures.

 

Vörahansu Home Museum

Fax.: 50 155 655

Info Telefon: 48 97 965
Besucher-Email: vorahansu@hot.ee

A. H. Tammsaare Museum

Fax.: 6 013 181

Info Telefon: 6 013 232
Besucher-Email: atammsaare@solo.ee
http://www.linnamuuseum.ee...

Tallinn City Museum

Wed-Mon 10.00 - 17.00 h
Tue - closed

Anton Hansen Tammsaare Memorial Museum is situated in a summer-cottage-type house in Kadriorg, formerly a suburb. The Estonian literary classic Anton Hansen Tammsaare (1878-1940) lived in this apartment in 1932-1940 and died here. His widow Käthe Hansen wished their home to become a museum and her wish was granted on the centenary of the writer, on 30 January 1978.

The first floor of the building contains the five-room apartment, furnished as it used to be in the writer's lifetime. In the other wing of the floor there is the literary-historical display of Tammsaare's life and work. The museum collection contains over 6000 items, among them rarities like the writer's death mask and his violin, his home archive with manuscripts, correspondence, documents and photos.

In November 2005 a long-awaited redecoration of the exhibition hall began and we do hope to complete it and open the new exhibition by the end of 2006. Up to then only the apartment is open but smaller exhibitions are arranged in it, too.

Anton Hansen-Tammsaare (1878-1940) is the most famous Estonian writer whose main work Truth and Justice is known to almost every Estonian. In the shadow of the public figure and well-known writer stood a clever, wise and sensitive man with a complicated destiny. Our literary history depicts an introverted and reserved loner, who might have even seem dull sometimes. Tammsaare was a loner indeed in case of crowded meetings and celebrations but among friends he was sociable, charming and quite talkative.


Tammsaare moved to Tallinn on 1 September, 1919. As a journalist, he had been living in the capital for short periods before but he changed his living place quite often when he studied at Tartu University. His bad health did not allow him to sit for his final exams, he left Tartu for his brother's palce in Koitjärve. His TBC became a serious problem and so he went to the Caucasus, where a few years in the Estonian settlement Punase Lageda finally cured his disease. Having come back to Koitjärve he was forced to leave again soon to go to Tartu to be operated on stomach trouble. His chances of recovery were considered to be almost nil but he survived.

After a miraculous recovery he went back to Koitjärve, suffering from several crises in personal and social life (the First World War). All this, however, found an outlet in his magnificent work. Marriage brought him to Tallinn in 1919.

His first home after that was in Õuna Street, the next in Toom-Kuninga Street and the last home of his family (wife Käthe and their two children: daughter Riia ans son Eerik) was at 12 A, Koidula Street, in Kadriorg.

When the family moved to Koidula Street, Tammsaare was already an acknowledged writer. He still had to read, write and translate every day and all day, however, to earn his living and support the family. He could not relax even in summer when he used to redecorate the flat and write a lot. He never had time to enjoy his life and fame, his life was a constant struggle of earning his living, recovering from illness or getting over disappointments in love.

It is said that suffering makes a better man; Tammsaare's sufferings are best expressed in his work. His novels, essays and short prose with their sensitive realism and cognisance still can stagger and impress the reader. Tammsaare has found an eternal place in his readers' hearts due to his original language, his line of thought full of paradoxes and unconventional characters living simultaneously in their own time and in eternity. All that makes his work special and attractive for readers of different times.

 

Insurance Musem

Info Telefon: 6 467 116
Besucher-Email: ada.treumuth@if.ee

ATTENTION: OPEN ONLY ON PRIOR REQUEST. Mon–Fri 9–17

”Office furniture and equipment of insurance companies in the 1920’ies and 1930’ies, metal fire insurance and company labels as well as insurance policies from the 19. -20th centuries can be seen at the museum. The record book of the first insurance company founded by an Estonian, nationalisation documents from 1940, insurance advertisements, posters, prospectuses, badges, souvenir collections, photo albums, documents and 45 commercial film-clips of life and property insurance from 1960 – 1980 are displayed. ” (Estonian Museums)

 

Dominican Monastery Museum

Fax.: 515 5489

Info Telefon: 644 4606
Besucher-Email: info@kloostri.ee
http://www.kloostri.ee...

