Estonian Sports Museum

The Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum, founded in 1963 and modernized in 2001, is the largest sports museum in the Baltic states. The museum is located on Rüütli street in Tartu, Estonia. Before 2016, Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum was named Estonian Sports Museum.

Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum
Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum
Established1963 (1963)
LocationRüütli 15, Tartu, Estonia
Collection size135,000 (2012)
DirectorDaimar Lell
Websitewww.spordimuuseum.ee
Olympic Museums Network

Description
Inside the museum

NB. Due to construction of the new Experience Center, the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum is temporarily closed since 31st of May 2020. The new Experience Center, together with the new permanent exhibition will be reopened later in the same year. The museum consists of exhibition rooms on three floors, historic cellar and specialized library. The museum contains collections of historic awards, cups and sports equipment.

The permanent exposition is divided up into eight different parts[1] and includes a virtual Olympic tour. Estonia's first competed in the 1912 Olympic Games when the first Estonian Olympic medal, a silver,[2] was won by the middleweight wrestler Martin Klein.[3] The museum includes Olympic medals and exhibits on notable Estonian athletes like Gerd Kanter, Erki Nool, Jaan Talts, Paul Keres and Georg Lurich including photographs of noted Estonian wrestlers. Visitors can test their strength on the tug-o-war and cycling simulators.[1] Visitors can also have photographs taken with famous old-time strongmen.

The museum is close to the river Emajõgi, the main building of Tartu University and the botanical gardens.[4] On the opposite side of the street is a notable secondary school (Hugo Treffner Gymnasium).

The museum hosts exhibitions from other cultures[5] and it has also created an exhibition of Estonian Olympic history in the National Library of Estonia to commemorate a century of Estonian Olympians and the opening of the 2012 Olympics in London in 2012.

References
  1. "Permanent exhibition (in English)". kul.ee. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  2. "Martin Klein". DatabaseOlympics. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  3. "Exhibition "For the First Time in London" introduces London 2012 Games and the Estonian Olympic history". British Embassy, Tallinn. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  4. "Eesti Spordimuusuem". spordimuuseum.ee. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  5. "Exhibition of Chinese Culture, 2003". China Embassy. Retrieved 16 June 2012.

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