New and Ongoing Exhibitions in Tallinn

For the first time, Kumu Art Museum opens an exhibition designed for children. Tu and Whozzy helps explore how art reflects who we are and allows us to better understand ourselves and others.

From early September, Fotografiska Tallinn will host SPACE. A Visual Journey, a diverse and fascinating exhibition featuring photography, multimedia, and installations. The exhibition also includes a special activity sheet created for children.

Kumu Art Museum – Mari Kurismaa. Twilight Geometry

One of the most important figures in Estonian painting and spatial art reveals the multi-layered nature of her work through a sensitive play of light and color. The exhibition highlights both Kurismaa’s geometric forms and her poetic sense of space, where modernist order intertwines with an intimate atmosphere. Visitors can experience the artist’s unique approach to space and color, which expands perception beyond the everyday visible.

The exhibition will be open from 26 September 2025 to 22 February 2026.

Kumu Art Museum – Tu and Whozzy

Kumu’s first exhibition created especially for children takes visitors into a fairy-tale world where art meets play. Imaginative installations and colorful characters inspire creativity and offer opportunities to explore art through play and storytelling. The exhibition encourages children to embark on adventures of their own, creating a unique experience for the whole family.

The exhibition will be open from 17 October 2025 to 31 October 2027.

Kumu Art Museum – Spiegel im Spiegel. Encounters Between Estonian and German Art

The exhibition brings together works by Estonian and German artists, from Lucas Cranach to Gerhard Richter and Arvo Pärt. The artworks open dialogues between different eras and styles, highlighting the role of art in building cultural connections. The display offers rich visual and auditory experiences, merging classical and contemporary art into a cohesive whole.

The exhibition will be open from 24 October 2025 to 12 April 2026.

Kadriorg Art Museum – Garden of Delights. The Seventeenth Century in Bloom

The exhibition immerses visitors in the flourishing world of 17th-century flower painting, where artists captured the beauty and hidden meanings of nature. In the works of Dutch and Flemish masters, elegant floral compositions meet scientific precision and symbolism, reflecting humanity’s bond with nature. Rare works are on display, illustrating how art and botany complemented each other.

A special highlight is the exhibition design by Belgian fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck, offering a bold and contemporary take on the 17th century.

The exhibition will be open from 30 August 2025 to 25 January 2026.

Kadriorg Art Museum – Archaeology of Dreams: Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Prints

The exhibition focuses on Piranesi’s graphic masterpieces, especially etchings from series such as Views of Rome. It reveals his ability to merge architectural precision with poetic vision, creating a dreamlike space where ancient ruins, mysterious interiors, and nature unite. Viewers encounter perspectives, shadows, and fantasies, alongside scholarly research and historical layers.

The exhibition also marks the opening of Kadriorg Art Museum’s new print room and recalls the museum’s very first temporary exhibition.

The exhibition will be open from 22 July to 23 November 2025.

Mikkel Museum – Pledge of Freedom: The Art Collection of Mykolas Žilinskas

The exhibition introduces Lithuanian art collector Mykolas Žilinskas and his private collection of nearly 1,600 artworks, ranging from Old Masters to 20th-century avant-garde. Visitors can see a selection of paintings, graphics, and sculptures that reflect Žilinskas’s mission to preserve and support Lithuanian cultural identity in exile. Themes of home and alienation, the role of art in nationhood, and the institutions safeguarding artistic heritage emerge throughout.

The exhibition will be open from 8 November 2025 to 8 March 2026.

Niguliste Museum – Dives Toletana: Treasures of Toledo Cathedral from Medieval to El Greco

The exhibition unveils the rich treasury of Toledo Cathedral, featuring rare textiles, liturgical objects, and paintings from the 11th to 17th centuries. It emphasizes the connections between sacred art, religious identity, and history — alongside works by El Greco, pieces by José de Ribera and medieval aesthetics stand out. 3D reconstructions guide visitors into the spiritual and architectural depths of the cathedral.

The exhibition will be open from 22 November 2025 to 29 March 2026.