15.05.–23.09. Every day 10–18, 24.09.–14.05. Advance notice required

A visit to the oldest building preserved in the Old Town of Tallinn is worthwhile.The Monastery, which once used to be a place where different cultures mingled and a cradle of Estonian schooling, is today a unique architectural monument for the whole of Northern Europe.

The Monastery founded by Dominican monks as early as in 1246 and built in the Gothic style, offers besides medieval architecture a large collection of carved stones and an exhibition Dominicans in Tallinn.

The monastery garden and cloisters can accommodate 120 guests at a time. Visits to the museum and booking of rooms are possible also during evening hours and in winter, by appointment. The museum rooms may be used on terms and conditions agreed upon for conclusion of marriage, concerts, celebrations, Christmas parties and presentations.
 

Tallinn City Museum

Fax.: 6 441 574

Info Telefon: 6 446 553
Besucher-Email: info@linnamuuseum.ee
http://www.linnamuuseum.ee...

March -31 October
Wednesday to Monday 10.30 -18.00
Closed on Tuesday

1.November - 28. February
Wednesday to Monday 10.30 - 17.00
Closed on Tuesday

The building of the Tallinn City Museum at 17, Vene Street, in the centre of Old Tallinn, dates back to the 14th century. The building with its stylish lancet-arched portal and magnificent twin windows under the high hipped roof is a characteristic medieval dwelling. It belonged to renowned citizens of the town – merchants and town councillors. The edifice was reconstructed to meet the demands of a museum in 1963-65 and got its present looks in the renovations of 1997-2000. The exhibition of the museum offers a survey of Tallinn history throughout the centuries from the end of the prehistoric times up to re-independence in 1991.

Living in a house the walls of bricks, granite or limestone, the man of the time still dreamed of Nature: growing some herbs or digging a little flowerbed in the sunniest corner of the yard or, deprived of that, might have left a flowering weed or a sapling growing in a crack of the wall, just because it was green. The main plots were beyond the walls and they actively used in summertime, however smaller gardens, a tree or two, could be found in the backyards of the town proper as well. Tallinn has been a pragmatic commercial town but there has always been something fragile and unpragmatically not necessary - beauty. This beauty was not something overpowering like one could find in the gardens of the great rulers, it could be quite small in size. The miniatures showing medieval gardens cannot be treated as realistic as, more often than not, peonies and hepaticas blossom at the same time, unlike in a real garden.

The wilderness was much closer to the town up to the early twentieth century even. Bigger changes in the area outside the bastioins and the wall started to take place only in the nineteenth century. Before that wild birds were not alien in town, neither were weasels and polecats or squirrels.

It is difficult to say how much formal gardening was done in the Middle Ages, people were obviously more pracrically minded than aesthetically inclined. Something should have been there, some closed garden - hortus conclusus - for a short rest with a fern or a lily-of-the-valley brought the woods growing in between the stones.

The new permanent display – The Town that will Never Be Ready – was opened in March 2001. The history of this town that is being completed all the time has been shown from its very beginning up to the new national awakening – the singing revolution.

The modern display is attractive with its sounds, dummies, models. Authentic original items reflecting the mode of life in Tallinn have also been displayed. More information may be gleaned from old chronicle films and contemporary videos about the history of architecture and the emotional events of the singing revolution. Every visitor ought to find something to make visiting the museum worthwhile.

The first hall focuses on the model of the Old Town, made after the 1825 drawings of Tallinn facades.

On the First (second for Am. English) Floor the visitor enters the harbour, from where the trip takes him to Town Hall Square that is the centre and heart of the Old Town, the heritage of crafts and trades.

Here one can find flat dummies copied from old engravings, depicting various craftsmen, here are also original items that once belonged to their organisations, the guilds. A mounted nobleman is descending from Toompea hill to the market. The seamier side of history is depicted by the town executioner and a replica of his sword. The torture instruments of his trade from the Town Council's prison can be seen nearby.

The next hall is dedicated to Toompea. We can see a model of a medieval dwelling, replicas of noble coats of arms that once were displayed in the Nobles' Hall or the Hall of the Knighthood. There is a bridal couple in medieval costumes, some old chests. The treasury that has a stucco ceiling with rococo décor and a magnificent chandelier was once used as a ballroom. The next room is a hall for temporary exhibitions from the museum collections that are changed twice a year. Exhibitions about Christmas in different decades have become a tradition.

