The Kadriorg Art Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary with international exhibitions and new experiences for children

The Kadriorg Art Museum was founded on 22 July 2000. The grand jubilee year programme kicks off in early spring and continues until the end of the year, offering joy and memorable experiences for visitors of all ages.

As the only museum in Estonia dedicated to early European art, the Kadriorg Art Museum is committed to researching and presenting the European and Russian artistic heritage that has come to Estonia over the course of the country’s turbulent history. The museum seeks to connect individual artworks from different periods and schools to their broader cultural and historical contexts.

“Serving as a gateway for local audiences to engage with the art of the old masters, it fosters the knowledge and skills needed to appreciate and interpret their works. At the same time, the museum also attracts a significant number of international visitors, perhaps particularly drawn by its location in Kadriorg Palace, with its fascinating history and stunning architecture. At 25 years old, the Kadriorg Art Museum is thriving, inviting visitors to indulge in a richly and carefully curated artistic feast,” says Aleksandra Murre, the director of the Kadriorg Art Museum.

The jubilee year will launch at the end of March with a major international exhibition, Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio (29.03‒06.07.2025), a gift from the museum to all art lovers. An exploration of Strozzi’s Concert, which is part of the museum’s collection, led to a research-based survey exhibition of this great Italian master of the Early Baroque. Featuring works on loan from 30 collections across six countries, the exhibition offers Estonian audiences a rare opportunity to admire both the celebrated masterpieces of Strozzi and previously unseen works that have never been publicly exhibited. As the final week of the exhibition coincides with Estonia’s Song and Dance Festival, the museum will be open longer than usual on the final days of the exhibition.

Accessibility is a key priority at the Kadriorg Art Museum. This is evident through the newly installed lift and ramps, as well as such features as audio descriptions, audio guides and the visible storage gallery for the sculpture collection. In its anniversary year, the museum is placing special emphasis on families with children. A hands-on activity room will be opened on the main floor, offering children the chance to play games, engage in crafts, solve puzzles and explore art books. The room and activity spaces in the museum’s permanent exhibition are being designed by the scenographer Mae Kivilo. An audio guide, created by the writer Eia Uus, will take children on an exciting theatrical journey through the world of art and history.

The new experiences and activities for children and families will be unveiled on Children’s Day, 1 June, when everyone under 18 can visit the museum free of charge.

The museum invites everyone to join in celebrating its birthday on 22 July. On this special day, families with children can enjoy an exciting programme of games, organised in collaboration with all of the museums in Kadriorg Park. In the evening, the 25th anniversary of both the Kadriorg Art Museum and the Flower Garden in Kadriorg Park will be celebrated with a spectacular performance, Elements of Life (directed by Ingmar Jõela, featuring the soloists Maria Listra, Heldur Harry Põlda and others, with the orchestra ME107, conducted by Andrus Kallastu). The performance will be held on two evenings, 22 and 23 July.

This autumn, the museum will host a conference to look back on its 25-year journey. We warmly invite past and present colleagues, as well as collaborators, to participate and present at the event. This gathering is our way of expressing gratitude and deep respect for those who have contributed to the museum’s growth into an internationally recognised institution for the study and dissemination of art.

The jubilee year concludes with a spectacular exhibition, Garden of Delights, exploring the depiction of flowers and gardens in the Low Countries in the 16th and the 17th centuries. It also highlights the era’s remarkable advances in the natural sciences, the myths surrounding these discoveries, and the immense curiosity about all things beautiful, strange and rare.

This exhibition is curated by the Phoebus Foundation, with the exhibition designed by the renowned Belgian fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck.

The key trends shaping the museum’s development over the past 25 years

Thanks to the in-depth research work of the curators and active cooperation with several museums, research centres and specialised organisations abroad, the Kadriorg Art Museum has earned a reputation as a reliable partner for high-profile international exhibitions. Our first international exhibition, Albrecht Dürer: Prints from Kunsthalle Bremen (10.04.‒09.05.2004), attracted thousands of visitors. Since then, the museum has continued to host successful monographic exhibitions of the works of renowned masters, such as Aivazovsky: In Pursuit of the Ideal, which drew over 60,000 art enthusiasts. Equally important to its exhibitions is the museum’s significant contribution to the academic study of art. The 2005 exhibition The Magic of Masterpieces: Copying in Estonia in the 19th Century stemmed from a research project supported by the Estonian Research Council. In 2011, the international research project Tracing Bosch and Bruegel: Four Paintings Magnified further cemented the museum’s role in advancing art scholarship.