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Compassion Rising Tour 2025: Tallinn: old town and contemporary museums

Vene Street (Tallinn)
photos from Tallinn

September 13: Exploring Tallinn

Today I walked through the old town to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tallinn (EKKM), where there was a solo exhibition by Estonian artist/sculptor Jass Kasselaan. That consisted of three parts: shepherds, (mass) graves, panel housing and people with wings.
 
After that, I lived in the
St.-Maria Toomkirik attended a concert by theNacka Chamber Choir from Sweden, featuring music by B.Britten (XX), Scarlatti (XVII-XVIII), Sara Wennerberg-Reuter (XIX-XX), Gunnar de Frumerie (XX), Urmas Sisask, Ola Gjeilo, August Söderman (XIX), Maurice Duruflé (XX).
In front of this church is the bishop's garden, from where you have a nice panoramic view of the western part of the city. On the garden wall, a seagull was posing and begging for food from tourists.
 
In the nearby giant Alexander Nevsky Cathedral an Orthodox service was in progress, which I watched for a while. There was a much more devout atmosphere than at a Catholic mass. Believers were repeatedly bowing every time the pastor, who was reciting a lengthy text rhythmically, uttered a particular sentence. All the women wore scarves over their hair. Funny what religion does to people or makes them do.
 
Then walked back to the lower town via the towers of the Kiek in the Kök bastion and garden of the Danish king, where a Danish flag once descended from the sky and gave the Danes a victory.

Katariina käik

14 September: Arvo Pärt Centre

On 11 September, I had cycled all day to the music of the renowned Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. This was in connection with the celebration of his 90th birthday on Radio Klara. There I heard that about 30 kilometres outside Tallinn, in the middle of the woods, his  archive and information centre is located. I couldn't miss that!

When I arrived, the tavern was still full of bouquets of flowers. Two days earlier, he had celebrated his birthday here.

I stayed in the centre until closing time and wrote a separate article about it.

Arvo Pärt centre

15 September: Roterman district and POCO museum

Beelden van verzilverde dierenhoofden in Tallinns hipster district Roterman

Roterman hipster district

 

The day before yesterday, I visited the old town of Tallinn. Today, something completely different was on the agenda: the Roterman hipster district, a young, modern neighbourhood with many stylish bars and restaurants. But that wasn't what I was after.

What particularly attracted me to that neighbourhood was the Pop and Contemporary Art Museum or ‘POCO’. What did I find there? As expected: works by the most famous pop art artists (Warhol, Lichtenstein), but also many interesting works by Estonian artists.

The photographs are all in the Tallinn album.

September 16: Kumu Art Museum

Kumu Art Museum

Estonia's largest museum in an architecturally spectacular building was not to be missed! It is located in the Kadriorg park, a little way out of town.
The third and fourth floors house permanent exhibitions: 1) Estonian art from 1800 to 1940 and 2) art during the Soviet occupation.
 
The top floor featured an exhibition by photographer Anna-Stina Treumund (1982-2017). She was the first Estonian artist to openly show herself as a lesbian woman in her work and to approach art from a queer perspective. This was not evident in the homophobic climate that still prevailed in the Baltic states in the early 2000s.
Very gripping was her self-portrait with eyes closed with her sweetheart's wedding party in the background, which she had had to give up because of the heteronormative system. Same-sex marriages were not allowed in Estonia back then.
 
Anna-Stina was also very activist: she organised several 'Lady Fests' and Gay Prides in Tallinn. She started the 'Virginia Woolf is not Afraid' group, which currently has 10,000 members.
 
Three big floors full of art and art history, eventful stories of during the difficult period under Soviet occupation and successful attempts to get out of it... My day here has flown by again, my head is brimming with impressions and emotions were not lacking either.
Only a limited number of photos because it was just too much.

'Rehearsal for my wedding' - Anna-Stina Treumond

photos from Tallinn
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