The Estonian Museum of Natural History (Loodusmuuseum), Tallinn

The location has been designed to make the viewer aware of the abundance of plant and animal life in the Tallinn area. So, they have literally stuffed three stories of the building with taxidermy of every kind of animal from the area, as well as dried specimens of the most popular plant life. The largest single fish ever caught in the Baltic is also on display here, and is the mascot of the museum.

The museum was founded in 1841 by a group of naturalists who belonged to the Estonian Literary Soceity. In 1864, it was renamed the Provincial Museum. The People’s Commissars of the Estonia SSR officially started the museum and gave the first money. Eerik-Madis Kumari was the first staff member and acting director. The institution managed to amass close to 100,000 geological, botanical, and zoological specimens through the years. Sadly, the museum was damaged by bombing in 1942. It was restarted after the war, but was limited in its ability to display the true history of Estonia by Communist law. After Estonia gained independence in 1991, the museum was again upgraded.