Page 83 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

T ALLINN 81

and subtle irony. The fourth floor
is devoted to a permanent Eduard Vilde (1865–1933)
exhibition entitled “Difficult Author of Estonian classics such as The
Choices”, exploring the com plex War in Mahtra and The Milkman from
relationship between art and the Mäeküla, Eduard Vilde is one of the
Soviet state, while the fifth floor is most revered figures in Estonian
given over to the best in literature and is generally credited
contemporary art. However, the as being the country’s first
most striking exhibition of all is pro fessional writer.
the room filled with hundreds of Vilde spent a great deal of time
travelling abroad and he lived for some
busts eerily staring into space.
time in Berlin in the 1890s, where he was
influenced by materialism and socialism.
His writings were also guided by the
naturalism of the French writer Emile Zola Eduard Vilde,
(1840–1902). In addition to being a writer, writer and diplomat
Vilde was also an outspoken critic of Tsarist
rule and of the German landowners. With the founding of the first
Estonian republic in 1919, Vilde served as a diplomat in Berlin for
several years. He spent the last years of his life editing and revising
an enormous volume of his collected works.
E Anton Hansen Tammsaare’s life and work.
Tammsaare Museum The collection of almost 6,000
Koidula 12a. Tel 601 3232. artifacts includes several
Open 11am–5pm Wed–Sat. & photographs, letters and
8 ∑ linnamuuseum.ee manuscripts and even the
Catherine I’s bedroom, Peter the Great Anton Hansen Tammsaare writer’s death mask.
House Museum (1878–1940) is Estonia’s most
important literary figure. His E Eduard Vilde Memorial
E Peter the Great House five-volume epic Truth and Museum
Museum Justice takes a sweeping look at Roheline aas 3. Tel 601 3181.
Mäekalda 2. Tel 601 3136. Open May– Estonian society from the 1870s Open 11am–5pm Wed–Sat. &
Aug: 10am–6pm Tue–Sun; Sep–Apr: to the 1930s. 8 ∑ linnamuuseum.ee
10am–5pm Wed–Sun. & The museum is situated in the The Eduard Vilde Memorial
∑ linnamuuseum.ee attractive wooden house in Museum is housed in a Neo-
This museum is housed in the Kadriorg where the novelist and Baroque summer house beside
17th-century cottage which his wife lived from 1932 until his Kadriorg Park which was
the Russian emperor used as death in 1940. The building was presented to the writer as a
a summer residence while converted into a museum in 60th birthday gift by the
Kadriorg Palace was being built. 1978. On the first floor is the Estonian government.
The cottage was pur chased couple’s five-room flat, while a Vilde was one of Estonia’s
along with the surroun ding separate wing serves as a most prolific writers, and his
land in 1713 and was enlarged museum dedicated to works amount to a staggering
with an additional wing so that 33 volumes. The museum
it contained a hall, a kitchen showcases the six-room flat
and four rooms. where Vilde lived with his
After Peter the Great died in wife from 1927 to 1933. The
1725, his successors opted to authentic furnishings are
stay in the more lavish Kadriorg accompanied by period art
Palace and the cottage fell into pieces and provide a fasci nating
disrepair until Alexander I look at literary life in Tallinn in
ordered it to be restored after the 1920s. It is said that Vilde
a visit to Tallinn in 1804. The could often be seen enjoying
house contains few remains of long talks with his neighbour,
Peter the Great’s time, but it still the famous writer A H
affords an intriguing glimpse Tammsaare, in the nearby park.
into the life of the enigmatic The museum has been in
ruler. The bedroom has a four- existence since 1946 and is
poster bed and a pair of slippers an interesting monu ment.
which supposedly belonged to The balusters of the wooden
the Tsar himself. There is an staircase, dating from the turn
exhi bition in the basement Exterior of the modest A H Tammsaare of the 19th and 20th century,
about his life and achievements. Memorial Museum have survived.