Adamson-Eric Museum – The Politics of Slowness

The exhibition invites visitors to pause and reflect on how, in today’s fast-paced world, slowness can act as resistance. The works include installations, textiles, macramé, and various media that explore the perception of time, the experience of waiting, environmental and social responsibility, craftsmanship, and slow technologies. At its core lies the idea of conscious deceleration as both politics and practice.

The exhibition will be open from 19 September 2025 to 15 February 2026.

Kai Art Center – On Fragile Grounds. Sirje Runge and Light

The exhibition traces the relationship between art and teaching, showcasing paintings, videos, and experimental studies of light and color from the 1970s to the present. The central concept is “color space,” where light, lamps, and materials intertwine with emotion and structure. A special section is dedicated to Runge’s person-centered teaching approach, reconstructing her experimental exercises with colored papers. The exhibition invites visitors into a space where light is not just an effect but a creative co-author.

The exhibition will be open from 11 October 2025 to 22 February 2026.

PoCo Pop and Contemporary Art Museum – Da Vinci Genius

The internationally acclaimed interactive travelling exhibition provides an exciting and in-depth look at Leonardo da Vinci's works and discoveries and their impact on art, science and technology. The exhibition combines cutting-edge audio and video technology with educational content and inspires reflection on how da Vinci's ideas relate to modern developments in science and society as a whole. Text and audio materials of the exhibition are in English.

The exhibition will be open in the TLN M-building in Telliskivi from 25 April to 30 October 2025.

Mikkel Museum – Art Addiction: Reigo Kuivjõgi’s art collection

The exhibition introduces the collection of gallerist, art collector and contemporary art promoter Reigo Kuivjõgi, which includes a number of Estonian artists ranging from renowned masters to younger generation talents.

The exhibition will be open from 23 May to 19 October 2025. 

Niguliste Museum – Estonian Book 500. Relics

2025 marks 500 years since the first Estonian-language book was published, and the anniversary is celebrated as the Year of the Estonian Book. The exhibition at Niguliste Museum presents the rarest relics of Estonian bibliography and gives an overview of the development of the written language and printing from the 16th to the 19th century.

The exhibition is open from 25 April 2025 until 26 October 2025.

PoCo Pop and Contemporary Art Museum – Katja Tukiainen. Pink girls

Katja Tukiainen is a Finnish painter and comic artist from the city of Pori, whose paintings and drawings of girls in pink tones form a large and important part of her oeuvre.

Tukiainen's pink works will be on display throughout the summer and will provide an opportunity to get to know a colourful representative of Finnish contemporary art.

The exhibition will be open from 28 March 2025.

Fotografiska Tallinn – COSMOS. A Visual Journey

The exhibition brings visitors closer to the theme of space through an artistic lens, featuring photography, multimedia, and installations by 14 artists from around the world. It explores themes such as identity, utopian visions, humanity’s place in the universe, and Earth as the point of departure.
Although not a children’s exhibition in the traditional sense, Fotografiska’s COSMOS is also well suited for family visits, offering discovery, educational content, and captivating visuals for visitors of all ages. A special activity sheet has been created for children, guiding them on an age-appropriate cosmic journey through the exhibition.

The exhibition will be open from 13 September 2025 to 18 January 2026.

Fotografiska Tallinn – Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez: To Be Born and to Give Birth

The exhibition presents Swedish photographer Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez’s more than three-year-long project documenting birth and giving birth. The photographs capture intimate, emotional, and unique moments when the birthing person enters a threshold state: where body and consciousness shift into a boundary realm. Accompanying texts by the artist evoke her memories, questions, and reflections, guiding viewers through the stages of life’s and parenthood’s beginnings. 

The exhibition is open from 10 October 2025 to 15 February 2026.

Fotografiska Tallinn – Bruce Gilden. Why these?

The exhibition by the daring street photographer Bruce Gilden sheds light on the wide spectrum of society, bringing to centre stage real people from back alleys, everyday life, and the true, unfiltered corners of the world. Gilden's dark humour and close-up shots reveal emotions that often go unnoticed. The exhibition includes works from the 1980s to 2023, offering a mix of black and white and colour photographs.

