Guided tours

The museum is in a building with a long history. Formerly a cathedral, it was transformed into a library at the beginning of the 19th century. The museum moved here in 1982.

The house tour tells the history of the cathedral and the formation of the University of Tartu up to the present day.

The tour begins in the lobby at the medieval tomb and continues in the exhibition halls. The cathedral’s heritage is in focus in the White Hall and the cathedral’s Chamber of Mysteries. The story of the university is told in the permanent exhibition “The University of Our Lives” and in the University Treasury.

Duration: one hour. The price is 40 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian, English, Russian and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674,  muuseum@ut.ee

Guided tours are available in the University Treasury, the cathedral’s Chamber of Mysteries, and in the exhibition “The University of Our Lives”.

The price is 40 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian, English and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, muuseum@ut.ee

The park surrounding the museum has served various purposes. An Estonian fortress stood here in prehistoric times. The cathedral was built in the Middle Ages when Tartu became the centre of the bishopric. In the 17th century the Swedes opened a grammar school at the foot of Toomemägi (Toome Hill), and two years later it was reorganised into a Protestant university – Academia Gustaviana. The park’s current appearance dates from the beginning of the 19th century, when the university took possession of Toome and began necessary building work.

During the tour, you’ll explore Toomemägi’s different strata, its symbolic buildings and its monuments. Duration: one hour.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, muuseum@ut.ee

The history of Tartu is multinational. Nations other than Estonia have lived in, and ruled, this city. These nations have not always gotten along, however, which is why the monuments in Toomemägi generate a certain tension. During the last 200 years, Estonians, Germans, Russians and the Soviet government have all tried to establish their power in Tartu with the help of these monuments.

On the tour, you will hear the stories that different nations and regimes have told through these monuments. The Stalinist idea of friendship between nations, the Baltic German aristocratic mentality, the Estonian dream of independence – all of these meet in one park.

Duration: 1.5 hours. Languages: Estonian and English.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674,  muuseum@ut.ee

The buildings on Toomemägi are familiar to the citizens of Tartu – many first saw the light of day in the former maternity hospital or as students worked diligently in the library. But there is a lot hidden here that is not visible to the naked eye. Do you know where the university’s maintenance yard used to be or what the purpose of the magnet house was? The special tour of the University of Tartu Museum tells the story of those buildings on Toomemägi that have disappeared without a trace or that now have a new function.

Duration: 1.5 hours. Languages: Estonian and English. Languages: Estonian and English.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, muuseum@ut.ee

The guided tour provides an insight into student life and places related to it in Tartu during the 19th and 20th centuries. The tour also points out the recreational opportunities the university offered its students. In addition to several other places connected to the university, you will get to look into its main building and at student school life. The old university building on the corner of Rüütli street cannot go unmentioned as this is where the university’s security guards, who stirred both fear and affection in the students, were stationed in the 19th century.

Duration: 1.5 hours. Languages: Estonian and English.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674,  muuseum@ut.ee

The tour takes you to the university’s main building, where you’ll visit the beautiful classical-style assembly hall, the 19th-century lock-up and the art museum.

The assembly hall was built for all the university’s most important events. It has one of the most beautiful classical-style interiors in Estonia. In the attic is the lock-up, where, as the guide will tell you, adventurous students who broke the laws of the university were detained. In the University of Tartu Art Museum, you’ll be presented with its history as Estonia’s oldest art museum.

Duration: one hour. Shorter tours of the main building are possible on request. Languages: Estonian, English, Russian and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5385, kunstimuuseum@ut.ee

The guided tour gives an overview of the history of the Old Observatory, the most important achievements of its astronomers, and the different telescopes and other astronomical equipment used in their experiments. The balcony of the observatory looks over the beautiful city centre of Tartu.

Duration: one hour. The price is 40 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian, English and Russian.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 6932,  tahetorn@ut.ee