Page 82 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

80 EST ONIA REGION B Y REGION

Exploring Kadriorg Park collecting art during the inter-
war period and over the years
With forested paths, statues and ponds, Kadriorg Park is a amassed a valuable private
charming place to explore. The surrounding area has a collection that is today consi-
number of beautiful houses and manicured gardens and is dered one of the best in Estonia.
also associated with art because of the museums, such as the The exhibits range from the
16th to the 20th centuries and
Kumu Art Museum and Mikkel Museum, located here. Nearly include an impressive selec tion
all the park’s main sights are on, or close to, Weizenbergi. of porcelain vases and figurines.
Kadriorg Park is not very large and it is quite easy to cover its There are some fine examples of
entire length on foot. Located a short distance from the Old classical European art, such as
Town, the park and its quiet neighbourhood are, nevertheless, Portrait of Thomas Chaloner
(1620), attri buted to the Flemish
a pleasant 30-minute stroll away. Regular buses and trams painter Anthony Van Dyck.
connect Kadriorg Park with the Old Town.
E Kumu Art Museum
Weizenbergi 34. Tel 602 6000.
Open Apr–Sep: 11am–6pm Tue,
Thu–Sun, 11am–8pm Wed; Oct–Mar:
11am–8pm Wed, 11am–6pm Thu–Sun.
& 8 7 0 - = ∑ kumu.ee
The Kumu Art Museum is the
Estonian Art Museum’s first
purpose-built building; it was
designed to provide a fitting
home for the museum’s main
collection. The structure is built
into a limestone bank on the
edge of Kadriorg Park and is a
The attractive garden of Kadriorg Palace work of art in itself.
The museum’s enormous and
P Kadriorg Palace Johannes Mikkel (1907–2006), beautifully designed interior is a
Weizenbergi 37. Tel 606 6400. whose collections are exhi- labyrinth of artistic discovery,
Open May–Sep: 10am–6pm Tue, bited in the Mikkel Museum, with one exhibition hall leading
Thu–Sun, 10am–8pm Wed; Oct–Apr: donated some 600 works of to another. The exhibits in the
10am–8pm Wed, 10am–5pm Thu– foreign art to the Estonian Art rooms are arranged in chrono-
Sun. & 8 7 - = ∑ ekm.ee Museum in 1994. The museum logical order. Among the many
This palace was built in 1718 boasts a fine selec tion of delights on show, Konrad Mägi’s
under the orders of the Russian European painting. However, brilliantly coloured canvases
Tsar Peter the Great, its main attraction is stand out as a wonderful
who intended it to the astonishingly example of early 20th-century
serve as a summer ornate Great Hall, Estonian art. Eduard von
residence for the which ranks among Gebhardt’s Sermon on the Mount
royal family. It was the finest examples (1904) is another painting to
later named in of Baroque exuber- relish for both its epic excellence
honour of his wife ance in Northern
Catherine. Kadriorg Europe. The well-
Palace was designed manicured orna-
in the Northern mental garden with
Baroque style by Portrait of Thomas Chaloner fountains behind
the famous Italian by Van Dyck the palace is also
master archi tect open to the public.
Nicola Michetti. The Russian
emperor intended the three- E Mikkel Museum
winged palace to look like an Weizenbergi 28. Tel 601 5844.
Italian villa, and no expense Open May–Sep: 10am–6pm Tue,
was spared in creating a Thu–Sun, 10am–8pm Wed; Oct–Apr:
magnificently lavish building 10am–8pm Wed, 10am–5pm Thu–
in the Italian Baroque style Sun. & 8 ∑ ekm.ee
of which he was so fond. Located in the former kitchen
After undergoing extensive of Kadriorg Palace, the Mikkel
renovation, the palace now Museum comprises the private
houses the Estonian Art collection of the art collector Row of busts on display in a room at the
Museum’s foreign collection. Johannes Mikkel. He began Kumu Art Museum
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp296–7 and pp314–16