{"id":158770,"date":"2026-05-24T03:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/?p=158770"},"modified":"2026-05-22T14:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:33:35","slug":"to-the-museum-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/to-the-museum-march\/","title":{"rendered":"To the Museum, March!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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There are around 170 museums in Estonia. When the editor-in-chief asked me to write a \u201cTop 10\u201d feature about museums worth visiting, I paused for a moment.<\/p>\n

During my 20 years living in the country and two years as a holder of an Estonian Museum Card, had I visited enough places to qualify as a reliable guide, especially for travellers who probably do not speak Estonian? Museums are like different literary genres, after all, so it is impossible to avoid the influence of personal taste. Here, then, are my recommendations, listed alphabetically rather than by ranking:<\/p>\n

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A. Le Coq Beer Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

Completely redesigned in 2022 with an interactive exhibition, the beer museum in Tartu occupies the malt tower of a brewery that was still producing beer as recently as the 1990s, a rarity even by European standards. Highlights include what may be the world\u2019s oldest unopened bottle of beer, recovered from a shipwreck that sank more than 150 years ago, a Finnish-language video about the brewery that has produced malt beverages since 1783, and a museum shop selling various special production batches.<\/p>\n

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Two hectares of vehicles in the yard of the J\u00e4rva-Jaani \u201csafe haven\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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J\u00e4rva-Jaani Museum Centre<\/b><\/h2>\n

I fully agree with Jaakko Ahti<\/b>, who wrote a similar article earlier, and Antto Terras<\/b>, who has also visited the site: drive 97 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and discover more than 600 \u201ctreasures\u201d of Soviet technology preserved outdoors and in exhibition halls. Cars, buses, combine harvesters, a tram, fire engines, and other curious vehicles, along with typewriters, calculators, film projectors, and much more on display elsewhere in the centre, are guaranteed to bring out the grin of an excited little boy.<\/p>\n

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Kadriorg Art Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

More than 250 classical sculptures or reproductions from the 18th to 20th centuries on display free of charge in Tallinn? Yes, and in a palace built by Peter the Great for his wife in 1718, now the street-level collection storage area of the art museum. In the other halls, major works from the Serlachius art collection representing Finland\u2019s Golden Age of art remain on display until 23 August.<\/p>\n

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Mulgi Experience Centre<\/b><\/h2>\n

Mulgimaa is a region spanning parts of Viljandi and Valga counties, where local people rapidly prospered after the abolition of serfdom in the 19th century. By nature, they were\u2014and still are\u2014easy-going like the Savonians and lively like the Karelians, in other words excellent traders. This interactive museum centre presents their history, explains the present and inspires confidence in the future in an entertaining yet informative way.<\/p>\n

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Narva Museum \/ Kreenholm Manufacturing Company<\/b><\/h2>\n

During the coronavirus summer, Narva Castle reopened its eastern wing ruins, previously in danger of collapse, as part of the new Narva Museum, complete with glass lifts, wheelchair ramps and windows overlooking the river. The audio guide tells stories in Finnish about the fortress and its objects. On summer Saturdays, guides also lead English-language walking tours through the now-empty giant Kreenholm textile factory, once home to more than 10,000 workers.<\/p>\n

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Tartu City Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

I got to know Tartu in the same way many people now explore Tallinn: by venturing beyond the centre. The permanent exhibition \u201cOur Tartu\u201d provides an excellent introduction, telling everyday stories about the character of each district through objects, themes and residents\u2019 own words. Also on display until autumn is an exhibition about the Emaj\u00f5gi River, featuring scale models of barges received from L\u00fcbeck and even a Ford Sierra recovered from the riverbed.<\/p>\n

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The audio guide at Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom allows visitors to proceed at their own pace and immerse themselves in the stories.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom<\/b><\/h2>\n

When I once met the person who inspired me to move to Estonia, I watched films about the Singing Revolution and ended up falling in love with the entire nation. Vabamu tells the story of occupation, resistance and freedom through the memories, objects and destinies of Estonians of our grandparents\u2019 generation.<\/p>\n

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Estonian Police Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

Online photos of Rakvere are misleading, because this is much more than a children\u2019s play museum. I know Finnish police officers who have praised the creators of the exhibition: the activities genuinely illuminate the everyday work of the police, past and present. Adult favourites include the practical shooting range, hanging upside down in a rolled-over car while strapped in with seatbelts, nostalgic Estonian patrol cars and equipment, and the latest exhibition on smuggling.<\/p>\n

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Estonian Health Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

My curiosity was sparked after the acclaimed sleep exhibition, when the newest exhibition, \u201cGoodbye Youth!\u201d, about the effects of aging on body and mind, won the Museum Exhibition of the Year award and remains on display until 15 November. So I headed to Lai Street in Tallinn, and alongside the usual anatomy themes, I now understand my various aches, stiffness, swelling and other \u201cbonuses\u201d of aging in a completely new way.<\/p>\n

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Test at the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum whether you are as quick as Arsenal\u2019s Estonian goalkeeper Mart Poom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u2026or rather the Sports and Olympic Museum in Tartu, which may not possess a medal and trophy collection quite as grand as its Finnish counterpart. Nevertheless, the engaging exhibition is an excellent experience, with its basketball cage, reaction tester, audio guide narrated by Jari \u201cLitti\u201d Litmanen<\/b>, exhibition section about para-sports equipment, and a surprise in the basement: a room dedicated to the devastating fire of 1775.<\/p>\n

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The standard admission tickets to these museums cost a total of \u20ac130. The Estonian Museum Card costs \u20ac75. It is valid for 365 days from first use and grants access to more than 130 museums. Sounds like a good deal?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  There are around 170 museums in Estonia. When the editor-in-chief asked me to write a \u201cTop 10\u201d feature about … Read more<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":158588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[13270,13328,16649,17153,20034,23980,26490,26873,27519,27520,27521],"class_list":["post-158770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-tartu-2","tag-art-museum","tag-technology","tag-vabamu-2","tag-museums","tag-mulgimaa-2","tag-attractions","tag-sports-museum","tag-vehicles","tag-beer-museum","tag-health-museum"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158771,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158770\/revisions\/158771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}