New Vabamu head aims to turn research into public knowledge

Maarja Merivoo-Parro, the new head of Vabamu, Estonia’s Museum of Occupations and Freedom, says her mission aligns closely with the museum’s commitment to democracy, the rule of law and hope for a better future, ERR reported.

Merivoo-Parro, who began leading Vabamu a month ago, has previously worked as a journalist, researcher, musician, author and documentary filmmaker. She said curiosity about the world connects all of her different activities.

“The world is so interesting, with all its contradictions and harmonies, where they come from and where they are going,” Merivoo-Parro said in an interview with ERR’s “ID” programme. She described her constant curiosity and passion for examining subjects closely as the common thread in her work.

She said she accepted the invitation to lead Vabamu because the challenges facing the museum offered an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution. Merivoo-Parro was previously one of the authors of the museum’s permanent exhibition, which was being developed 10 years ago.

“I remember how it came into being, and I also remember what was left undone for various reasons,” she said. She added that the coming three years could be an opportunity to complete something tangible with the museum’s team.

Merivoo-Parro said it was important to her that academic knowledge should not remain accessible only to researchers. Museums, she said, can present the discoveries of scholars and researchers in a form that benefits the public.

She described updating a museum as a process involving constant choices about what to highlight and how to interpret history. The central challenge, she said, is finding the right balance between historical content and its architectural or other presentation.

“In the space between those two, interpretation lives,” Merivoo-Parro said. “Fine-tuning that interpretation is probably the greatest challenge in museum work.”