The Museum of Photography, Tallinn

The Museum of Photography is located just behind Town Hall in Tallinn, on Raekoja Street. The location, that houses the displays, used to be the Town Council’s jail house. Now, the place is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Estonian photography from the period of 1840 until 1940. It also happens to be a branch of the Tallinn City Museum. Among the eight total museums in town, it is also one of the most popular.

There are some wonderful old historic photographs to be viewed here, as well as some rare items like daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and ferrotypes. A visitor to the location can also get a pretty good education on the history and development of photographs and cameras, as well as the darkroom equipment used to develop photos. The tools used at the turn of the 20th Century are quite different than the modern digital imaging of today.

You can see the works of famous artists like Borchardt and Parikas here. Some of the photos are award winners. In addition, you’ll get to tour the historic camera collection, which is quite impressive. A toy camera is also on display here.