The museums of the University of Tartu will be proceeding as two separate institutions from this year

From January 1, 2014, the museums of the University of Tartu will be carrying on their operations as two separate institutions: firstly, the Natural History Museum and the Botanical Gardens and secondly, the University of Tartu Museum, which will include the current Art Museum, the University History Museum, the Observatory and the Old Anatomical Theatre. The University of Tartu Museum also announces new opening hours and ticket fees.

According to Marco Kirm, Vice-Rector for Research, the specialties of the museums of the university are clearly different and the change will help to make the organization of work more effective. “Being domain-based is one of the keywords related to the development of the university. The new work organization of the museums will open further development possibilities through tighter domain-based cooperation and synergy with academic units,” Kirm stressed, and added that the identity and historical continuity of all structural units of the museums will be preserved in the course of the reform.

According to Urmas Kõljalg, Director of the Natural History Museum, cooperation will tighten in the areas of exhibitions and environmental education. Furthermore, an institution of similar structure makes it easier to develop network-based and project-based cooperation with other European natural history museums and botanical gardens. “The natural history museums and botanical gardens of the universities of Helsinki, Copenhagen and Oslo also form joint institutions, with supporting research and development work as one of their main tasks,” Kõljalg explains. Adding the new institutions to the domain realia et naturalia will also make cooperation with the university’s research units even more efficient.

The Natural History Museum is renewing its exhibitions and will be opened in autumn. The gardens of the Botanical Gardens are open every day from 7 AM to 7 PM, the greenhouses are open from 10 AM to 5 PM.

The current Art Museum, the University History Museum, the Observatory and the Old Anatomical Theatre are operating under the name of the University of Tartu Museum, with the main building of the historical cathedral on Toome Hill. According to Mariann Raisma, Director of the University of Tartu Museum, all parts of the museum are guaranteed to benefit. “Cooperation between different parts will be even tighter now. For example, the museum has one head treasurer as well as one developmental manager who coordinates all the activities of the museum that are related to exhibitions and education. The new name of the museum reflects the wide spectrum of the museum’s activities reaching from mediating art to medicine and physical science more accurately,” says Raisma.

During May-September, the University of Tartu Museum is open six days a week from 10 AM to 6 PM and during October-May, the opening hours are 11 AM-17 PM five days a week. The new ticket fees are listed here.

Additional information: Marco Kirm, Vice-Rector for Research, phone +372 737 5611, mobile +372 5342 7170, e-mail marco.kirm@ut.ee.
Mariann Raisma, Director of the University of Tartu Museum, phone +372 737 5675, mobile + 372 522 1702; e-mail mariann.raisma@ut.ee.
Urmas Kõljalg, Director of the Natural History Museum, phone +372 737 6235, mobile + 372 5341 2823, e-mail urmas.koljalg@ut.ee.