History

The Estonian Maritime Museum was founded in 1935 by former captains and sailors. After it was first opened, the museum changed locations many times before finding its current home in 1981 inside a mediaeval artillery tower called Fat Margaret. In 2012 the Maritime Museum opened the second building at the Seaplane Harbour.

The second building also features unique military architecture and while its history as a base for seaplanes during the first world war has ended, it has now become a recognizable museum in the region, famous for its columnless domes.

Goals and Challenges

One of our clear goals with the museum was having rotating model ships that would allow visitors to see the exhibits from all perspectives. This also ended up causing one of the biggest challenges, as the supply issues that started during the pandemic, had caused a shortage of suitable electric motors in Europe. In the end we were successful in getting the rotating exhibits ready on time.

Highlights

It’s difficult to bring out a highlight, because there are too many from which to pick, but the ship model gallery is definitely an attention seeker. The gallery features 26 rotating model ships throughout history. The rotating exhibits let the visitors see the models from every angle and closely study the intricate design of these ships.