Art exhibition visits in Estonia jumped to 2.28 million in 2025

Art exhibitions in Estonia recorded 2,281,198 visits in 2025, an increase of 35.7 percent, or 600,271 visits, from the previous year, ERR reported. The number of exhibitions rose by 4 percent.

The statistics, compiled by the Contemporary Art Centre of Estonia, cover 97 exhibition institutions. A total of 918 exhibitions were held in 22 cities, towns and villages, compared with 883 in 2024.

More than half of the exhibitions took place in Tallinn, where 54 institutions organised 501 exhibitions. Tartu ranked second with 138 exhibitions at 12 institutions, followed by Pärnu with 51 exhibitions at three institutions.

Foreign artists or curators took part in at least 223 of the exhibitions. A total of 771 exhibitions, or 84 percent, were free to visitors.

The centre said the overall number of visits is not complete because not all exhibition institutions can count visitors. Visitor data was unavailable for 28.3 percent of exhibitions in 2025. However, the statistics include data from Estonia’s larger and most visited exhibition venues, which the centre said means they capture most exhibition visits during the year.

Kumu led visitor growth

The biggest increase was recorded at Kumu art museum, where exhibition visits rose by 100,142 to 690,447 in 2025, from 590,305 the previous year. Kumu held 16 exhibitions in 2025, compared with 19 in 2024.

Visits to Niguliste museum increased by 79,377, from 114,061 in 2024 to 193,438 in 2025. The Estonian Architecture Museum recorded an increase of 30,445 visits, from 31,658 to 62,103.

The most visited exhibition of 2025 was Kumu’s permanent exhibition “Landscapes of Identity. Estonian Art 1700–1945.”

New method counts exhibition-house visitors separately

Since 2024, the Contemporary Art Centre of Estonia has collected visitor data for exhibition venues using a different methodology. Previously, a venue’s visitor figure was calculated from the number of visits to exhibitions. Institutions are now also asked to provide the total number of visitors to the venue itself.

Under the previous method, a venue’s figure could be higher when several exhibitions were open at the same time, because one person could be counted as a visitor to each exhibition. Under the new method, a visitor is counted once regardless of how many exhibitions they attend. As a result, exhibition visits and exhibition-house visitors cannot be compared directly.

The 2025 ranking of exhibition venues includes only institutions able to collect visitor data through ticket sales or because only one exhibition is open there at a time. Institutions that organise other types of exhibitions in addition to art exhibitions were excluded.

Kumu had the highest number of exhibition-house visitors in 2025, with 149,052. Fotografiska ranked second with 106,909 visitors, followed by Niguliste museum with 106,432. Kadriorg Art Museum ranked fourth with 105,651 visitors, while Poco was fifth with 35,000.

The remaining institutions in the top 10 were the Estonian Architecture Museum, Tartu Art House, the Adamson-Eric Museum, Tallinn Art Hall and the Photography Museum.