Six museums you probably haven’t heard of

Even if you are a frequent museum visitor and feel like you have already seen everything, we would like to bet that is not the case! Here are seven gems that you probably haven’t discovered yet.

Estonians are proud to consider themselves an IT nation. Although you may think that everything computer-related is a matter of modern-day technology, you would be mistaken! In fact, the history of computers is already so extensive that an entire museum can be dedicated to it.

The Computer Museum in Tallinn, which opened in 2005, hosts all sorts of computers for your viewing pleasure, from giants that fill an entire room to PDAs and computer components. You can also play old computer games in the museum.

Estonia has a long tradition of brewing beer. You can learn more about the history of beer culture in Tartu – in the malt tower that is known as a symbol of the city and is a unique industrial building in Europe. In the Beer Museum, you can learn about beer production equipment and hear fascinating stories and legends related to beer. By the way, the Beer Museum also houses a bottle of the world’s oldest beer.

There is also a museum dedicated to another, possibly more important, drink. Milk. Järva County is a true dairy county with a long history of traditions. The population has counted more milk-producing cows there than working-age residents. So, if you want to find out what an old dairy farm looked like, how butter is made by hand, and try to milk a cow yourself, there is good reason to head over to the Estonian Dairy Museum in Imavere.

All Estonians know that limestone is the country’s national stone. But did you know there is a whole museum dedicated to limestone? Here, you will find out why limestone has been so important to Estonia throughout time. What’s more, the Porkuni Limestone Museum is not just for looking, you can even taste limestone there!

However, limestone is not the only rock that has received its own museum in Estonia. In the Oil Shale Museum, located in Kohtla-Järve, you can discover why oil shale was mined in Estonia, what it has been used for over the years, why oil shale has been so important to Estonia, and how the oil shale industry has shaped North-Eastern Estonia.

There is one event in the history of Estonia that everyone knows, and many have experienced themselves – The Song Celebration. The Song Celebration Museum in Tartu is located in the building where the Vanemuine Cultural Society operated and where the roots of the 150-year-long tradition, the Song Celebration, began. You can discover how the first song festival was organized and how it became a tradition that survived despite the difficult times in Estonian history.