The exhibition is open from 23 May 2025 to 9 November 2025.

Estonian History Museum, Great Guild Hall – Exhibition of Artistic Bookbinding. Scripta manent VII „In principio. The Word in Arvo Pärt's music!“

This international book art exhibition unites the texts of Arvo Pärt’s compositions with the art of bookbinding: 148 books from 19 countries. Visitors can see visual books in which word and music transform into form — works inspired by Pärt’s manuscripts, sketches, and musical diaries. The exhibition explores the dialogue between word, sound, and material, and book art as a vessel of history and soundscapes.

The exhibition will be open from 12 September to 16 November 2025.

Estonian History Museum, Maarjamäe Palace – You Have an Inheritance

The exhibition at Maarjamäe Palace explores the concept of cultural heritage and its transmission: what earlier generations chose to build or demolish, and how to distinguish the significant from the incidental or hidden heritage. It presents themes related to valuing historical traces and celebrates the centenary of heritage protection in Estonia. The exhibition is suitable for the whole family, offering activities and discoveries for all ages.

The exhibition will be open from 3 October 2025 to 30 August 2026.

Kiek in de Kök Fortifications Museum – Moomin Peace. Joy and Wisdom

The exhibition invites visitors of all ages to discover the peace and sense of safety of Moominvalley within the Kiek in de Kök tower — green meadows, blooming trees, and beloved Moomin characters depict a worldview where fast storms and a threatening comet intertwine with calm and presence. The tower as a fortification and the Moominhouse together symbolize a paradoxical peace — withdrawn from society yet reflecting its essence.

The exhibition also celebrates the 80th anniversary of the first Moomin story and the 50th anniversary of the first Moomin book published in Estonian.

The exhibition will be open from 5 September 2025 to 30 September 2026.

Kiek in de Kök Fortifications Museum – History of Estonian Civil Defence

A joint exhibition by the Estonian Firefighting Museum and the Rescue Board leads visitors through the bastion passages to explore a century of civil protection in Estonia, from the 1930s to the present day. Photos, printed materials, objects, and audiovisual content examine sheltering, crisis preparedness, and evacuation practices. The exhibition concludes with a new interview film created specifically for it, in which the protagonist recalls the March 1944 bombing of Tallinn through the memories of a 10-year-old child.

The exhibition will be open from 13 May 2025 to 31 May 2026.

Kalamaja Museum – A Trip to the Land of the Green Sun. The story of a Kalamaja family

The exhibition at the Kalamaja Museum tells the story of one family through the history of the district: themes of home, identity, memory, migration, and recovery emerge. Visitors can see photos, documents, family objects, and narratives intertwining community and personal layers. The story offers hope — how to find a foundation among ruins upon which to rebuild life.

The exhibition will be open from 25 September 2025 to 6 September 2026.

The People's Museum of Tallinn – Stories of a Young Capital. The Vibrant Twenties.

This exhibition brings to life the stories of 1920s Tallinn communities through the eyes of a dozen characters. Visitors see photos, documents, and visual designs that highlight contrasts — from new homes and electric transport to aviation, mobilization, and hope. The design draws inspiration from Geometry, emphasizing Tallinn’s visual language and political shifts of the era.

The exhibition will be open from 22 May 2025 to 31 December 2026.

The Great Guildhall building of the Estonian History Museum – The Glory of the Hanseatic League. How wealth was born in the Middle Ages

The Hanseatic League was an association of mainly German-speaking merchant towns, with trading posts throughout northern Europe. At the same time, it was also a business network between enterprising traders.

At the heart of the exhibition is a merchant, whose biography gives visitors insight into the whole Hanseatic system and how the wealth and culture of the Middle Ages made its way to this land. There will be artefacts reflecting medieval wealth, archaeological finds never before exhibited and some unique artefacts from Hamburg and Riga.

The venue of the exhibition is emblematic – the Great Guildhall building was the representative office of Tallinn's wealthiest merchants during the Hanseatic League era and a jewel among Nordic commercial buildings.

The exhibition is open from 28 May 2025 to 10 January 2027.

Estonian History Museum, Maarjamäe Palace – Everlasting Summer!

