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 60 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian, English and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674,  [email protected]

Guided tours are available in the exhibition “The University of Our Lives” and "Invisible city. 800 years of the city of Tartu".
The price is 60 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian, English and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, [email protected]

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. The price is 80 €. Duration: one hour.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, [email protected]

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. The price is 80 €. Languages: Estonian and English. Languages: Estonian and English.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674, [email protected]

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. The price is 80 €. Languages: Estonian.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5674,  [email protected]

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. The price is 60 €, the ticket price is added. Shorter tours of the main building are possible on request. Languages: Estonian, English and German.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 5385, [email protected]

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 60 €, the ticket price is added. Languages: Estonian and English.

Additional information and booking: (+372) 737 6932,  [email protected]