Estonian National Museum

Last updated
Estonian National Museum
Estonian National Museum ET.svg
Eesti Rahva Muuseumi peahoone 13.jpg
Main building, opened in 2016
Established14 April 1909 [1]
Location Tartu, Estonia
Type National museum
Website Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Inside the main exhibition hall (2016) Dan Dorell Lina Ghotmeh ja Tsuyoshi Tane Viron kansallismuseo 2016 C.jpg
Inside the main exhibition hall (2016)
The first ever Estonian flag, made in 1884, now on display in the museum (2018) The original Estonian flag.jpg
The first ever Estonian flag, made in 1884, now on display in the museum (2018)

The Estonian National Museum (Estonian : Eesti Rahva Muuseum) founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter part of the 19th century. [2]

Contents

The museum tracks the history, life and traditions of the Estonian people, presents the culture and history of other Finno-Ugric peoples, [3] and the minorities in Estonia. It has a comprehensive display of the 19th century folk costumes from all regions of Estonia. The exhibition includes an extensive array of various handicrafts from hand-woven carpets and linen tablecloths to wood-carved beer tankards and other items illustrating the Estonian farmers' traditional lifestyle, fests and holidays. [4]

History

The museum opened at Raadi Manor in 1922 with the Finnish ethnographer Ilmari Manninen as its director. [5] Manninen had been working for Tartu University since 1919. [6] The manor had previously been home to a Baltic German art collector Karl Eduard von Liphart and his son Ernst Friedrich von Liphart. Although the Liphart family moved away from Raadi in 1860, most of their collections remained there until 1920s, despite some of the most valuable items having been sold in the meantime. [7]

Raadi Airfield was built on the manor's land in 1940. Raadi Manor, the main building of the museum, was destroyed in the Tartu Offensive during World War II. [8] The airfield became a Soviet military airbase and there was no space left for the museum's collection. In any case, from 1940 until 1991, during the period of Nazi German and Soviet occupations most of the museums's cultural artifacts were hidden from the authorities. The museum's artefacts were secretly stored in churches and spare spaces of people's homes and offices in and around Tartu. [7]

In 2005, the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the Union of Estonian Architects announced together with the museum an international competition for the Estonian National Museum's new building. [9] The project was won by an international collaboration of architects for the work Memory Field: Dan Dorell (Paris, France), Lina Ghotmeh (Paris, France), and Tsuyoshi Tane  [ ja ] (Paris, France). [10]

The grand opening took place in Autumn 2016. [11] [12] The new single storey building houses the museum as well as supplying conference space and a cinema. The building design incorporates the history of the site including the manor, the war and the airfield. [7] [13]

In August 2021, the then head of the museum, Alar Karis, was elected President of Estonia. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tartu</span> Second most populous city in Estonia

Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,435. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century, Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tartu Airport</span> Airport near Tartu, Estonia

Tartu Airport is an airport in Reola, Ülenurme Parish, 5.9 nautical miles south southwest of Tartu, the second largest city in Estonia. It is also called Ülenurme Airport due to its proximity to the village of Ülenurme. The Tallinn–Tartu–Võru–Luhamaa highway (E263) passes near the airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raadi Airfield</span> Former military airfield in Estonia

Raadi Airfield(ICAO: EETR) is a former air base in Estonia located in Raadi, 4 km (2.5 mi) northeast of Tartu. The land once belonged to Raadi Manor and is now the new site of the Estonian National Museum.

The Estonian Open Air Museum is a life-sized reconstruction of an 18th-19th century rural/fishing village, which includes church, tavern, schoolhouse, several mills, a fire station, twelve farmyards and net sheds. Furthermore, it includes a recently opened 20th century Soviet kolkhoz apartment building, and a prefabricated modern wooden house from 2019. The site spans 72 hectares of land and along with the farmyards, old public buildings are arranged singularly and in groups in a way that represents an overview of Estonian vernacular architecture of the past two centuries from across Estonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tartu offensive</span> Campaign fought over southeastern Estonia in 1944

The Tartu offensive operation, also known as the Battle of Tartu and the Battle of Emajõgi was a campaign fought over southeastern Estonia in 1944. It took place on the Eastern Front during World War II between the Soviet 3rd Baltic Front and parts of the German Army Group North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oskar Kallas</span> Estonian diplomat, linguist and folklorist (1868–1946)

Oskar Kallas was an Estonian diplomat, linguist and folklorist. He was the husband of the Finnish writer Aino Kallas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Name of Estonia</span>

The name of Estonia has a long and complex history. It has been connected to Aesti, first mentioned by Tacitus around AD 98. The name's modern geographical meaning comes from Eistland, Estia and Hestia in the medieval Scandinavian sources. Estonians adopted it as an endonym only in the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estonia</span> Country in Northern Europe

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). Tallinn, the capital city, and Tartu are the two largest urban areas. The Estonian language is the official language and the first language of the majority of the population of 1.4 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moe, Estonia</span> Village in Estonia

