Summer season at the Open Air Museum
Home is not just a place, but the things we know, people we love and dear memories we carry. Our homes look like us, and every home is unique.
The Estonian Open Air Museum invites you explore homes from various regions of Estonia, which display several centuries of people’s daily lives and festive traditions.
Explore the map of the museum
Daily activities on the farms
Sassi-Jaani farm – What is home?
To our ancestors, the farm used to mean “home” for centuries. “Home” applied to the dwelling as such and also all the farm outbuildings, the yard, pastures, meadows, nearby paths and woods. The home built with your toil and sweat grew deep roots in your heart.
At 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00
Ask the farmer
or the hostess which buildings and locations the notion of “home” covered in
the old days. In the chamber, you can try to assemble a house.
Concerts by folklore group “Leigarid” on Sassi-Jaani farm every Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 (from 1 June to 31 August).
A village celebration is born from folk dancing, singing, games and live music. Every time it’s a slightly different party, but visitors are always welcome to join the games and dancing. With support from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Köstriaseme farm – A sense of home
As serfdom was abolished, free peasants built larger chambers in the
barn-dwellings and furnished them in the latest style. With time, like town
homes and manors, farm interiors were filled with exquisite handicraft
radiating love and welcome.
At 11:30, 13:30 and 15:30
Ask the hostess what the nicest item in the room is. Have a look at blankets with gorgeous flower patterns in the storage. Try your hand at making a tassel you can use as a decoration.
Nuki farm – “My home might be tiny…”
A home could sometimes be too small for the dwellers. The cotter’s
family with its many children must fit under the same roof with their animals
and poultry. Living in a tiny space taught them to take care of one another and
overcome problems.
Do you think your family could manage living in the cotter’s house?
Pulga farm – Home hearth
The large kiln was the heart of the barn-dwelling. This was where bread was baked, and its hearth was used for cooking food for people and farm animals. The kiln became something of a family member. The heated sauna also played an important role as a place for cleansing the body, healing the sick and giving birth.
At 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00
Ask the hostess how often the kiln needs to be fired and what were sauna traditions like in the past. Try your hand at chopping firewood.
The smoke sauna on Pulga farm will be heated from 12:00 to 17:00 on 19.06, 17.07 and 21.08.
Härjapea farm – Our own home in the free land
The birth of the Republic of Estonia instilled great pride in people.
They were inspired to foster national identity and a culture of the nice home.
In no time, rural landscapes filled with picturesque farms, blooming gardens
and cultivated fields. Handmade national clothes also made the wearer proud.
At 12:30, 14:30 and 16:30
Ask the hostess how to wear the national costume and try your hand at making a braided cord.
Aarte farm – Neighbours’ influences
Northern Estonia had close ties with Finland, and Finnish influence was felt in the local dialect, architecture and daily life. Estonians brought the habit of drinking coffee from Finland, and this is also how rocking chairs, quilts and rag rugs appeared in Estonian homes.
Which elements borrowed from Finland can you spot in the fisherman’s home on Aarte farm?
Roosta farm – Home for farm animals
Living on a farm meant living with domestic animals. There were cows and pigs in the barn, workhorses in the stables. Sheep were especially valuable, giving both food and clothing. Even sheep fat was put to use in candles.
At 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00
Ask the hostess how many operations are needed to make yarn from sheep’s wool. Try your hand at carding wool, using a spinning wheel to make yarn and winding it into a ball.
Jaagu farm – Home keeper
Men used to go on long fishing trips from Muhu island and worked as builders or loggers on the mainland in the summer. So, the main load of work on the farm fell on women’s shoulders. They did ploughing and tilling, household chores and handicraft, raised children and, if necessary, became breadwinners.
What work do you think an island woman had to do to keep her family fed and clothed?
Jüri-Jaagu farm – New family, new home
The wedding was a central event in the life of peasants: the beginning of a new family and a new home. Wedding paraphernalia boasted bright colours and intricate patterns, inspiring respect and approval. Dowry was meant to give the newlyweds a start in life.
Peek into the bride’s dowry chest to see what she has crafted for her new home and have a look at the guests’ outfits.
Russian house from Lake Peipus – Cherished home and customs
The Old Believers who fled Russia built homes that were not typical of Estonia and zealously preserved their culture and traditions. Fishing and agriculture were their main sources of livelihood, and onions from Peipus shore are one of our famous heritage crops.
At 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00
Ask the hostess what wondrous things
Peipus onions and chicory are, how they are grown and how Old Believers
use them.