The Second (Am.:third) Floor has been dedicated to the Republic of Estonia, the occupations and the singing revolution.

The ingenious façade about the Soviet occupation can be moved aside to reveal the real events of the time.

The end wall of the hall gives a survey about the role of Estonians who managed to escape from communists and did their best to preserve the Estonian culture on the other side of the iron curtain. The latter, by the way, is all there. The display concludes with the row of Tallinn mayors' portraits. You can watch videos and play a computer game about history. Picture: medieval trunk.
 

Andres Särev House Museum

Info Telefon: 6 485 838
Besucher-Email: iivi.lepik@tmm.ee
http://www.tmm.ee...

Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design

Wed. - Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 17:30 p.m.
Mon. - Tue. Closed

Estonian Theatre and Music Museum was founded March 22, 1924 to preserve the collected materials of an Estonian composer Peeter Süda (1883- 1920). P. Süda's valuable collections of folksongs, notes and specialized library are the cornerstones of today's Estonian Theatre and Music Museum.

The founder of the museum was an artist and antique collector August Pulst.

From 1934 the museum is housed in the Old Town of Tallinn's medieval tower of Assauwe and its additional building.

The Union of the Theatre Museum joined with the Museum of Music in 1941. The theater collection is based on the materials gathered by Estonian actor and producer Heino Vaks (1886- 1943).

Estonian Theatre and Music Museum collects, preserves, studies and introduces the Estonian theatre and musicale life. The museum organizes exhibitions, concerts and discussion evenings. In the summer time some museum events take place in the small courtyard of Assauwe.

Estonian Theatre and Music Museum has a music and theatre department. We have a unique musical and theatrical library, large note archive, collections of art, photos and films.

The music department has a distinguished collection of many famous Estonian composers handwritten notes and documents. The collection has materials about Estonian conductors, musicians, choirs, orchestras and musical societies.

The theatre department offers a good overview of the Estonian theatre history and status of today, collections of play-programs, photos, reviews, learning materials and drafts of the theatrical costumes and stage designs. Many interesting materials are demonstrated on the exhibitions, been published and used for the theme-events.

The library is a great source of theatre and music publications (books, magazines, newspaper articles).

The art collection contains paintings, graphic art, sculptures, caricatures, costumes, posters and stage designs.

An important part of the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum is an apartment-museum of Andres Särev (1902- 1970). The four-room apartment was a home for an Estonian producer and actor Andres Särev and his wife Anna in 1938-1980. The homely atmosphere is created by a display of his family belongings. The theatrical exhibitions are decorating the walls and the apartment can be a adventure for children, who can play with the real theatre puppets and try on costumes, hats and wigs from the stage.

The permanent exhibition of the musical instruments, catches the attention with a variety of different home-organs, folk-, brass- and string-instruments. The charmer of the mechanical music-interments is a "Boy with a piglet", what works based on a clockwork. Visitors can use the help of a professional guide to enjoy our exhibitions better. The theatre department offers a theatrical lecture for schools and drama-clubs.

Museum is an owner of Heino Eller's (1887- 1970) copyrights and since 1998 once a year gives out an award to an accomplished Estonian musician. H. Eller is a noted founder of Estonian symphonic- and chamber music.

 

Art Museum of Estonia

Fax.: 602 6002

Info Telefon: 602 6001
Besucher-Email: muuseum@ekm.ee
http://www.ekm.ee...

“The Art Museum of Estonia (AME), founded in 1919 has during the years grown into an institution that consists of various branches: Kadriorg Art Museum, Niguliste Museum, Adamson-Eric Museum and Kristjan Raud House Museum. In February 2006 the Art Museum of Estonia opened in Kadriorg a first purpose-built museum in Estonia – Kumu, the new main building of AME.” (Estonian Museums)

 

House Museum of Peter the Great

Fax.: 6 441 574

Info Telefon: 6 013 136
Besucher-Email: tanel.laan@linnamuuseum.ee
http://www.linnamuuseum.ee...

