Käsmu Maritime Museum plans court fight over state property transfer

Käsmu Maritime Museum plans to challenge in court the transfer of the state-owned property it leases to Tallinn-based Estonian Maritime Museum, ERR reported.

The Ministry of Culture recently transferred the property, along with the Käsmu museum’s two-year lease, to the Estonian Maritime Museum. The private museum had rented the property from the ministry.

Aarne Vaik, the Käsmu museum’s founder and long-time director, said the transfer threatened the museum’s future and the interests of some local residents. He said the decision was made without the museum’s knowledge and that it had hired a lawyer to contest it. The museum had asked the ministry for a right of superficies instead, which would have given it a right to use the land.

Vaik said he feared the museum would lose its home when its lease expires in April 2029, and that it would not be renewed. He also opposed combining its exhibitions with those of the Estonian Maritime Museum, saying the Käsmu museum wanted to remain independent.

The museum has gathered signatures in support of continuing its work in Käsmu. As of Tuesday, 643 people had signed the appeal.

Estonian Maritime Museum director Urmas Dresen rejected Vaik’s claim that the transfer was arranged behind the museum’s back, saying the matter had been discussed for a year and raised in Käsmu at least three times.

Eili Lepik, the Ministry of Culture’s deputy secretary general for cultural heritage, said the transfer was intended to reduce the ministry’s administrative burden. She said transferring the property directly to the private museum would have been more complicated and could have been less beneficial: the plot would have had to be put up for sale, leaving the museum to try to buy it at auction.