Pipi and Juula, the goats of Peipsivene, are fun and temperamental characters, each of whom has their own character, favourite foods, and moods. You can learn a lot of interesting things about the life of goats and how to keep them from the lady of Peipsivene House.
Setu farm – Home on both sides of the border
Orthodox Setos built their home between two worlds, on the border
between Russia and Estonia. Thanks to their isolated lifestyle, Setos preserved
their language, traditional foods, costumes and singing. Seto men were also
famous as potters.
At 12:30, 14:30 and 16:30
Ask the hostess for some clay and try your hand at making a bowl or pot.
Setu Farm is home to Vasso, the museum’s cat. When he’s not on a mouse hunt, he loves to sleep by the furnace of the farmhouse.
In the wooded area behind Setu Farm is the open-air exhibition Tallinners Settling in the Õismäe Bog Area.
Sepa farm – Home as a refuge
It’s the walls of your home and your closest people that support the
best in turbulent times. Living and making ends meet in the first years of
collective farming was very hard. People had to flatter the new regime in
public, but they felt free to speak openly at home.
At 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00
Ask the hostess how collective farms appeared in Estonia and what life was like back then.
Kuie school – School and home
Estonian rural people always wanted to make sure their children had a better future. Knowledge had a great value. The school master who taught children in the village would often also lead a choir or drama group and set an example of keeping a beautiful home or using new farming skills.
At 11:30, 13:30 and 15:30
Ask the hostess for a textbook and read a story or two. See if you can easily write with a dip pen or on a slate board.
Lau shop – Household goods for everyone!
The small village shop sold anything you could need, including hardware, groceries and household goods. The shopkeepers lived in the same building, and their slightly more urban home set an example to the villagers.
Have a look at the shopkeeper’s living-room and see what makes it different from a farm dwelling.
Apartment Building of a Soviet Collective Farm
The apartment building constructed in 1960s for dairy barn workers provides a picture of everyday life in the countryside in 1960, 1970, 1990 and 2010. How was daily life organized in a communal flat? How did families live in the period of flourishing socialism? What happened after kolkhozes were disbanded?
In the basement, you’ll find an exhibition on the development of Estonian rural life from the establishment of collective farms to the present day. There is also a play and activity area, which is called The World of Little Ilmar.
Every Saturday between 12:00 and 15:00, you can see what a laundry day involved in the Kolkhoz apartment building. Presentations of cooking by Soviet recipes take place on Sundays from 12.00 to 15.00.
Farm Kid’s World on Kolga farm – Home means responsibility
Home is a safe place, but there are also responsibilities. Children had their shores on the farm, just like adults. They herded cattle, weeded the vegetable garden, or helped with other farm work.
The hostess can tell you about the animals in the barn and how to take care of them. Make yourself useful in the yard or the exhibition room!
Shepherd’s Trail
The Shepherd’s trail follows young shepherd Ants and his faithful dog Muri to farmstead yards, into the woods and onto a blockfield, testing your wit and dexterity. Like in the day of a young shepherd, there is a place for work and play, joys and worries, fears and temptations. Get your map at the ticket office!
Kolu inn – The heart of the home is in the Kitchen
Kolu inn is a genuine 19th century roadside inn offering traditional Estonian food all year round!
More to discover
At Rusi farm, you can find out how several families with children lived in a bunch in a couple of small chambers of the barn-dwelling. You can learn about the turns children's lives might have taken and the impact it had on the life of their homestead. In the kiln-room there is an exhibition on Estonian sculptor Juhan Raudsepp, one of the children who grew up in Rusi farm.
Stop and think of fundamental life values in the old wooden Sutlepa Chapel. Sacred songs of the Estonian Swedes help envision their world.
On the ground floor of Kalma windmill visitors can see a photo display of Estonian windmills.
Take notice of the farm yards and gardens?
In summer, it is worth paying greater attention to the flower beds of the museum’s farms. Many flowers have received nameplates, the QR code in the corner of which guides you to more accurate descriptions of the plants using your smart device.
Temporary exhibitions from mid-May to the end of the summer season:
Textile upcycling exhibition in the barn of Setu Vanatalo farm.
Wool sheep farming and wool processing operations on the threshing floor of Pulga farm.
Exhibition of art by
the employees of the museum “The secret life of museum workers” in Kolu inn.
“Celestial bride”: a promenade performance by Anne Türnpu and the 32nd class of the School of Performing Arts of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
On Shepherd’s Trail of the Estonian Open Air museum
Premiere on 3 July at 16:00. Performances in the early morning hours in July and August.