The Museum of Tallinn City Life Has Been Renewed
Text Timo Raussi Photo Tallinn City Life Museum
The Tallinn City Life Museum has reopened its diverse exhibitions to the public after nearly a year of renovation work. The museum gives visitors an understanding of who the business angels operating in the Hanseatic League more than 500 years ago were, what the local professional communities were like, and how all of this was reflected in the city’s social life.
The wealth of medieval Reval, as Tallinn was known at the time, was based on trade. The Brotherhood of the Blackheads was an organisation of young, unmarried merchants, and, for several centuries, a driving force of innovation and development in the city. They brought new fashions and customs to Reval from abroad, and they led colourful social lives filled with parties, competitions, balls, and parades. At the same time, they also protected the city by maintaining Tallinn’s first volunteer fire brigade.
“The art treasures of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads are among Tallinn’s most valuable historical items. Before the renovation, they could not be displayed on such a large scale,” said Heli Nurger, Director of the Tallinn City Life Museum, at the opening of the renewed exhibition spaces.
The entire second floor of the museum now features an interactive exhibition titled “The Rich and Handsome”, which focuses on the theme of the Blackheads. It has been 625 years since the first mention of the brotherhood in historical records. The community, which operated in Tallinn until 1940, and later lived quietly in exile in Hamburg, is the oldest organisation continuously connected to Tallinn’s history.
A new permanent exhibition, “Lyndanise–Reval–Tallinn. City Life Through the Centuries”, has been created on the museum’s fourth floor. It presents various aspects of everyday life in Tallinn, including education and church life, industry, and trade. What has Tallinn looked like in the visions of different eras? Some of the plans on display were never realised.
Among the exhibition items are several of Tallinn’s treasures: the original weathervane of Old Thomas that once stood atop the Town Hall, a gilded city key, a treasure chest used to store the Town Hall’s most important documents, and the Dannebrog—a flag gifted to the city by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
The Tallinn City Life Museum is located in the Old Town, at Vene 17. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, and in addition to single tickets, you can purchase an affordable combined ticket at the door, which also grants entry to the Kiek in de Kök Fortification Museum, and the underground bastion passages. Entry to both museums is free with the Estonian Museum Card or the Tallinn Card tourist pass.
To learn more about this and similar topicsBrotherhood of Blackheads Hanseatic League Middle Ages Museums Reval Tallinn urban life
