Exhibitions
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
“‘A Village in the Middle of the City’. Stories about Kalamaja”
The permanent exhibition of the museum “‘A Village in the Middle of the City’. Stories about Kalamaja” speaks of the life of the area through six personas characteristic to Kalamaja: a man of Kalamaja, a child of Kalamaja, a parent of Kalamaja, a life artist of Kalamaja and an animal of Kalamaja. These characters are a summary of different times and eras and tell the story from the Middle Ages to today. Walking through the museum will open the stories of the houses of the area together with the local people: the visitor is welcomed in the cellar, corridor, garage, living room, but you can find exhibitions in the toilet as well. Young visitors can play in the dollhouse that depicts the Tallinn-type house in the family area of the museum.
In the museum you will find a gallery where locals and others can form their ideas into exhibitions or present interesting collections to wider audiences.
The museum is big on its contents, but small in cubic meters. Therefore you can often see our exhibitions also on the streets of the area.
Many thanks to all the people of Kalamaja who helped to create the museum!
Curators: Kristi Paatsi, Tuuli Silber, Laura Jamsja
Space design: Ruumilabor OÜ
Graphic design: Refleks OÜ
Exhibition solutions: HN Steel, Argo Männik, Krista Norden, Riksen OÜ
TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
Starting from 21st of August
Exhibition “A Safe City and Refuge: The Story of Pelgulinn” at Kalamaja muuseum
The exhibition “A Safe City and Refuge: The Story of Pelgulinn” invites you to discover the past and present of Tallinn’s historic suburb through the stories of people and houses. Tallinn is a small town next to Pelgulinna, the current residents of Pelgulinna jokingly say. As a suburb, the development of Pelgulinna has been directly influenced ...
Exhibition
“THE MAGICAL REALISM OF KOPLI”
at Kalamaja museum
The exhibition reveals the peculiarities and special observations of one of Tallinn's suburbs, both today and from the past.
Kalamaja Museum new exhibition ‘Journey to the Land of the Green Sun. The story of a Kalamaja family’
Kalamaja Museum new exhibition ‘Journey to the Land of the Green Sun. The Story of a Family from Kalamaja‘ The new exhibition at the Kalamaja Museum is the result of a collaboration with a local family, as is the tradition for a community museum. Piret Tali, Kalamaja resident and journalist, shares the story of her family. ...
New outdoor exhibition “Somewhere in Kalamaja”
Kalamaja museum’s new outdoor exhibition “Somewhere in Kalamaja” was opened during the Kalamaja Days settlement festival. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey to places and buildings that have disappeared, been destoryed or changed completely throughout the times. Taking a look into the past we create a bridge between the current and former Kalamaja. The exhibition ...
Arrowgroup’s exhibition
‘IN MURKY WATERS’
Avatakse 28.septembril 2024. Kalamajas tegutseva Noolegrupi näitus “Sogases vees” on ristkorrutis metafooridest ja muinasjutust, keelemängust ja kibedast kujundlikkusest.
Exhibition in Kalamaja Museum’s greenhouse: SUMMER KITCHEN
SUMMER KITCHEN will be open until the end of summer 2024 in the museum’s greenhouse. It can be accessed from the garden. Admission is free of charge. Kalamaja Museum’s garden is open from 13:00-20:00 on Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 11:00-18:00 Friday to Sunday. Kitchen towels don’t tend to last very long in the busy kitchen of ...
Plant boxes on the Vana-Kalamaja street
18th century garden. Artisanal gardener Johann Georg Haetge Senior’s flowerbed. (Text by Risto Paju, Tallinn City Museum) At the end of the 18th century, in front of Tallinn’s Karjavärav, or more precisely where Sakala theatre is located today, artisanal gardener and merchant Johann Georg Haetge Senior ran a garden and flower seed shop. One copy of the ...
Outdoor exhibition “From Screw to Piano. The Story of Kalamaja’s Industries”
Today's Kalamaja was born in the wake of the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. At that time, large and small factories which required hundreds and thousands of workers sprang up here.
EKA TASE exhibition „Three Drops of Blood“ in Kalamaja Museum
An old forgotten suitcase was found in the Estonian National Archives. It contained what seemed to be sketches and materials of an unfinished video game. The suitcase was given to retro video game enthusiasts Camille Laurelli and Rainer Peterson who figured out that it was indeed a game from the late 1980s.
Exhibition in Kalamaja Museum “Kalamaja Wallpapers and What We Can Find Underneath”
Tallinn City Museum’s conservator Merike Neidorp has soaked and unravelled old layers of wallpaper. We now have an opportunity to embark on a little time travel through the history of wallpaper as an important part of interior design in the oldest suburb of Tallinn.
EXHIBITION IN CAFÉ BOHEEM: “Working Kalamaja. Breadwinning in the 1920s-1960s”
Hard-working Kalamaja residents are at the centre of the Kalamaja Museum’s outdoor exhibition “Working Kalamaja. Breadwinning in the 1920s-1960s.” Photos taken decades ago allow visitors to learn about various work environments and compare how jobs, work organisation and conditions have changed over time.
Kalamaja museum’s outdoor exhibition “Uka-Uka, I Am Free. Outdoor Games in Kalamaja”
The Kalamaja Museum has completed another exhibition on the streets of Kalamaja ahead of the opening of its new building. This time, the focus is on local games and stories of play between 1930 and 1970. Play is the work of a little person, and it is something that the children of all suburbs have always ...
Outdoor exhibition
“Lost Fragments of Kalamaja. Pictures from family photo albums”
This outdoor exhibition by the Kalamaja Museum is like travelling through time into the everyday life of the district of yesteryear. The exhibition includes valuable visual material shared by former and current inhabitants responding to the museum’s call.
“Estonian child models from old magazines” at the Kalamaja Children’s Museum
The children in old magazine pictures were mostly posed and neatly combed. Among these images there a few everyday photographs but most of the children looking back at us are child models.