The Estonian National Museum had an outstanding year

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Ragnar Vutt

In 2023, the Estonian National Museum (ERM) has been nominated in seven out of nine categories at the Estonian museum awards, and a recent Kantar Emor study shows that the museum continues to be named first among visitors.

“We are very happy that the ERM continues to be a valued and attractive museum. We do our best to maintain this high standard. When creating new exhibitions, we prioritise visitor experience and accessibility. Our exhibitions are based on ERM’s research work and collections, and we increasingly want to be a centre for conservation, digitisation, and museum education as well,” said ERM director Kertu Saks.

According to a survey that measured the popularity and attractiveness of Estonian museums and experience centers, people who visited ERM were extremely satisfied with their experience. In 2023, ERM and Lennusadam were the most visited, while 23 per cent of Estonian residents consider ERM to be their favourite or best museum, and a fifth of the population plans to visit the museum in the new year.

ERM has been nominated in the following categories at the annual Estonian Museum Awards:

• Exhibition of the Year – “Right body, wrong body?” (open until January 28, 2024)
• Friend of the Community – Anu Raud, “Patterns of life”. Organisation of life patterns in the Heimtali village community
• Conservation Work – Conservation of a furniture set (ERM A 975:21,43-47)
• Promoter of Museum Education – Project “Digital Time Travel 1991”
• Museum Collection Developer – Pictures on the MuIS wall. Digitisation of heritage.
• Museum Innovator – Development of the museum field and museology
• In scientific print – “Fibers of difficult times”. Gustav Ränk’s diaries 1939-1948

In the coming year, ERM will be the centre of many events as part of Tartu’s year as the European Capital of Culture in 2024, and several new exhibitions will be opened. The first of them to open in February is the major exhibition “Who owns the night?”, which will shed light on nighttime city life. The exhibition “Surrealism 100. Prague, Tartu and other stories” will be opened in the spring in cooperation with the Tartu Art Museum and the National Gallery in Prague, and in the autumn, the unique exhibition of the Japanese visual and sound artist Ryoji Ikeda created especially for ERM will be presented to the public.

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To learn more about this and similar topics
ERM Estonian National Museum European Capital of Culture in 2024 Exhibition Kantar Emor Lennusadam Museum Tartu