Road Museum opens its summer season with a time travel to the origin of the song festivals

Opening of the summer season on May 4 in the Estonian Road Museum is dedicated to the first Song Festival in 1869. Different carriages and vehicles which have carried participators of the song festivals will align in the inner yard.

Time travel will take place in conjunction with the Tartu Song Festival Museum. The participators, accordig to the legend, are the choirs from Kanepi countryside, who are discussing the idea of song festival and straight after getting the notes start their rehearsal. Museum visitors can participate in work shops, rehearsal and Lydia Koidula´s visit. Hugo Treffner himself comes to inspire the people.

„Even though the new machinery hall is the star of the season, before its opening we have sympathy with the jubilee of song festival,“ said head of the muuseum Kadri Valner. „Opening of the summer season and two seasonal exhibitions turn their attention to the journeys of the singers and its development.“

„Journey to Tartu 1869“ exhibition in the vault presents the importance of the first song festival to Estonian culture and formation of patriotism. This is the story of 800 men and the occasion which activated them to take on a long and hard journey on foot or by  horse to Tartu.

As it is known there are no remained photographs of the first song festival although pictures were taken. So road museum decided to reproduce with Toomas Kalve´s help those forgotten moments. His old camera has seen 1870s and until nowadays perpetuates important moments.

These photographs will be presented during the Museum Night on 18 May.

Programme on May 4 lasts from 11 to 15.

More information:

Kadri Valner
528 8104 or kadri.valner@mnt.ee