What is the point of folk costumes? Are they just the silent witnesses of a nation’s past? Or a part of life of every nation’s language and culture? A century ago, the Estonian National Museum managed to bring together the endless wealth of colours, patterns, customs and fashions of peasant attire. But it is only now that we can exhibit this wealth in its entirety in the new museum building. On 22 June 2017 we opened the biggest exhibition of folk costumes ever opened in Estonia, giving new inspiration for both authenticity seekers and those who use ancient heritage to create something new. The 150 sets of folk costumes are from all the Estonian rural municipalities and reflect the geographical and seasonal diversity of the clothing. The exhibition is seasonally divided into four theme rooms where we show and talk about folk costumes in summer and winter, spring and fall. In addition to the exhibition, we offer information about folk costumes and how they are traditionally worn in the form of books, catalogues, instructional materials and workshops.

Curator: Reet Piiri
Design: Iir Hermeliin
Lace ornaments and catalogue: Angelika Schneider

The exhibition was open until August 31, 2018.