The Estonian National Museum founded 1909 in Tartu

Tartu

Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...

 is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt

Jakob Hurt

Jakob Hurt was a notable Estonian folklorist, theologist, and linguist. With respect to the latter, he is perhaps best known for his dissertation on "pure" -ne stem nouns...

's heritage, to Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n ethnography

Ethnography

Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

 and folk art

Folk art

Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....

. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter part of the 19th century.

The museum tracks the history, life and traditions of the Estonian people, presents the culture and history of other Finno-Ugric peoples

Finno-Ugric peoples

The Finno-Ugric peoples are any of several peoples of Europe who speak languages of the proposed Finno-Ugric language family, such as the Finns, Estonians, Mordvins, and Hungarians...

, and the minorities in Estonia. It has a comprehensive display of traditional Estonian national costume

National costume

Folk costume expresses an identity through costume which usually to a geographic area or a period of time in history, but can also indicate social, marital and/or religious status...

s form all regions. A collection of wood carved beer tankards illustrates the traditional peasant fests and holidays. The exhibition includes an array of other handicrafts from hand-woven carpets to linen tablecloths.

The main building of the museum was destroyed in the Tartu Offensive during World War II

Estonia in World War II

The ground for the fate of Estonia in World War II was laid by the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, particularly its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939....

. In 2005 the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the Union of Estonian Architects announced together with the museum an international competition for the Estonian National Museum’s New building. The project was won by an international collaboration of architects for the work Memory Field: Lina Ghotmeh(Paris, France), Dan Dorell (Paris, France) and Tsuyoshi Tane (London, UK).

External links

• Estonian National Museum (eesti keeles | in English | suomeksi | no-pyccku)