The Maarjamäe Palace (Maarjamäe loss), a neo-Gothic residence built for an aide of the Tsar, Count Anatoli Orlov-Davidov, in 1873, was long considered a beauty spot on account of its position overlooking Tallinn Bay.

Today the palace houses the Estonian History Museum (Eesti ajaloomuuseum)’s exhibition My Free Country, which covers the nation’s past from the late nineteenth century onwards. The display is hugely engrossing and heavily visual – from grainy photographs of the Estonian volunteers who battled Bolsheviks, White Russians and Germans in the aftermath of World War I, to pictures of the “Forest Brothers”, Estonian partisans who fought Soviet occupation into the 1950s. One display reveals the kind of underwear worn by Estonians during the Soviet era – the sexiest garments, explains the accompanying caption, were reserved for export, leaving local shops full of frumpy gear.

Ironically, Maarjamäe Palace was earmarked as the site of a “Museum of Soviet Friendship” during the 1980s, a project which never got off the ground owing to the untimely demise of the state it was intended to celebrate. However, Evald Okas’s 1987 frescoes, featuring cosmonauts, scientists, gymnasts and other symbols of communist achievement, can still be admired in the main hall.

There’s a display of Soviet-era statues outside the palace.

Practical Info

Pirita tee 65

Open: Wednesday – Sunday 10:00 - 18:00

Tickets: €10

Maarjamäe Palace