Moe is a village in Tapa Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northern Estonia. It's located about 3.5 km southeast of the town of Tapa, on the Valgejõgi River. Moe is passed by the Pärnu–Rakvere road, and is bordered by the Tallinn–Tapa–Tartu railway to the southwest. As of the 2011 census, the settlement's population was 206.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raadi-Kruusamäe</span> Neighbourhood of Tartu

Raadi-Kruusamäe, or Raadi for short, is a neighbourhood of Tartu, Estonia. It has a population of 4,498 and an area of 2.83 km2 (1.09 sq mi). Raadi is mainly suburban area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eerik-Niiles Kross</span> Estonian politician

Eerik-Niiles Kross is an Estonian politician, diplomat, former chief of intelligence and entrepreneur. He is a member of parliament (Riigikogu). During the 1980s, Kross was a prominent figure in the anti-Soviet non-violent resistance movement in Soviet Estonia. After re-independence, in 1991, he joined Estonia's Foreign Ministry. He served as the head of intelligence from 1995 to 2000; and as national security advisor to former President Lennart Meri in 2000 and 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalli Kalde</span> Estonian painter, graphic artist and illustrator

Kalli Kalde is an Estonian painter, graphic artist and illustrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Eduard von Liphart</span> Noted art expert and collector from Estonia

Baron Karl Eduard von Liphart or Carl Eduard von Liphart was a noted art expert and collector from Estonia. The family manor was near Dorpat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Friedrich von Liphart</span> Russian painter

Baron Ernst Friedrich von Liphart (1847–1932), russified as Ernst Karlovich Lipgart and also referred to in English as Earnest Lipgart, was a painter, a noted art expert and art collector from what is now Tartu in Estonia. After living for a time in Florence, he moved to France and then to Russia, where he was a curator at the Hermitage Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raadi Manor</span> Manor in Tartu, Estonia


Raadi Manor was in the area known as Raadi-Kruusamäe, on the outskirts of Tartu in Estonia. The manor and Raadi Manor Park were the home to the Liphart noble family who were significant art collectors. The family moved away and the buildings housed the Estonian National Museum until the manor was destroyed during the Second World War. Part of the grounds became Raadi Airfield which was used as a secret Soviet bomber base for fifty years. Today the park is open, some buildings are in use by the museum and plans are underway to create a new museum building here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilmari Manninen</span> Finnish ethnographer

Ilmari Justus Andreus Manninen was a Finnish professor, writer and ethnographer. He led the Estonian National Museum when it opened at Raadi Manor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helmi Üprus</span> Estonian art historian

Helmi Üprus was an Estonian architectural and art historian. She trained in romance languages, studied English and ethnography, and earned a master's degree in art history from the University of Tartu in 1936. She worked her way up to head the cultural history department of the Estonian National Museum, where she researched folk art. In 1947, she began working at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. Persecuted by Stalinism she lost her job in 1950 and worked in a factory until Stalin's death. From 1953, she was the chief specialist in architecture and history for the government monument restoration service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enn Tarvel</span> Estonian historian (1932–2021)

Enn Tarvel was an Estonian historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Genss</span> Estonian art historian (1887–1957)

Julius Genss was an Estonian bibliophile, art collector, art critic and patron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arne Maasik</span> Estonian architect and photographer

Arne Maasik is an Estonian architect and photographer. In his artwork he focuses on architectural photography.

References

  1. Estonian National Museum marks 110th anniversaryEesti Rahva Muuseum (in English)
  2. Raun, Toivo (2001). Estonia and the Estonians. Hoover Press. p. 92. ISBN   978-0-8179-2852-0.
  3. "Echo of the Urals". www.erm.ee. 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  4. Bousfield, Jonathan (2001). Baltic States. Rough Guides. p. 385. ISBN   978-1-85828-840-6.
  5. Rosenburg, Irene (1984). Museums of Tartu. Perioodika. p. 19. ISBN   9785797900962.
  6. History, University of Tartu, retrieved 1 January 2014
  7. 1 2 3 Estonian National Museum, When ...Where is this? Archived 2014-01-01 at the Wayback Machine , Estonian National Museum, retrieved 3 January 2014
  8. History of Manor Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine , Eesti. Rahva Muuseum, retrieved 31 December 2013
  9. "The Estonian National Museum's New building". 2005-07-24. Archived from the original on 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  10. "Multi national collaboration provides winning formula". 27 Jan 2006. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  11. Tore, Ozgur. "A New Mega-Venue Opens in Tartu, Estonia". FTNnews. Archived from the original on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  12. ERR (2016-09-30). "Estonian National Museum hosts opening gala ahead of Oct. 1 opening". ERR. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  13. ERMi ehitus 2015
  14. Westendarp, Louis (31 August 2021). "Estonia elects museum boss as new president". Politico Europe. Retrieved 31 August 2021.

58°23′44″N26°44′44″E / 58.395645°N 26.745595°E / 58.395645; 26.745595