The Mõniste Rural Life Museum

A gateway to the springs of Võru culture

The Mõniste Rural Life Museum, located in Rõuge parish in Võru County, is the oldest open-air museum and the southernmost museum in Estonia. It gives you a true picture of the daily life of the peasants of the area and the rural culture of the southern part of Old Võromaa.

The permanent exhibition of the Mõniste Rural Life Museum introduces life in the region from the Stone Age to the Tsarist period and the first half of the 20th century. The oldest building of the museum is a threshing house built in the Tsarist period. It is also possible to see two versions of a smoke sauna in the courtyard of the museum, a newer type and a very old one dating from 1867. However, if you walk a few steps further, you will reach the 1930s – the premises of the Nõniste Consumers Union shop, which has been restored as an authentic shop from 1926.