When I visit any new city for more than two days, I always go to a museum, a gallery or another culturally significant place. Having lived in Tartu for more than three years, I have gathered my own recommendations of the cultural gems that the Athens of Emajõgi shows and hides. Here I would like to present 3 cultural gems that may fascinate you
- University of Tartu Museum
My favourite place to go for a walk in Tartu is Toome Hill. This location is, by all means, the heart of the city. Every time I walk around there, I discover something completely new – a new pathway, an interesting fact or a new spot for taking photos! I think I might have more than 1000 photos of Toome Hill in my phone gallery. However, the true must-visit on Toome Hill is the University of Tartu Museum. Located in the ruins of Tartu Cathedral, it looks over the downtown area. Built in Brick Gothic style, it creates the atmosphere of holiness and timeless energy that always allures me to refresh myself during the walk.
I already hinted at the reason you should visit the University of Tartu Museum in the beginning. Do you remember the Athens of Emajõgi? Baltic Germans living in Tartu in 18th and 19th century were inspired by the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. They admired Classical Greek ideas and the desire for intellectual prosperity. In their view, Tartu was a perfect place for scientific and intellectual growth. Indeed, it was! That is why the name, Athens of Emajõgi, is still occasionally used nowadays. To feel the connection to the cultural and intellectual capital of Estonia, you should visit this museum. As a bonus, all museums of University of Tartu are free for UT students!
Picture showing a joke that each student can relate to.
My friends and I like to spontaneously visit the museum after the lectures sometimes. Once, my friend and I visited the museum in February and there was an exhibition showing the map of old Tartu with the gates to the city. Right after the visit, we walked across the downtown as if on a scavenger hunt, searching for the gates’ former locations. There is also an ongoing open-air exhibition on this topic outside. You can find the city wall remains even today! As a hint, look for a courtyard near the Barclay’s Square.
2. Tartu Elektriteater
Now you can ask me: “Why do you recommend us going to the cinema? We know what the cinema is.” But Tartu Elektriteater is not a standard cinema. It is an independent cinema that combines mainstream and art house movies, as well as festival movies, Estonian movies, classical movies, shortfilms and movies of national minorities.
Picture was taken by course administration
The first time I visited Elektriteater was during the Saksa Kevad (German Spring from Estonian) festival. My friend, who was also taking a German course at the University of Tartu with me, and I went to several film screenings. We wanted to practice our German and to watch a movie in German for the first time. It was an amazing experience!
The second time was even better! During the Entrepreneurship in Arts and Creative Industries course (which I truly recommend you take), we visited multiple creative industries’ institutions of the city. Tartu Elektriteater was one of them – and we had a wonderful excursion in the cinema. We got to understand how to build an independent cinema both from business and cultural sides. This course inspired me to write my bachelor thesis focusing on creative industries. It also resulted in my interest for creative industries and culture and now, I’m writing a blog on this topic!
Picture was taken by course administration
However, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been there. I have visited Elektriteater many times with different friends, my family and alone. And I will continue to go there even more! Look for tickets online and sometimes there are also free screenings! Especially, I like that there are possibilities to watch Ukrainian movies in my mother tongue and to learn German trough art house and mainstream movies!
3. National Archives of Estonia – Noora Main Building
Picture is taken from Visit Tartu Website
This third recommendation may be an unusual one. I am quite sure that it is not something you would hear from a random student asked about visit recommendations. Frankly speaking, I have not heard about it for quite a long time either. However, if you have the time and desire to have non-standard attraction – take a bus or go for a walk to Nooruse University Campus Area. There, you will find a “black box” building – in both literal and metaphorical sense.
Noora – is the main building of National Archives of Estonia. It could be said that National Archive of Estonia is in Tartu, but it is spread over Estonia, with locations in Tartu, Tallinn, Rakvere and Valga. Noora is a relatively new building which encompasses thousands of physical collections, including maps, documents, photos and much more.
When I discovered this place, the craziness inside me decided to book a guided tour and then to tell my friends that we are going to the National Archives of Estonia for a visit. They were very glad and thankful, really!
It actually ended up being a good decision! The tour guide was very open to answering all our questions and she told us the history of the archive management in Estonia. There is also a symbolism behind the “black box” building – it reminds us of the brain and its memories, as archives represent the memories of past generations. During the tour, we also had an opportunity to look at how the preservation work is done.
Therefore, if you are up for an untypical experience in Tartu, visit the National Archives of Estonia, book a free guided tour on their website and visit Noora.
To sum up, I would say that these three recommendations are not enough to represent the cultural vibrancy of Tartu and its gems. However, they’re good places from which you can start to explore the city! If you have your favourite cultural destination in Tartu, share in comments!
All images are the author’s own unless otherwise stated.
Leave a Reply