Estonian National Museum

Impressive and imposing building. It's a short drive from the city and easy to locate. Parking is free.

The museum has a number of exhibits. We planned a full day here after visiting the upside-down house which was on the way.

The displays are mainly locale exhibits and provide an extensive engaging narrative of Estonia, it's artifacts, people, land, history, climate, trade, culture, animals and art.

It's a huge place to walk and we rested at lunch at the museum restaurant. The decor within was another work of art. Love the clean, spacious layout.

We had an unhurried lunch of fried fish fillet with rice and a zesty salad, apple pastry and coffee. The food and drinks were inexpensive and so delicious. Service was personable.

We enjoyed our visit and will likely drop in again in the future.

The Estonian National Museum (Eesti Rahva Muuseum) is modern (2016?) and huge. It is on the site of what was a big USSR  military base. It's a bit out of the way if you are staying in the Old City but worth the effort to get there.
Upon entering we were approached by a young woman working at the museum to ask us about our Cold War experiences which we recorded in a booth. We mention the drills at school where we ducked under our desks and covered our heads. Also the Cuban Missile Crisis.
There are numerous screens throughout the museum where you scan your ticket in order to get it to change to English.
The temporary exhibit described a number of interesting traditional superstitions common in Estonia.
The museum has a very extensive variety of subjects that it covers.
Downstairs was an exhibit ("Echo of the Urals" Finno-Ugric) about the various different people that are linguistically related to Latvian including Finns, Hungarians and Sami.

The whole place is a work of art - tonnes of amazing minimalist design solutions to present tonnes of materials from the distant and recent past. It's interesting to even just seek out some displays and witness how those are presented. And the audio installations really help get submerged into the subject, specially with the Ural exhibit. Also one of the favorite bits was the solution with touching the displays with your ticket and it switching to your preferred language, that you ask for during the ticket purchase.
Speaking of tickets I do recommend getting a full ticket and setting aside some good 2-3h for the place.

Very comprehensive exhibition of Estonian history. Very large area and if you want to read all info then you need to take day or more. In ERM has also conference hall, concert area, also souvenir shop and restaurant.

This is a very interesting museum if you are interested in learning about the history of Estonia. The museum has an enormous number of items on display, spanning Estonia's culture and history for the last 1000+ years. All of the items on display have electronic placards that use e-ink displays to change the language of their text. You just swipe your museum ticket on them and the language changes to the language chosen when you purchased your ticket. Really neat! We spent the entire afternoon there, trying to take it all in.

The museum also features a really nice restaurant. We started our visit with lunch there and it was excellent!

Great and interactive exposition, altho I would prefer for it to be chronological. Liked the interaction with the magnetic card, that the exposition language changed, but sadly some of them did not work.

Just an amazing place, worth every penny. Also very cool mechanic with tickets that translate signs into the preferred language.

Fantastic museum. We visit it on weekend, it was pretty calm and empty. Expositions are very interesting. It’s interactive and playful, so it’s interesting for kids as well. I don’t know any other history museum that is such joyful and interesting for kids. There are 4 galleries, 1 main and 3 small. We spend 4 hours in this museum. We’ll visit it again when will be back in Tartu.

The Estonian National Museum is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in the country's history and culture. The museum's collection is extensive and fascinating, providing a detailed look into the lives and traditions of Estonian people throughout the ages. The building itself is also impressive, with a modern and sleek design that blends seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. The museum's exhibitions are well-curated, informative, and engaging, making for a memorable and enriching experience. If you've been roaming enough and start feeling hungry, there's also a restaurant and you can pick a quick snack or a full meal. Overall, the Estonian National Museum is a wonderful place to spend a few hours and learn more about Estonia's rich heritage.

Brilliant! The museum is so smart... It focuses on showing the estonian culture, including ordinary and daily life... Household objects, beliefs, practices, etc. rather than showing only (like it's done elsewhere) famous painters, etc. Here you face the estonian mundane culture. It is really one of a kind approach. Super museum!

An awesome place to spend either 1-2 hours if you are rushing through it or an entire day if you want to learn about art, culture, IT history of Estonia, general history of Estonia and so on... they have alot of hands on activities there to get engaged. I ended up spening 6 hours there just reading and learning, watching films about arts and many other things. They also have cafeteria with good prices and good quality food.

I have loved this museum and I can’t stop telling people about it. To me it’s a museum that you can keep visiting and still learning new things. It took me 1,5 to see 1/10 of the main exhibition about Estonia. And there is not only one exhibition. So I would surely come again. They use technology to give people an opportunity to save the knowledge they gained in the museum. Your ticket is programmed to the language you choose and has a data carrier (?) and all exhibits have e-book like shields. You tap your ticket and the e book changes to your language and you can save the information for later and read it at home.
The exhibition tells so much about Estonia, it’s history, it’s people, different time-periods, technology, culture and so much more.
It’s also interactive

Thanks to everyone involved in the making of this museum
Highly recommend !

Very modern, you can spend a whole day here.

Enormous museum.

I wish I had more time there.

Multiple exhibits, you can buy tickets according to what you want to see.

The permanent exhibit about Finno-Ugric languages, cultures etc was very interesting.

This museum is simply incredible. The attention to detail is astounding. From the building itself, to the interactive tickets, to the level of detail in the exhibits, this museum is probably the most well curated/designed/planned museum I have ever been to. It is well worth the trip to Tartu alone.

Explore the historical struggles and culture of Estonia. One of the best museums I have ever visited. I especially enjoyed the use of technology which is not too intrusive. Well worth a trip to Tartu in itself. Plan to spend about half a day here.

Super. Very big exhibition 👍

A must visit if you are in Tartu! Incredibly innovative with their touch ticket to translate into english technology. And descriptions are really well written.

Extensive and immersive exhibits, expect to spend 2-3 hours easily

Nice experience, 3+ hours visit... Ethnographic furious fun... 10 SUVA socks out of 9.5

One of the most interesting museums in Estonia. Huge and interactive. Spent about 1,5 hours. Lots of engaging stuff. Visited during the weekend. No queues. Enjoyed the immersive experience. Broadens horizons, for sure. Definitely worth visiting. Highly recommended for foreigners.