Tartu City Museum

Discover the heart of Estonian literature: the Oskar Luts Home Museum in Tartu! The museum is a quiet, charming place that takes you back in time and offers a glimpse into the life of one of Estonia's most beloved writers, Oskar Luts (1887–1953). The museum is located in a functionalist house built in the 20th century, where the author's personal belongings, furniture, manuscripts, and work desk have been preserved. The permanent exhibition reveals Luts's influence on literature, theatre, and film. The authentic atmosphere and warm stories offer a meaningful experience even for those just discovering his name. This is not just a museum, but a home where literature and life meet!

The Tartu Song Celebration Museum is located in a 19th-century classicist building, where the organizer of the first Estonian Song Festival and founder of the national theater, the Vanemuine Society, operated. The first Estonian-language play, written by Lydia Koidula, premiered here. Koidula was a prominent female poet of the Estonian National Awakening, who thereby laid the foundation for the Estonian national theater. The museum offers an introduction to the Song Celebration tradition as well as the 150-year history and heritage of the Vanemuine Theater. Visitors can take part in interactive exhibitions, virtual reality experiences, workshops, and guided tours. The museum park is also open during opening hours.

There is a unique children’s museum on the first floor of the Varbuse post station of the Road Museum. Children have the whole floor to themselves for having fun. Here, you will find exciting reading, educational games and activities, a puppet theatre, and the Chamber of Secrets which introduces fairy tales.There is an animal called Ajaloom (Time Animal) living in the children’s museum who is excited to meet his new friends to explore together what time is. The children’s floor is perfect for organising birthdays: it can accommodate up to 20 guests.

The stable is one of the buildings of the Sangaste Manor which has been renovated into a visitor centre and today houses the exhibition Rukkikrahv ja Ilmaimed (The Rye Count and Wonders of the World).The exhibits at the centre tell the story of the scientific wonders of the 19th century and Count Berg, the owner of Sangaste Castle. It will take the visitors back in time for a hundred years and more. Visitors can also try out exercise devices and other equipment from that time. Children can have fun in the hall of technical wonders as well as at the ‘grandmother’s place’. Come discover and marvel!

Luke Manor invites you to discover the historical architecture of its former knight's manor and the enchanting park, where you can find the stylish dollhouse-like Kärnerimaja, which has an information point, an exhibition introducing the manor, and a café in the summer. The restored Governor's House adds historical depth to the manor complex. The water fountain and the pavilion's view of the ponds invite you to immerse yourself in the romance of the manor era. The manor's terraces, an alley of uniquely shaped trees, and the concrete lion statues on the stairs (a favorite with the youngest visitors) create a unique and majestic atmosphere. At Luke Manor, you can organize a seminar, take a tour, attend a concert, or tinker in the craft workshop!

Pikajärve manor, which is also known as the Cantervilla Castle, is probably one of the cosiest manors in Estonia. The main building (built in 1908) and the vivid quarry stone outbuildings are on a landscape filled with beautiful dome-shaped hillocks, high up on the shore of a lake. The walls of the halls of the eye-catching main building are decorated with landscape paintings and portraits, antique furniture and the light from the chandeliers add festivity and romance. The manor is private property at the moment and operates as an establishment for holding different events and offers accommodation.

Would you like to learn more about the past and present of Estonia's national defense force or see the places where battles took place in Valga County? When visiting the War Museum, you can get acquainted with military and armored vehicles, tanks, a Forest Brothers bunker, see the largest weapon collection in Estonia, and more. You can test your shooting skills on a shooting simulator. For groups, we offer guided tours, fun rides in various military vehicles, role-playing games with laser weapons, or flight simulations in an MI-8 helicopter, upon reservation. Our seminar hall can host various events, and we offer various military-themed packages.

The 19th-century Tartu Citizen's Home Museum is located in one of the most unique areas of Tartu's Old Town, close to St. John's Church. The museum is housed in a wooden building completed in the 1740s, making it one of the oldest surviving residential houses in Tartu. With its historical ambiance and meticulously restored interior, the building takes visitors back to the early 19th century, when Tartu was a vibrant city of wealthy citizens and craftsmen. At the museum, you can learn more about the daily lives of urban citizens in the 1830s. Various rooms, furnished in the German Biedermeier style typical of the era, can be seen. The cozy, authentic atmosphere offers an opportunity to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of everyday life in a 19th-century Tartu home. During the summer season, a small garden is open, where plants and flowers of the period thrive, offering a glimpse of what urban greenery might have looked like almost two centuries ago. It is possible to participate in guided, thematic tours and educational programs.