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Tallinn City Museum

Tallinn City Museum is the common name for eight museums since 2004: City Museum, Peter I House Museum, Kiek in de Kök, Photo Museum, Children's Museum, St John's Almshouse Museum, Anton Hansen Tammsaare Museum, Eduard Vilde Museum. Some of these museums have sprung from single bigger collections of the Tallinn City Museum, some are small municipal museums that now have been united under the same administration. The Tallinn History Museum was established as a municipal one on 15 December 1937. Initially it belonged to the Tallinn Town Archives and was under the supervision of the Archives' director. It became an independent museum with its own director and management in 1939. It has had the name the Tallinn City Museum since 1953. The idea of establishing such a museum, however, was born already in 1911 and people keen on Tallinn history started to collect and store antiquities in the Tallinn Town Archives. Collecting curiosities that was the main idea then, has been replaced with research-based collections today. As a result, the Tallinn City Museum collection comprises about 170 000 items divided into 17 sub-collections. The Tallinn City Museum employs 87 people. All the separate museums under the TCM have an active relationship with their public and not only through their exhibitions. Since 1963 there is a local history club affiliated to the City Museum and its members in the past and today have played a role of their own in the research. The same kind of clubs have been established at the other abovementioned museums as well. beginning from 1992 the research of the Tallinn City Museum people has been published in the annals of the museum. The Tallinn City Museum pays great attention to the educational work with children – an educator belongs to the staff and there is a special Children's Museum. The City Museum has been housed at 17, Vene Street since 1965 when this former citizen's dwelling had been restored and adapted for the museum. Having been in active use for decades, it became possible to restore the building once again in 1997-2000 and the permanent exhibition about Tallinn history – The Town that Will Never be Completed was opened. This was the exhibition that the Tallinn City Museum presented to the annual competition of the EMF (European Museums Forum) in 2002 and was one of the nominees. One of the museum halls is reserved for temporary exhibitons and there are several of them arranged every year with the aim of allowing the visitor get acquainted with rare and interesting items from the collection. The so-called old palace of Peter I is in Kadriorg, at 2, Weizenbergi Street. The cottage dates from the seventeenth century . It was bought for Peter I in 1714 and rebuilt for the Tsar to have a temporary place to stay. The building was renovated in 1804 and the initial plan was somewhat changed. Peter's House became a branch museum of the Tallinn City Museum in 1941 and the display is made up of pieces of Baroque furniture that once belonged to Peter I and some reigning dynasty's portraits. The bastion tower Kiek in de Kök located on the southern side of the Old Town, at 2, Komandandi tee. The six-storeyed tower was built in 1475-83. The tallinn City Museum took over the management in 1958. The tower was restored and adapted for the exhibition displaying the history of town fortifications in 1966-68. The place is internationally known for its photo exhibitions and chamber music concerts. Photo Museum, the building of the former Town Council's Prison behind the Town Hall at 4-6, Raekoja Street was restored and reconstructed in 1978-79 and given to the Tallinn City Museum in 1980. The Estonian photo collection of the museum was taken into the building and an exhibition opened. Since 1992 one of the basement rooms has been rented to the shareholding company Pao that displays and sells their handicrafts there. The other basement was given to the photo club Lee that displays and sells art photos. The Tallinn City Museum is active in educating the new generation of museum visitors and one of the places to achieve the aim is the Children's Museum at 16, Kotzebue Street that was opened in 1996. The museum houses the toy collection of the City Museum and exhibitions specially for children are arranged. The museum educator organises various events for the children. Extensive archaeological excavations took place at the Tartu Road site of the former Almshouse of St John the Baptist (founded in the 13th century) in 2001. Basements of the almshouse and a part of the cemetery were opened. A pavilion was erected over the foundation of the biggest building unearthed and a display of the remnants of the building and about the history of the suburb where it was situated was set up. The pavilion was given over to the Tallinn City Museum as a branch museum in 2004. It is also possible to use the room for various exhibitions, concerts and other events suitable for the place. Anton Hansen Tammsaare Museum was established in 1967 in the building at 12 A, Koidula Street, where the writer lived in 1932-1940. The museum displays the writer's apartment with its original furniture and, in addition to that, some other rooms in the house have been used to display the writer's work forming a collection in itself. Anton Hansen Tammsaare Museum became a branch museum of the Tallinn City Museum in 2004. Eduard Vilde Museum was established in 1946 in the house at 3, Roheline aas, where the writer lived in 1927-1933. The museum displays the writer's apartment with its original furniture. The museum collection comprising items illustrating the writer's work and life is in other rooms of the house. Vilde's Club has been meeting at the museum since 2003. The museum became a branch of the Tallinn City Museum in 2004.
Contact:  Lea Sillart
Web site: http://www.linnamuuseum.ee/
Phone:  372 644 58 56
Fax:  372 6441574

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	Project: Ghosts gathering. This is a joint project of the Tampere Central Museum of Labour, Tallinn City museum and Linz City museum Nordico. The project aims at introducing the variegated aspects of the European cultural heritage and making the multicultural world more familiar, above all to the younger generation. Their interest should be aroused due to the innovative use of modern technology. Cultural similarities and historical junctures between towns will be found but also dissimilarities pointed out to achieve a cultural outlook tolerant, of disparate views and backgrounds. The main part of the project "Ghosts Gathering" is a multilingual multimedia programme. Computer technology will help to take the children and teenagers, but any other interested person as well, on a journey in time from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century in three European towns: Tampere in Finland, Tallinn in Estonia and Linz in Austria.. Multimedia will make use of both the Internet and DVD possibilities: the DVD makes the Ghosts Gathering available mostly to museum visitors, the Internet to everyone interested. The plot can be outlined as follows: representatives of ghosts from Tallinn and Linz convene at Tampere Finlayson Textile Factory, the guests bringing gifts along. The gifts are ghost-stories from these towns, old photos, legends, old local receipes for feasts, descriptions of games and songs. Thus the first step of the programme provides information about life in these towns, what was alike and what different. What the towns looked like, what the people did, how the children lived. The next step enables the users participate in games, solve various problems. The second step will also engage schoolchildren in all the three towns to draw, make up computer games and problems for the programme. The third step will give the users an opportunity to see and hear old stories, fairy tales and legends, complemented with drawings, songs and old music. The programme will be presented at all the three museums and, naturally, it will be available in all the three languages. Workshops to help the programme along will be arranged. The museum people involved in the project will spend a week in each partner museum. In addition to creating the multimedia programme, the project will certainly give an opportunity for better international collaboration to the corresponding museums.
	Time travelling Tallinn City Museum arranged a time travel into 1405 On 15 and 16 May Tallinn City Museum, the Old Town Education College and the medieval Restaurant Olde Hansa journeyed into the year 1405. The 7th form pupils and teachers of the Old Town Education College and Tallinn City Museum research staff and educationalists participated. The journey starts with changing into medieval costumes, choosing a suitable name and trade and, after certain rituals, the journey to time 6oo years ago begins…. St Catherine Tallinn Dominican Monastery is celebrating Whitsunday in 1405. Citizens of the town have come to visit and join in the prayer. The best masters of various crafts demonstrate their skills, the town guard is training for fights and a feast is being prepared. Tallinn burgomaster Gert Witte was invited to the feast and he has brought lavish gifts to the monastery. After the feast the procession moves out of the premises and proceeds singing and playing to St Nicholas' Church, where the festivities continue with games and dances and jousting. The festivities conclude in the monastery, where the leap back into 2005 takes place. The journey lasts 6 hours.