Winter season at the Open Air Museum

The open air museum does not sleep during the winter season. It operates in a slightly more peaceful rhythm, but is surely not dull. It is a good place to be when you enjoy fresh air in the middle of a historic village. You can also use an opportunity for which there is often no time in summer: to take a seat in one of the farms and talk with the mistress of the house about the life of the old days.

During the winter season, the Estonian Open Air Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday (on Mondays only for booked events and educational programmes).

• Härjapea Farm, Kuie School, Setu Farm, Russian house from Peipus, Sassi-Jaani barn-dwelling, Kolkhoz apartment, Lau village shop, Kolu Inn building are open from 10 am to 5 pm.
• The ticket office and the museum shop are open from 10 am to 5 pm.  
• The museum park is open from 10 am to 7 pm.  

Ticket office
We hope that you are dressed appropriately for the weather. With rainy weather, you can buy a pair of lovely colourful wellington boots and an umbrella from the ticket office handicraft shop and when your coat is too scant, you can also get a woollen jumper. Be sure to rent a bicycle when the grass is still green or a kick sledge
when there is snow. Travelling is much easier and more fun then.

Kolkhoz apartment building
Located by the village road stands a two-storey silicate brick apartment house which was built for dairy farm workers during the Soviet era. Today four very different homes welcome you here. You can find out how young brigade leader Maila started her independent life in the 1960s or how well-off spouses Ülo and Laine lived in the 1970s. You can also experience some of the difficulties of a large family who’s fallen on hard times in the early 1990s and see how modern and cosy can be a home remodelled from a kolkhoz apartment building today. Listen to the stories of the residents and take time to peek into the cupboards and drawers, rest on the couch and browse through books and magazines. Don’t forget to visit the exhibition and hands-on area on the basement floor.

Seto farm
Behind the tall gates of the fortress-like farm are a granary, a barn, and between them, a powerful Seto dwelling. In the outward-facing side of the dwelling, you
can see how this spirited ethnic group lived at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On the other side – in the new dwelling – you will be transported back
in time to the Soviet period, to the early 1960s. Find out from the landlady or master what the Seto people ate, how they worked and celebrated holidays. There
are no longer any animals in the barn, but you can find interesting exhibitions there.

Russian house from lake peipus
Next to the Seto farm there is a small Russian house from the coast of Lake Peipus, decorated with saw-cut borders. In the roofed courtyard, goats will bleat at you
as you go by. In the bright, white room, water boils in the samovar next to the oven and golden keedusukker – a sugar and cream treat – is waiting to be tasted in a
glass bowl on the table. The mistress will tell you a story of how Russian Old Believers settled in Estonia and about their unique traditions, so different from Estonian ones.

Farm kid’s world
This peculiarly shaped long building comes from Hiiumaa Island. The barn at the courtyard side of the building is home to the domestic animals and fowls of the museum. You can visit the barn with your hostess at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. In the exhibition and activity area of the building, ‘Every little step counts’, young and old
visitors alike can play games to find out what farm life was like in the olden days and discuss whether and what we can learn from it today. What do farm animals give
us, how were they cared for on the farm, and how do we treat our pets today? You can invent and experiment with ways to reuse old items and eat healthily and
sustainably. Wherever possible, be sure to put your knowledge to the test and lend a hand.

The barn-shed is open to visitors from Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and during school holidays: from 21 to 27 October, from 23 December to 5 January, from 24 February to 2 March, and from 14 to 20 April.

Kuie school
Learning is in full swing in Kuie school during winter. Writing and reading, reckoning and the Bible must surely be learnt by Saint George’s Day. You too have a chance to
sit at the school desk during the breaks to think back of your own school years. You can ask the mistress of the house about how a schoolmaster used to live, how many
winters students attended school and how was order preserved in the classroom. Be prepared for having to do some reckoning.

Lau village shop
One cannot possibly pass by the Lau village shop. The shop madam offers you such lovely treats: colourful candies and chocolate for those with a sweet tooth, condiments, fabrics and tableware for the diligent wives, tools and drinks for the men. You can have a look at the shopkeeper’s living quarters where the family used
to rest from a day’s work and discuss village news on a Turkish sofa.

Härjapea farm
The women of Härjapea farm were diligent handicrafters as appropriate to the spirit of the 1930s. In this farm you can ask advice on how to make lovely home textiles or
set the table for the family. The mistress of the house will be able to tell you about the people who lived in this fine farm house in 1939 – who slept in the smallest bed,
whose room had the most modern decor, which room was used during festive occasions.

Kolu inn
By now you have surely earned a hefty meal! Hot soup, potato-barley mash, pork roast and other national dishes are waiting for you at Kolu inn. If you are not tired yet, step inside the dwelling of Sassi-Jaani farm on your way home. Here you can
have an overview of Estonian rural architecture and explore the inside of a truly impressive farmhouse.

GETTING HERE

• By car: free parking at the main gate of the museum.
• Public transport: buses No. 21 and 21b stop at the main gate of the museum (stop Rocca al Mare). Buses No. 22, 42 and 43: get off at the Zoo stop and take a 15-minute walk along the seaside road. Buses No. 41 and 41b take you back to the city centre. See timetables: soiduplaan.tallinn.ee.

When coming to the museum, dress according to the weather. Put on rain and windproof clothing and shoes that can be used to walk along the village roads.