estonian national museum

We had a private viewing of items because my friend's grandfather was a famous collector who donated his life's work to the museum. From behind the scenes I was able to see the hard work that goes into displaying seemingly everyday objects. Every object is researched, grouped and catalogued. Luckily the museum will be housed in one large building. The lady curator we dealt with said that it is a two year project to get the items ready. The staff were very courteous about our intrusion into their work. I feel grateful for this behind the scenes opportunity.

I was most impressed by the exhibits of how people lived in days gone by, especially in rural Estonia.

The new museum is being built as an extension of the supplementary runway, of the former Soviet Airforce base at Raadi, that used to send Soviet planes taking off over Tartu. Intriguingly the new museum's upper horizontal line (the roof) angles upwards from the line of the runway - looking very like a low angled 'jump-jet' ramp on the flight-decks of the Royal Navy aircraft-carriers Hermes and Invincible that flew Harrier jets.The aircraft carrier theme is extended by the sharply angled 'Prow' and the 'foyer' that looks like the aircraft-lift opening onto the hangar deck.