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THE
ESTONIA ROUTE (Start
page)
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Leading project partner: Museum of Applied
Art, Tallinn; Ms Lee Pruuli † / Ms Merike Albert, Director The Museum of Applied Art, was opened in 1980 as a branch of the Estonian Museum of Art. The collection of applied art objects was started immediately after the establishment of the Art Museum in 1918. During the war the collections were seriously damaged and the textile collection destroyed. Collecting applied arts systematically restarted at the mid 1950s. During the Soviet period the museum was able to buy art and craft objects in a generous style, and for this reason most of its pieces date from the Fifties to the Eighties. The collection contains every form of experimental contemporary art, including textile art. As regards industrial products, there is a small collection of mass-produced goods made by a factory that was established shortly after World War II but forced to cease production when the country gained independence. Another important station on the Estonian textile route is the textile department of the Tallinn Academy of Art, founded in 1914. Before World War II it mostly provided training in the female crafts, like embroidery, weaving and knitting, but not, for instance, in the production of monumental tapestries. After the war it was converted into a textile and fashion department. The next two stations are located in Tartu, a town in the centre of Estonia. The first is the Higher Art College which provides training in the crafts and applied art, and includes a textile department and specialised courses in conservation. The second is the Estonian National Museum, one of the oldest and largest museums in the country and one that owns a very good and extensive collection of ethnographic textiles. A very special venue is located in the south of Estonia - the Applied Art Farm run by the textile artist Anu Raud. She used to work as a lecturer at the Tallinn Academy of Art but then moved to her grandfather's farm where she now keeps sheep. On the farm she also maintains a museum displaying a collection of ethnographic textiles, holds workshops for students and schoolchildren, and produces ethnic textiles in a production workshop. This will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting Estonian locations for those interested in textiles. In the north east of the country, near the Russian border, there is an industrial area containing the large Krenholm textile mill. A red-brick building complex dating from 1857, it is now still in production under Swedish ownership. However, to gain an understanding of the history of the textile industry one is better advised to visit the Costume and Municipal Museum of Narva where a nearly complete collection relating to the mill's product range and history is kept. (Based on information by Lea Pruuli †) Textil Contact Point (TCP) Tarbekunstimuuseum Lai St. 17 EE-10133 Tallinn http://www.ekm.ee/tarbekunstimuuseum |
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 Inside view of the Applied Art Museum of Tallinn  The Tallinn Art Academy's Dept. of Textiles & Fashion |
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