April 16: Tallinn – Vabaõhumuuseum 1

The place we took the bus to, out in the suburbs and touching the shore, was the Estonian Open Air Museum, or Vabaõhumuuseum — a collection of relocated vernacular buildings from all over Estonia. I was excited to visit it because of my rich experiences at Ballenberg in Switzerland four years earlier.

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The entrance building (tickets, gift shop).

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No touch thatch !!

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Although Estonia is linguistic kin with Finland and not with the other Baltic states, this farm building style is very different from those of Finland and is closer to other Baltic traditions.

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Roof vent.

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Satisfyingly deep roof overhang over the porch, with direct access to the storage area under the roof.

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Thatchtastic!

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A snugly embedded window.

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In the farmyard, a well contraption that reminded me of Martin Puryear.

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Inside a barn roof.

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A collage-like stone wall, plus some really substantial picnic tables.

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It took me a minute looking back at this to figure out that the shingles are stacked in alternating directions from row to row.

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1891.

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A more modern, but still old, farmhouse, which we were able to enter. We were there early in the season, so many of the buildings were not yet open for visitation.

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This is a pretty cool way to make a doormat.

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In the kitchen, the cooking interface of a tile oven.

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The Blue Room, with another part of the tile oven present.

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A probably quite cozy niche of the oven in another room.

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Above the oven, an opening into the next room.

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The pantry. Everything, including the eggs, is from 1911. (J/k.)

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This is also a cool, but slightly weird, way to make a doormat.

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Awww!