Museum head says ERM’s public value outweighs high costs

The Estonian National Museum’s new building has made the institution a place for public gatherings as well as a home for its collections, and the value created there outweighs its high running costs, director Laura Kipper told ERR.

The building in Raadi, Tartu, opened 10 years ago. Kipper said it marked the end of a century-long wait for a home for the museum, whose collections had previously been scattered among churches and other locations, including a meeting house on Veski Street, often in poor conditions.

Earlier discussions about the need for a building focused largely on storing the collections. By the late 1990s and 2000s, the debate had broadened to include the building’s role as a place for people to meet and engage with the museum.

Planners expected about 175,000 visitors a year. The museum now receives just over 100,000 people for ticketed exhibitions, as well as an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 for concerts, performances and private celebrations. About 300,000 people visited during the building’s first year.

Kipper said the museum would like to attract more visitors, but its reach depends partly on transport links. Air connections are good, she said, while rail connections remain difficult. Transport to and from the region is important for the museum, she added.

The building uses the city’s district heating system and is managed by the state-owned real estate company Riigi Kinnisvara Aktsiaselts.