Tallinn City Museum

1.9.-30.4. Wed-Sun 11-16,
1.5.-30.8. Tue-Sun 11-19

Emperor Peter I (1672-1725) expanded the borders of the Russian Empire in the course of the Northern War and managed to annex the whole Estonian territory by the year 1710. Therefore the protection of the new border areas became the priority of the ruler and he paid a lot of attention to the reconstruction of ports in Tallinn and Paldiski and visited Tallinn several times.

Together with the site of the would-be palace, a summer estate and a 17th-century cottage that had belonged to town councillor von Drenteln were purchased for the emperor's use in 1713. The small cottage was enlarged with a wing and the outcome was a building with a hall, a kitchen and four rooms. The small summer residence was in use until the emperor's death. The succeeding rulers used the Palace of Kadriorg that had been completed only after Peter's death and the small building was neglected. The building was restored at the order of Emperor Alexander I after he visited Tallinn in 1804. The wing, however, was not. The kitchen was reconstructed and a dining room was built above it on the first floor that had not existed before.

Since then the building has been maintained all the time and today it is the only example of a 17th-century summer-cottage in Estonian architecture and a valuable relic.

The building became a popular sight among the people of Tallinn in the last quarter of the 19th century when the watchman of the house used to entertain the visitors with "true-life stories".

The Tallinn City Museum got the building in 1941. Peter I House was hardly changed until 2004 when it was thoroughly renovated. The museum with a renewed display is now open also in wintertime.

The summer residence, now known as Peter's House, was a one-storeyed oblong building with a hipped roof. It contained four rooms, a kitchen, a hall and a lavatory. Behind the building, on the town side, was a small garden. By 1714 the building had been redecorated and furnished waiting for the tsar's next visit.

At the order of Emperor Alexander I, his ancestor's summer residence was renovated in 1804-06. It was not restored in the shape it had been at Peter's times, only the 17th-century stone part was preserved. The oven in the hall was demolished and a staircase leading to the first floor was built at its place. The former kitchen was divided into two parts and the bigger part became an extension of the hall. A low room, nowadays called the dining room, was built above the kitchen. The building got a roof of boards; the tiled roof dates from the late 19th century only. In 1806 some pieces of furniture that had been in the palace were brought back to the cottage.

Today the building is the only example of a 17th-century summer cotatge in Estonian architecture.

Hall

Entering the building, one gets into the high hall, the lower part of which at the back is the former kitchen. Two large paintings The Triumph of Peter I and Alexander I as well as the portraits Peter III, Catherine II, Paul I are on the wall. There is also the original painting The Battle at Narva in 1700 by an unknown painter from the second half of the 18th century. A model of the corvette Schlüsselburg is on the window-sill.

Living Room

A big white-tiled stove with dividing cornices stands on the left from the door, a table with the map of the Baltic Sea next to it. The golden circle around the map bears the points of the compass. A magnificent baroque armoire, the so-called Danzig wardrobe, dating from 1756, stands in the back corner. It never belonged to Peter I but is a period-piece nevertheless. An oval table with nine chairs and two mirror-doored cabinets are on the right. Legend says that one of the latter was used for medicines. There is also a wall mirror. All the pieces of furniture are in baroque style, made of oak, Caucasian hazelnut and mahogany. The copies of 18th-century portraits on the walls are Peter I, Anna Joanovna and an oil painting Peter I in a Boat out at the Sea. The crucifix behind a glass door in the corner was painted by Dutch master Jan Tute-Couren in the 17th century.

Bedroom

The canopied bed belonged to Catherine I. Its wooden parts are original, the canvas coverings new. The grandfather-clock of English origin showed not only hours but also dates, months and phases of the Moon. A big mirror in a gilt frame and a portrait painting Yelizaveta Petrovna hang on the wall.

Dining Room

The small and low dining room was built only in the early 19th century. It contains an oak table that can be extended with two leaves and chairs with high backs, the original leather of which was replaced by red velvet in the 1950s.

Basement

The basement that dates from the 17th and 18th centuries was opened only after the thorough renovation in October 2004. In addition to the bust of Peter I modelled by August Weizenberg in 1908, we can see sculptures made for the park in the 1720s: Jupiter, Neptune, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Catherine I and Peter I. There is also a gun used in the Northern War.