“The National Museum is like a home—it takes a little from everyone, but gives a great deal in return.”
—Tõnis Lukas
The Estonian National Museum at Raadi opened its doors on 1 October 2016. A home built for the Estonian people and culture serves several purposes at once. First, a home shelters and protects, keeping people together through shared activity. As Estonia’s national museum, the ENM helps interpret Estonian identity, carries the nation’s core values, and safeguards continuity. Its way of working is through cooperation and dialogue between cultures. At the same time, the ENM is an open and inclusive learning and cultural environment in Tartu, offering enriching and engaging activities for all generations. Visitors can explore both a material and a virtual world that invites them to discover, reflect, and take part. In this way, the museum helps create a link between younger and older generations within families.
The Museum in Numbers
But before the new building was completed, let us briefly return to the time when our shared home first took on clear physical outlines. In 2006, Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane won first prize in an international architectural competition with a design titled “Memory Field” (Mälestuste väli). The museum is 355.8 metres long and 71.7 metres wide, while its height varies between 2.4 and 15.3 metres.
This new home is like a long journey from a more open end into a narrower section, symbolising a time-travel experience from the present—rich in memories—back to the Stone Age, when our knowledge of our own past is more limited. This also offers a small hint at our new permanent exhibition “Encounters” (Kohtumised): a route that considers all the pivotal turning points in the story of how Estonian identity has taken shape.
The museum’s main permanent exhibition occupies 3,781 m² of the building’s total area. And because the museum is large enough, our Finno-Ugric kindred peoples also have their place here: their cultures are preserved in a separate permanent exhibition spanning nearly 1,000 m². Beyond the two permanent exhibitions, we also offer the joy of discovery through temporary exhibitions and a gallery, which together total 1,317 m². In addition, the new building provides extensive space for storage: 8,139 m² on the museum’s lower level is dedicated to collections.
As the saying goes, “He who keeps, has.” The Estonian people and culture truly possess a great wealth of material heritage—objects to be passed on to future generations to safeguard, and to protect from the wear of time.
Facts from the Building Process
- Building footprint: 21,973 m²
- Net floor area: 33,876 m²
- Bridge length: 44 m; width: 72 m
- 39,000 m³ of concrete
- 365 km of various cables
- 25 km of ventilation ductwork
- 45 km of heating and cooling system piping
- 6.2 km of water piping
The Museum as a Multifunctional Centre
In addition to the exhibition spaces, our new building serves several other functions. For screening quality films, we have created a cosy, comfortable cinema hall. From now on, we will be able to host anthropological film festivals on our home turf every year. The 14th MaailmaFilm Festival will welcome filmmakers and film enthusiasts in our new home. The same hall will also host conferences, with seating for 254 people.
To promote music and theatre, the new building includes a black box theatre. As far as we know, this black box theatre will be the first public venue of its kind in Tartu to feature modern high-tech equipment, giving creative practitioners greater freedom for artistic experimentation. The theatre will also enrich cultural life in Tartu and Estonia more broadly.
It is also worth remembering that the Estonian National Museum is a high-level research institution and a breeding ground for young ethnologists and cultural scholars. To provide strong training for researchers, students, and everyone interested in folk culture, the museum’s new home offers excellent conditions for teaching and learning. Central to this is also our well-stocked library of printed materials.
And if you spend a whole day moving around a large home like this—absorbing knowledge of our ancestors’ cultural heritage at every step—you will, of course, get hungry. To make sure your day doesn’t fall flat, the museum offers food and drink in both the café and the restaurant. We serve good local food at affordable prices.
With families and young children in mind, a true home should also have a children’s room. In the new museum, there will be a dedicated activity area that keeps the youngest family members engaged in creative, playful pursuits.
And if the day has gone well and you’ve gathered plenty of positive эмоtions, everyone can find a suitable keepsake in the museum shop as a memento of a successful visit. Later, it’s a pleasure to remember the time spent in the home of the Estonian people—while holding on to the hope of when you’ll be able to come back home again.