Established 1963 (1963) Director Daimar Lell Phone +372 730 0750 | Collection size 135,000 (2012) Website www.spordimuuseum.ee Founded 1963 | |
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Location Rüütli 15, Tartu, Estonia Address Rüütli 15, 51005 Tartu, Estonia Hours Open today · 11AM–6PMWednesday11AM–6PMThursday11AM–6PMFriday11AM–6PMSaturday11AM–6PMSunday11AM–6PMMondayClosedTuesdayClosed Similar University of Tartu Art Museum, Tartu City Museum, Tartu Toy Museum, Postimuuseum, St John's Church - Tartu Profiles | ||
Estonia sports museum
The Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum, founded in 1963 and modernised in 2001, is the largest sports museum in the Baltic states. The museum is located on Rüütli street in Tartu, Estonia and the museum has a small outpost in Otepää that concentrates on the Winter sports. Before 2016, Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum was named Estonian Sports Museum.
Contents
Description
The museum consists of exhibition rooms on three floors, historic cellar and specialized library. The permanent exposition "Hortus Athleticus" (in Estonian, Russian and English) gives a thorough overview of the development of Estonian sport. The museum contains collections of historic awards, cups and sports equipment.
The permanent exposition is divided up into eight different parts and includes a virtual Olympic tour. Estonia's first competed in the 1912 Olympic Games when the first Estonian Olympic medal, a silver, was won by the middleweight wrestler Martin Klein. 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. 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. On the opposite side of the street is a notable secondary school (Hugo Treffner Gymnasium).
The museum hosts exhibitions from other cultures 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.
Winter sports
The museum has a smaller outpost 40 km away at Otepää which is regarded as the winter sports centre of Estonia.