Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn: Tickets, Opening Days, What's on Each Floor and How to Get There

💡 The Short Version: Kumu is the main building of the Art Museum of Estonia, built into the limestone cliff between Kadriorg Park and the Lasnamäe district. An adult ticket is €16 (free with the Tallinn Card). The museum is closed on Mondays and open until 20:00 on Thursdays. The permanent exhibitions on the third and fourth floors cover Estonian art from 1700 to the 1990s. It was named European Museum of the Year in 2008. Or book a tour: a 2-hour bike tour of the sights outside the Old Townad rides through Kadriorg, a short walk from Kumu; the museum’s own guided tour of the permanent exhibition is the way to see the galleries with a guide.

⚠️ Kumu is closed on Mondays. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, and until 20:00 on Thursdays. Ticket sales end 30 minutes before closing, and the permanent galleries on several floors take two to three hours.

The building: cut into the limestone cliff

The idea of a purpose-built home for the Art Museum of Estonia dates from the 1930s, but the war ended the first plan. In 1993 an international competition drew 233 projects from architects in ten countries, and the winner was the Finnish architect Pekka Vapaavuori with a design called Circulos. Construction began in 2002, and the museum opened on 18 February 2006.

Vapaavuori’s building is a circular form with a tall atrium, buried in the limestone cliff so that it sits quietly beside Kadriorg Park. The materials are local: dolomite, wood and copper.

In 2008, Kumu was named European Museum of the Year, out of 140 other candidates.

Kumu and Kadriorg Park from the air. Photo: Mait Metsur, aerofotod.ee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tickets and opening hours

Tickets are sold at the front desk in the atrium and in the Art Museum of Estonia’s web shop. An online adult ticket is valid for one visit within a year of purchase.

• Discount tickets: students, seniors aged 65 and over, conscripts, and holders of ISIC, ITIC or European Youth Cards. Bring proof.
• Children: free up to age 8.
• Family ticket: up to two adults and their underage children.
• Combined tickets: valid for one visit to each museum within a year, and the visits can be on different days.

Tours worth paying for

The museum runs its own guided tour of the permanent exhibition, Landscapes of Identity, which you can order from the museum. The two tours below pass through Kadriorg, a short walk from Kumu, and neither lists entry to Kumu.

2-hour bike tour of Tallinn’s top sights and seaside promenade

From €31 · 4.9 stars from 539 reviews · 2 hours · small group

The Tallinn: 2-Hour Bike Tour of Top Sights & Seaside Promenadead starts from the City Bike office on Vene street in the Old Town and covers Kadriorg park and palace, the seaside promenade and the Olympic Centre, mainly on cycle paths.

Old Town and Kadriorg district guided tour

From €127 · 4 hours · small group, up to 7

The Tallinn Classic: Old Town and Kadriorg District Guided Tourad walks the Old Town, then goes by bus to Kadriorg, with its wooden villas, art museums and baroque palace, and on to the Pirita beach area. Lunch and transport are included.

Copper wall and glass, Kumu. Photo: FrDr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What to see inside

The permanent exhibition leads you from older to more recent art. The Great Hall on the ground floor, reached from the atrium near the ticket counter, stages the largest temporary exhibitions and foreign shows.

Third floor: Landscapes of Identity

The exhibition Landscapes of Identity: Estonian Art 1700-1945 starts on the third floor with the Baltic German portraits of manor houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. Its themes include the links between Baltic German and Estonian visual culture, the images of the young Estonian nation state, visions of modern life, women artists, and art in the authoritarian 1930s and the Second World War.

Interior corridor, Kumu. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Fourth floor: Conflicts and Adaptations

Conflicts and Adaptations: Estonian Art of the Soviet Era (1940-1991) shows art made under Stalinist socialist realism and after the thaw of the late 1950s. Some halls recall Soviet-era exhibitions, and others show works that were never displayed publicly at the time. An archive passage of photos, films and texts runs through the exhibition. A separate display, The Future Is in One Hour, covers Estonian art of the 1990s.

Fifth floor: contemporary art

The fifth floor holds the contemporary art gallery.

Practical tips for your visit

• Cloakroom and lockers: the cloakroom is behind the front desk in the atrium, with lockers on either side.
• Doors: Kumu’s doors do not open automatically. Pull the meander-shaped handles outwards.
• Café: Reval Café Kumu is on the first floor, near the Kadriorg Park entrance, and serves a daily special and soup on weekdays.
• Museum shop: Estonian design jewellery, textiles, glass and ceramics, plus postcards, books and reproductions of works in the collection.

How to get to Kumu

• By tram: tram 1 (from Balti jaam) or tram 3 (from Vabaduse väljak) runs to the Kadriorg terminus. From there walk about 10 minutes to the end of Weizenbergi street. From the city centre it is about 35 minutes on foot through the park, or 15 minutes by bicycle.
• By bus: lines 31, 42 and 67 stop at Kumu. Take the stairs near the stop and turn right at the top. Line 39 also stops next to the museum.
• Parking: free parking next to the museum on Valge and Mäekalda streets.

What to see next

• Kadriorg Palace and Park: Peter the Great’s palace and the Mikkel Museum, close by.
• Tallinn Card: is it worth it?: free entry to Kumu and Kadriorg, and public transport.
• Where to eat in Tallinn: dinner venues around Kadriorg and the city centre.