Saatse Museum

The museum right on the border

The Saatse Museum in Võrumaa introduces the life of a small church village a with a long and rich history and shows how Setomaa’s location on the border of the Estonian state has influenced the locals. Setomaa is located on the Estonian-Russian border, which is also a border of the European Union, and the border with Latvia is not far as well. It is only 250 meters from the museum to the national border, therefore the Saatse Museum is the most fitting location for reflections on that topic.

The museum’s permanent exhibition is titled Everything has its own boundaries. Since women have traditionally always been home keepers in the Setomaa region, it is the men who have been the ones to break through boundaries. Thus, the Saatse Museum is more focused on the lives of Seto men and how changing of borders have affected the lives of people in Setomaa.

In addition to the displayed objects and stories, the interactive cultural maps of Europe and Setomaa also help visitors to understand the topic. The theme of living at the border is again broached by a cartoon based on stories in which the main character, Ode, has to adapt to four regimes during her life.

Near the museum, there is a kilometer-long hiking trail that runs parallel to the national border. You can see border posts, warning signs prohibiting to approach, and sand strips on the border.