After extensive renovations, Maarjamäe Palace will once again open the doors to its attractive summer hall with the "Everlasting Summer" exhibition, where visitors can travel back in time to the atmosphere of the castle at the end of the 19th century. At the time, Maarjamäe Palace belonged to Count Anatoly Orlov-Davydov, who had a permanent residence in St. Petersburg and used the beautiful seaside residence at Maarjamäe as a summer retreat. The exhibition allows visitors to peer into the home of a noble family and experience the carefree holiday atmosphere there.

The exhibition will be open from 24 April to 23 November 2025.

The People’s Museum of Tallinn – Flying Tram

The exhibition is based on the more than century long history of tram transport in Tallinn, an integral part of everyday life in the city.
Recent changes, such as the opening of a new tram line and the arrival of the modern Pesa Twist trams, also serve as inspiration. However, beyond the historical and technological aspects, the exhibition also explores the emotions and unique atmosphere associated with tram travel.

The exhibition will be open from 6 March 2025 until January 2026.

Kalamaja museum – Magical Realism of Kopli

The exhibition reveals the unique atmosphere and history of the Kopli district, combining artistic displays and historical photographs to depict the life and distinctiveness of Kopli. The exhibition includes works by both well-known and lesser-known artists, providing a profound and poetic look into everyday life in Kopli. In May 2024, Kalamaja Museum received the Silletto Award of the European Museum of the Year Award, which recognises community participation and engagement.

The exhibition is open from 26 April 2024 to 30 April 2026.

Museum of Estonian Architecture – When I’m not thinking about buildings…

The exhibition reveals the creative side of architects by showcasing works that extend beyond conventional design — paintings, cityscapes, portraits, abstractions, photography, and poetry engage in dialogue between architecture and art. Among the exhibited are Johann Wilhelm Krause, Herbert Johanson, Aleksander Wladowsky, Valve Pormeister, Vilen Künnapu, and others, presenting the architect as a multifaceted creator.

The exhibition will be open from 24 October 2025 to 1 February 2026.

Museum of Estonian Architecture – Pascal Bronner. Into the Droame

The exhibition presents Bronner’s architectural drawings that depict parallel worlds where dreaming, wandering, and the feeling of home intersect. Bronner defines the English word droame (“dream + roam + home”) as a creative space where everyday consciousness recedes. Through visual narrative, the works explore the connections between human interiority and architecture. His drawing practice reflects both imaginative creation and scientific attention to architectural detail.

The exhibition will be open from 24 October to 28 November 2025.

The Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design  and the Town Jail Photography Museum in the Old Town are open until 20:00 on Thursdays.

Fotografiska is open until 20:00 from Monday-Saturday and until 18:00 on Sundays.

The Kadriorg Art Museum and the Mikkel Museum in Kadriorg are places that can be enjoyed into the evening on Wednesdays as both museums are open until 20:00, while the Kumu Art Museum is open until 20:00 on Thursdays.

The Kalamaja museum is open until 20:00 on both Wednesdays and Thursdays.

If you plan on visiting several museums whilst enjoying a comfortable visit in the city and want to save time and money, get the Tallinn Card. You can buy the card for a validity period of 24, 48, or 72 hours and it allows you to visit nearly 50 of Tallinn's top museums and attractions. The card also includes free travel on public transport in Tallinn and discounts on tours, entertainment venues, restaurants and shops.

We recommend purchasing the Tallinn Card via the mobile app – this way you will receive personalised visit recommendations and easily find your way to all the interesting attractions using the convenient map function of the app.

Extra tip: with the Tallinn Card you can skip the line at the Tallinn TV Tower, Tallinn Zoo and Estonian Open Air Museum.

NOBA is an international web platform where exhibitions of contemporary art in Tallinn and other nearby cities are gathered together. The website includes an interactive map that allows you to find exhibitions that are open for a limited time in both larger and smaller galleries. The calendar's content is created in collaboration with exhibition establishments, who input the information themselves. The NOBA team ensures that all major exhibitions are available online.

View NOBA's exhibition map here: https://noba.ac/et/naitustekaart/