On Creating a Realm of Memory: The First Permanent Exhibition of Estonian Folk Culture in The Estonian National Museum

Authors

• Marleen Nõmmela, PhD Student University of Tartu
• Ann Kuslapp

Keywords:

realm of memory, permanent exhibition, national culture, Estonia

Abstract

In this article I deal with the first extensive and comprehensive permanent exhibition of Estonian folk culture, opened in the Estonian National Museum (ENM) in 1927. l argue that this exhibition is a realm of memory in the so-called Estonian tradition on the wider scale and, more narrowly, for the ethnographers who worked and still work in ENM. ln the article l analyse how and what kind of a space was created in the museum in 1927 for the purpose of remembering Estonian folk culture. This means that l place the emphasis on the starting process of creating a realm of memory.