History of our own building

Building a house for the museum has been on the table since the establishment of the Estonian National Museum. A building, which complies with all the requirements is, after all, the first prerequisite for the activities of the museum. The first statutes of the museum prescribed that “in order to fulfil its tasks, the community shall find rooms for the museum that fit the purpose.”

 In order to prepare for the construction of the museum, a special Construction Committee was established in 1909. It was thought that it is possible to construct the building for 8000-10 000 roubles. The City Council allocated temporary rooms for the museum at the house number 8 on Gildi street, where collections were opened for viewing for three hours every day in 1913. At the same time, preparatory works for constructing the museum’s own building were continued, but the plans remained only on paper during confusing times. (see The Story of Building the ENM 1909-1918).

Independence created new needs and possibilities. The Board of the ENM was actively trying to find suitable rooms for the museum. Several houses in Tartu were applied for, but unsuccessfully. At the beginning of 1922, the building of Raadi manor, which previously belonged to the von Lipharts and at the time was in the possession of the University of Tartu, was given to ENM with the permission from the Republic of Estonia. Ethnographic collections were transferred to Raadi the same year. Already in 1923, the preliminary exhibition was opened in Raadi; a more extensive exhibition was finished by 1927. The library and chancellery remained on Gildi Street until 1924, when they were transferred to the house bought on Aia Street (the current Estonian Literary Museum).

There were several contradicting arguments to the idea of establishing the museum in Raadi – the suitability of the rooms and location were challenged. It was found that “the building of Raadi manor was constructed in a way that it fulfils the requirements of a house to live in and is suitable for a smaller art gallery. However, the museum, which is housed in Raadi cannot be ENM but a historical art museum, which fits together with the rooms in style.”

It was also considered improper to establish the museum so far from the university and the city centre, but there were no other options. It was admitted that “the state will not have necessary funds in the recent future to start constructing a building for Tartu museum, therefore, the museum should settle for the manor building in Raadi.” Therefore, the Estonian National Museum remained at Raadi manor building and together with the park complex surrounding the building the manor became a popular place for spending free time for the inhabitants and visitors of Tartu.

In World War II, Raadi manor was destroyed and the surrounding area remained in the possession of the Soviet army for decades. The new location of the museum was the former court building on Veski Street, storage rooms at the EELC St. Paul’s Church and St. Alexander Church on Sõbra street were added. In the 70s-80s and at the beginning of 1990s, the museum only had one exhibition room and there was no permanent exhibition due to the lack of space.

In 1993, the city of Tartu gave the building of a former club for railway workers on Kuperjanovi Street to the possession of the museum. In spring 1994, a permanent exhibition “Estonia. Land, People, Culture” was opened at the thoroughly renovated building. By autumn 1995, the second floor of the exhibition building was finished, which had three rooms for temporary exhibitions. By that time, the idea of constructing a modern museum building for the ENM was widely discussed. The Estonian society admitted the need for a new building for the ENM on the national level. In the 1980s and the beginning of the 90s, an idea to restore the location of the Estonian National Museum in Raadi was spread. In 1993, the ENM Building Location Committee, which was lead by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, decided to build the new ENM building to the district of Liivi, Baeri, Näituse and Veski streets, located in Tartu city centre. An architecture competition was organised, more than 30 projects were submitted. 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, because it was suitable for the ENM functionally, artistically and ideologically.

In 1996, the Parliament made a unanimous decision regarding the constructions of the Estonian Music Academy, the Art Museum of Estonia and the Estonian National Museum. Since the construction works of ENM´s new building were drawing out, a decision was made at the beginning of 2000 to renovate the deteriorating buildings of Raadi manor into storage facilities. ENM´s rental contracts with the congregations of St. Paul’s Church and St. Alexander’s Church were terminating and the museum had to free the churches, so that they could serve their real purpose. By 2005, three modern stacks (total storage area 4400 m²) were finished at the restored manor’s administrative building (together with the coach house), storage house for provisions and the ice cellar. In addition, the ruins of the main building of Raadi manor have been conserved and this has given the possibility to find a purposeful usage for the manor building in the future. Part of the landscaping of Raadi park and roads has also been done, as well as necessary communications and bordering fences. As of 1996, the Union of ENM Friends has been organising the events of Midsummer´s Day, Michaelmas Day and St. George’s Day at Raadi.

However, the construction of the stacks did not decrease the need for a new building for the museum. Even after the stacks were finished, a large share of ENM collections remained in buildings, which do not meet elementary preservation requirements: at the former court building at Veski Street 32 and exhibition building at Kuperjanovi 9. In addition to item collections, the ENM also has collections of manuscripts, drawings, books, photographs and films – altogether more than a million items. The museum needs the new building also for the purpose of fulfilling its other main task – exhibiting its collections. At the moment, the museum can exhibit only 2% of its collections and the exhibition building.

In 2003, Raadi area was chosen as the location of the new building of the ENM. At the beginning of the year, the mayor of Tartu offered ENM a building ground on the Southern shore of Raadi lake, which is the territory of the former vehicle base of the army. Three expert committees – the Architecture, Cultural Heritage and Museum Councils convened in 2003 and made a joint decision to construct the new building of the ENM in Raadi. Experts found that receiving additional territories in Raadi from the city of Tartu will enliven the development of the museum, because it is possible to create a totally new and modern museum to Raadi. Construction works of the new building can commence after the Estonian Art Museum is finished.

Spatial planning and the area’s geotechnical and environmental research was carried out in 2004. A cooperation protocol between the Construction Foundation of the Art Museum and ENM was signed and preliminary calculations of the costs of the new building were ordered in November the same year. In 2005, a contract was signed between the Union of Estonian Architects and the ENM to organise an international architectural competition, financed by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.