Collections

The Estonian Open Air Museum had as of December 31st, 2001, collections totalling 56 815 museum preservation units. Additionally, the auxiliary collection contained 5726 objects and photographs that either had insufficient background information or were copies. During the previous year, the museum's exhibit rooms and temporary exhibitions displayed 1808 items from the main collection and 119 - from the auxiliary collection. (We try to preserve as much as possible of the main collection objects because we cannot put these into glass cabinets when displaying them in farms.)

The Open Air Museum owns the largest collection of national architecture in Estonia. Ours is the only museum in Estonia with the primary goal of collecting and researching countryside architecture. 72 old village structures have been delivered to the museum and rebuilt on location. We hope to continue this work with newer structures of the 20th century. Our other collections supplement the national architecture collection and help to demonstrate the genuine country life of the past.