14.12.2023 | History

An art museum full of unique treasures

Text and photos Timo Huttunen

Anne Raud, the museum's exhibition director, presents fabric samples from the Kreenholm textile factory.

The art gallery of the Narva Museum is located in the Gloria bastion, which was built in 1777. It is one of the few buildings in Narva’s old town that survived the complete destruction caused by the battles of the Second World War.

In the gallery’s permanent exhibition “Life or karma?”, 200 works related to Narva from the Baroque period to the present day. In addition, the collections contain a large number of photographs and textiles.

The building also has visual art teaching spaces and smaller changing exhibitions for children and families.

Yuliia Khlystun, an expert specialising in church art, talks about the history of icons.

The miniature model of Narva’s old town is no less than 120 square meters in size. This is how the handsome old town was before it was destroyed during the Second World War.

Fabric samples, icons, and an incredible model

The museum has done an important cultural act by preserving the fabric samples of the now-defunct large Kreenholm textile factory.

“We have 14,000 fabric samples made by the Kreenholm factory in our collections. Only a fraction of them are on display in the gallery space,” says Anne Raud, the museum’s exhibition director. Many fabrics are very familiar to Estonians who lived during the Soviet era.

The museum’s collections also include around 400 icons from the 17th and 19th centuries. A large part of the icons have been brought to the museum in connection with the smuggling seizures made at the Narva border station. Some are icons that managed to be saved from destruction during the Soviet era.

A small part, i.e. 66 icons, are displayed in their own nicely built and decorated room, which also has a devout atmosphere.

In the gallery’s large hall, a 120-square-meter miniature model of Narva’s old town as it was before it was destroyed in World War II is on display.

“Because of the columns supporting the museum building, the miniature model is divided into several parts, but it makes it easier for the viewer to get to know the model’s buildings more closely,” says Anne Raud.

Narva Museum Art Gallery, Vestervalli 21, Narva.

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Art Gallery Gloria Bastion Kreenholm factory Kreenholm Textiles Narva Narva Museum Narva Museum Art Gallery Narva Old Town