11th of September from 10 AM to 4 PM

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On the 11th of September, there will be another cultural event - the Tallinn Marathon and part of its course lies close to the museum. When heading to and from the museum, feel free to cheer the runners so you can share your good spirit with them!

We recommend you take public transport, walk, and take a scooter or a bike to get to the museum. You can park your car for free at the back of the museum (about 1 km from the main gate in the direction of Kakumäe). The full schemes are available here.

• You can come on foot, by bicycle, and by scooter along Lõuka Road and Vabahõmuuseum Road. The pedestrian walkway on Lõuka Road is divided into two parts, one for runners and one for pedestrians and cyclists. The section of Vabahõmuuseum Road (Lõuka Street - Rocca Al Mare school) is closed to cars and public transport but is accessible to all pedestrians and cyclists.

• On bus lines no. 21, 21B, 41, and 41B, the route from Lõuka Road to Rocca Al Mare school on the Vabahõmuuseum Road will be closed, the detour will be made via Paldiski Road, Rannamõisa Road, and Lõuka Street to the Vabaõhumuuseumi Road. There is a stop in front of the museum! 
• You can get to the museum by car by turning along Rannamõisa Road to Lõuka Street, from where you can reach the main gate of the museum. The parking lot at the main gate of the museum and the back parking lot are open (about 1 km from the main gate in the direction of Kakumäe). The parking lot of the Tehasemaja building is closed. When coming by car, we recommend parking in the back parking lot of the museum, as the parking lot at the main gate fills up quickly!

Autumn has arrived again: a time to harvest crops, prepare for winter and make preserves. Autumn is also a time to go back to school and begin gaining new knowledge with a freshly rested mind. The Estonian Open Air Museum is already celebrating the Estonian Bread Day for the 15th time: as always, the day celebrates bread, but also nourishment for the mind – the knowledge that can be gained from books. Come and see how threshing is done, how hard it is to grind the grain with a grindstone, what authentic rye bread and freshly made butter taste like, or what a spirit or kratt eats.

You can find out what horticulture was like in the 1930s or what ingredients were included in the most interesting Soviet-era recipes by visiting Härjapea farm and the Kolkhoz apartment building. Children will enjoy the children’s literature yard, the puppet show and farm children’s games, drawing their own fairy tale and a fun game of dialects that will take place across the whole territory of the museum.

The traditional handcraft and food market will take place along the main road and in the Nuki farmyard.

Dialect game across the museum territory

Find the special books in Sassi-Jaani, Sepa, Pulga, Jüri-Jaagu and Setu farms and the Russian house from Peipus and solve the puzzles included in them. If you solve the puzzle correctly, you will receive a letter from the hostess as a clue. When you have collected all the letters, they will form a literature-themed word. Form the right word and win a prize!

Sutlepa chapel

At 11.30 Blessing the bread, service by minister Toomas Paul. 

Kolu inn – choirs and bread contest

There will be a wooden carousel next to the inn and you can vote for the best market bread and listen to the choirs and the ensemble under the stable roof.

Under the stable roof

12 PM to 2.30 PM Come and vote for the best market bread!

12.15 PM Seto folk choir Sõsarõ

1 PM Kanutiaia and Kaarli hobby school children’s violin ensemble Viiulised

1.45 PM EOM mixed choir

3 PM Announcing the best market bread

Sassi-Jaani farm – children’s literature yard

Sassi-Jaani farm is hosting the children’s literature yard.  Estonian Children’s Literature Centre invites to make books, dragons and princesses, write fairy tales and draw cartoons. At 12:00 and 14:00 Iloni's Wonderland from Haapsalu, a theme centre for children and families that showcases the work of Ilon Wikland, introduces Iloni's life  in an exhibition "Long-Long Journey" that is paked in suitcases. You can also craft different things and explore what you can see at Iloni's Wonderland exhibition about the Moomin trolls.

You will find book chests from the National Library that are filled with exciting children’s literature by the farm’s storehouse – grab a book to take home with you or find a cosy corner for reading in the museum. There, you can also try grinding flour with a grindstone.

Köstriaseme farm – threshing and communal grain

Threshing is a physically exhausting task that had to be done each autumn in order to obtain the valuable grains for grinding flour. The farmer would need to take part of the grain to the communal storehouse where it could be borrowed from during difficult times. The farmer’s family is in the midst of threshing and the farmer will show you what the measuring stick for grain looks like and how much grain would have to be set aside for communal storage.

Pulga farm sauna – smoke sauna and nourishment for the spirit

After hard work, such as threshing, you would need to soften up the joints and beat yourself to health with a whisk. A healing smoke sauna was just the place to do it. The sauna was also an otherwise special and mysterious place where life began and ended, where food would be taken for ancestors during October and November when their souls were thought to be returning home, and where cursing or other inappropriate acts were forbidden.

The hostess will heat up the sauna and tell you about spirits and other mystical beings.

Pulga farm – children’s yard: games and puppet theatre

In the Pulga farmyard, you can play games played by farmers’ children of old: crawling through the shaft bow, walking on stilts or the horse game. You can also test your strength and speed in tug-of-war, sack racing or the boot tossing.

At 2 PM, there will be a puppet show by Are Uder titled “The Bulbul Bird”, which is based on a Latvian fairy-tale.

Härjapea farm – horticulture of the 1930’s; making butter and bread

The Härjapea farmer’s daughters will make butter using the butter machine, and the hostess will bake tasty rye bread.

The farmyard will host an exposition of the farm’s contemporary agricultural magazines, the hosts will give practical gardening tips and explain what grows in the garden and why the garden looks the way it does.

Nätsi windmill – making a lucky button

The Estonian Bakers’ Society and the Estonian Chamber of Chimney Sweeps will be waiting for you by Nätsi windmill to make fun buttons together. Don’t forget that it’s good luck to touch a chimney sweep’s button!

Lau village shop

The counter, shelves and walls are filled with goods for everyone to enjoy. Whether you need a saw or salt or a new doyly, or just want something sweet to eat, ask the shopkeeper – she will be happy to help.

Kuie school – nourishment for the mind: biology lesson

In addition to scripture, schools taught writing and arithmetic, but also about the different plants that grow in our homeland. Can you recognise rye or flax seeds? What flower bulbs are like or how to put together a herbarium?

Biology lessons where you can learn all that begin at 12.30 PM, 1.30 PM and 2.30 PM.

Kolkhoz apartment building – preserves and cookbooks

Time to make preserves! In the 1960’s apartment, Maila’s mother has come for a visit and is demonstrating the proper way to close the lids on the jars. Сome and try delicious extract juice from apples. Hostess Laine will make preserves from cucumbers in her apartment in 1978.

The basement of the Kolkhoz building will host an exhibition of the cookbooks of the time. You can take the more interesting recipes with you and try them out at home.

Sepa farm – draw your story

You have probably heard the folktale of the great big turnip that the old man, the old lady and a whole cast of other characters went to pull up. Who were these characters? Unleash your creativity and finish the tale by drawing!

The Factory building, which is located outside the museum’s boundaries will also be open during the event with free entry.

Cooperation partners and sponsors:

Estonian Bakers’ Society, Estonian Chamber of Chimney Sweeps, Foundation of Haapsalu and Läänemaa Museums, Estonian Children’s Literature Centre; the rye used for threshing comes from the fields of Rebasmäe farm in Rapla county.