Estonian Open Air Museum

This amazing museum had its origins in an idea put forward by the Estonian National Museum during the days of the Russian Empire in 1913 inspired by open air museums in Scandinavia and Finland. The gestation period however was very long and it was not until 1964 that this amazing museum was opened to the public having been interrupted by two world wars and a long period of Soviet occupation. It was worth waiting for! About 5 miles to the west of Tallinn's old town it is in a coastal woodland site of around 180 acres and is, largely, a reconstruction of an 18th/19th century agricultural and fishing community. As well as twelve farmyards and the coastal net sheds that one might expect there are several windmills, a school, a rural fire station, a church and a tavern that actually sells beer.

Many of the buildings have been imported from sites where they were previously at risk. The buildings represent the architecture from western, northern and southern Estonia as well a number of the islands. There are also a number of more ubiquitous buildings such as the church and school as well as other one off's including a 1964 brick apartment building from the Soviet era and some of the estate buildings that were already present when the construction of the site started in 1957.

The exhibit is spread well apart and one needs a lot of time to take it all in.