History

• 1909 Estonian National Museum was established in Tartu
• 1911-1913 Peak times of item collecting
• 1913 The city of Tartu gave the museum rooms on Gildi street
• 1922. The position of the Director of the Museum was established and the first director, Ilmari Manninen, was appointed. Raadi manor building, which previously belonged to the von Liphart family, was given to the usage of ENM.
  Ethnographic collections were transferred to Raadi
• 1923 The first exhibition was opened in Raadi, in seven rooms
• 1924 First questionnaires were sent to schools
• 1925  The first volume of the year book was published
• 1927  A permanent exhibition was opened in Raadi
  The folk poetry collections of J.Hurt were returned to Tartu from Helsinki, which became the basis for the Estonian Folklore Archives. K.Krohn, who maintained the collections, was named the first honorary member of the ENM.
• 1928 An exhibition of Finno-Ugric folk culture was added to the permanent exhibition
• 1931  A network of correspondents was established.
• 1940 ENM was divided into the Museum of Ethnography and Estonian Literary Museum. The new name of the museum was the National Museum of Ethnography of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Estonia.
• 1944 Raadi manor building was damaged in a fire, the area remained in the possession of the Soviet army for decades.
   The museum was moved into the former court building on Veski Street.
• 1950-1951  Selection and partial destruction of collections.
• 1959 First competition of collecting ethnographic reference materials.
• 1961 Ethnographic films were started to be made
• 1965 Annual expedition to the Finno-Ugric nations were started.
• 1968 A storage room at Riia street 27 was given to the museum (at St. Paul’s Church)
• 1972 The first national art album was published
• 1976 Research days were started to be organised
• 1977 H.Moor´s research day was started to be organised
• 1984  A storage room on Sõbra street was taken into use (at St. Alexander’s Church)
• 1988 The name of the Estonian National Museum was restored
• 1993  The first issue of Pro Ethnologia was published
  Competition for the project of the new building of the Estonian National Museum was held. Out of more than 30 projects, the jury, which was called together by the Union of Estonian Architects, selected the project idea „Põhja Konn” made by Pärnu architects Ra Luhse and Tanel Tuhali as the winning project.
• 1994 The permanent exhibition „Estonia. Land, people, culture“was opened. The Union of ENM Friends was established.
• 1995 The second floor of the exhibition building with three rooms for temporary exhibitions was finished.
• 1996 Decision of the Riigikogu (Parliament) to construct the new building of the Estonian National Museum after the Estonian Music Academy and the Estonian Art Museum have been finished.
• 1998 The first issue of the Estonian National Museum series was published (a series of science monographs)
• 1999 The first conference for young scientists „Voiced of Ethnology“
• 2000 Construction works for building a storage complex to Raadi was started
• 2001 The restoration of Raadi manor park
• 2002 The permanent exhibition „Estonia. Land, people, culture” was started to be renewed. ENM research work was evaluated by the international expert commission and was assessed „good”.
• 2003 The decision was made to build the new ENM main building to Raadi
• 2004 The first Tartu Festival of Visual Culture, a festival of anthropological and documentary films WorldFilm was organised.
   Raadi storage rooms were finished (total storage area 4400 m²)