Obinitsa Museum

Katre Arula`s Handicraft Workshop, where you will find crafter Katre Arula, is located in the courtyard of Põltsamaa Castle. In the workshop's store, you will find high-quality unique original creations and genuine Estonian handicraft items picked personally by Katre. The selection includes: clothes, bags, scarves, belts, gloves, jewellery, candles, ceramics, household textiles and small sweet knick-knacks.Groups can book an introduction of Katre's creation and work. She will demonstrate the items and explain their origin. She also makes custom-made items according to the client's specification.It is possible to book workshops.

Tartu Toy Museum, situated in the Old Town of Tartu, takes adults back to the brighter days of their childhood and offers children plenty of interesting things to see and do.The permanent exhibition displays toys that Estonian children have played with throughout the years. Artist-made dolls, souvenir dolls of different nations, and Finno-Ugric traditional toys are also exhibited. Playrooms and workshops are also open. You can see puppets from Estonian puppet films and temporary exhibitions in the outbuilding. The museum also has a theatre building named ’Teatri kodu’ (The Home of Theatre) with a theatre hall, a museum of puppets, and a children’s studio.

Aparaaditehas is a cultural space built in an old factory complex. Many creative entrepreneurs, artists, designers, and the house cat Johannes Gutenberg have made their homes here. The restaurants, cafes, and bakery in Aparaaditehas offer a variety of flavors to appeal to foodies of all types. Aparaaditehas also has small shops, galleries, and the TYPA Printing and Paper Arts Centre. Major events such as the Aparaaditehas Festival and Gallery Night take place inside the Creative City and factory yard. The factory also hosts smaller concerts, fairs, exhibitions, and workshops. Come and discover the world of the Aparaaditehas!

The permanent exhibition Earth. Life. Story. includes nearly 8,000 scientific exhibit items, which tell the development story of planet Earth from the beginning of the universe until the modern day. At the exhibition, you can explore the traces of life from millions of years ago, admire shiny minerals, watch the so-called night airport of butterflies, or track the movement of the placoderm fish from the Devonian era. You can look the first jackal caught in Estonia in the eye and experience the human body through the eyes of a reptile. Visitors will be glad to see the favourites of several generations: the elk, bison, and giraffe. We also have live animals, such as the Python Regius, a turtle, a green iguana, and many other small exotic animals. See you at the Natural History Museum!

In the leather studio workshop, you can make a personalised keychain under the guidance of the leather designer Tiina Andron. Different metal studs, leathers, rivets, and key rings are used. The workshop is suitable for everyone (from school age). In addition to making a keychain, you will get to explore Antonius Courtyard, see the completion of various works, and hear the designers talk about their work.More leather studio workshops for groups can be found here.

Theatre House, situated in Tartu Old Town, is a theatre inspired by a museum, forming a part of the Tartu Toy Museum. The Theatre House takes its inspiration from our childhood, the games we played, the dreams we had, and the fantasies we brought to life. The Theatre House stages plays, but you can also put on your own show, play games, make handicrafts, and discover what goes on behind the scenes in the theatre world. There is a children’s studio on the first floor, in which children’s groups can take part in theatre-themed programmes. Visitors find a museum, an automated puppet theatre, and several exciting theatre-themed exhibitions in the basement level.

The Mõniste Museum is the oldest open-air museum in Estonia; here you can light a fire in a Stone Age tepee or practice archery, slinging or lassoing. You can also learn how to make bone and earthenware objects, weave fishing nets and fabric, grind grain or bake a loaf of Stone Age bread. The threshing barn dating back to Czarist times features the interior of the 19th century building, tools, household utensils and clothing. The farmhouse from the times of the first Republic of Estonia exhibits the tools that blacksmiths used, horse necessaries, handicraft tools, national costumes, folk music instruments, etc. You can also try what farm works felt like at that time.

The KGB Cells Museum, known as the "Grey House", is a historical museum in Tartu, where the NKVD/KGB was located in the 1940s and 1950s. The basement of the building, where the cells were located, is open to visitors. Several cells, the punishment cells, and the basement corridor have been restored to their historical form. The prison cells are filled with an exhibition that provides an overview of Estonia's post-war struggle for freedom and the crimes of the communist regime. Here you can see photographs and objects from Siberian prison camps, as well as materials on the history of the Forest Brotherhood and secret resistance organizations. Step into history and experience the meaning of freedom!