ICOM International Council of Museums - International Institute for ...

had been discussed in the academic circles, press and government. Students werevery keen on collecting antiquities. The process reached its apogee in 1893 whendifferent institutions were conjoined to establish The Finnish National Museum. At thebeginning of the 20 th century a marvellous museum building was erected (Kopisto1981).What could be the reason that The Estonian Museum, unlike the other events thatunited the people of Estonia and were important in the field of culture, did not getgoing? Obviously there is not the only true answer. The strivings of the intellectuals ofthat time were aimed at more definite cultural aspects. Folk culture in its rustic wayswas still full of vitality. In several places people wore national costumes, maybe notevery day anymore, but elderly people were definitely clad in national costume whengoing to church. A considerable part of Estonian people lived like in a museum.Actually it was a reminder of old times that people tried to get rid of sending their sonsto town schools to provide a better and more cultural future for them. People did nothave a feeling that everyday things they used could be of any value. Surely the reasonbehind the failure was lack of money, but in my opinion the major reason was theattitude of the public, including the intellectuals. The time was not ripe yet.Folklore became the narrative of the national memory. In this field a very powerfulpersonality, Pastor Jakob Hurt, emerged. He encouraged hundreds of people to collectfolklore. Our oral folklore was of outstanding importance and the collection of it wasunprecedented thanks to Jakob Hurt's tireless efforts and work. Publishing our nationalepic in 1857-61 had also played a crucial part in understanding folklore and inspiringpeople to collect it. The time for antiquities came later. And it was so not only inEstonia, but the similar process had taken place in other European countries.The time came after the official founding of The Estonian National Museum in 1909. Asto the motive, parallels may be drawn with the establishing of the well-known BritishMuseum about 150 years earlier. Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor and a collector, did notwant his big collection to be dispersed and he left it to King George II for his countryand people. In the same way Jakob Hurt left his enormous folklore collections toEstonian people, who it had been collected from. The caretakers of both museumsstarted taking active steps to find possibilities to house the collection. The money formaintenance of the museum was mostly got from donations and charity lotteries.People's attitude to folklore had changed compared to the time of national awakening.Traditional peasant culture started to disappear quickly, new modern phenomenaappeared in different areas of life. Nobody wore a national costume anymore andpeople did not eat porridge out of wooden bowls. The distance and time helped toplace a high value on old things. The understanding of the value of antiquities was nota privilege of a limited number of people, but it was clear to every, at least a little,educated person. The mission of the museum was to promote the idea and makepeople fully conscious of the fact. The role of the inspiring leaders was extremelyimportant.During the first five years of the museum nearly 15,000 items were collected. That kindof result is probably unknown to any museum in any country. The museum was basedon voluntary work for the motherland, as there was no paid labour. Nevertheless,dozens of students and young artists went on collecting trips in summer and peoplewere glad to give their things to the museum. What inspired these people? Themuseum also meant a new victory over the German and Russian authority and the riseof our nation. People were more than willing to give objects either directly to themuseum or for the lotteries, the profits of which were given to the museum, as if saying,"Our day will come!" It seems that the determination to diminish the influence of theGermans in Estonia brought the museum more help from the people than the innerneed for that kind of cultural institution.Practically all the historical memory of the Estonian nation, as much as had beencollected by that time, was gathered into the Estonian National Museum. The collectionconsisted of folklore and antiquities, the museum had an archive library and art386