"500 Years of Books in Estonian": Estonian Book Year Exhibition

From March 3 to April 1, 2025, the traveling exhibition "500 Years of Books in Estonian" for the Estonian Book Year will be on display in the periodicals hall gallery of the Pärnu Central Library.

The Book Year exhibition provides an overview of the history of books in Estonian, explains the significance of the Book Year, and highlights ways in which the anniversaries of Estonian books and book culture have been celebrated in the past. In 2025, it will be 500 years since the first known mention of a book in Estonian, so we are celebrating the Estonian Book Year from Estonian Literature Day to Mother Tongue Day, from January 30, 2025, to March 14, 2026. The Book Year program is created in cooperation with many institutions and organizations, coordinated by the Estonian Book Year main committee formed in February 2024; the central coordinator is the Estonian Literary Society.
The patron of the Estonian Book Year is the President of the Republic of Estonia, Alar Karis, and the Book Year's motto is derived from a poem by Hando Runnel, "A Nation Begins with a Book."

The exhibition is curated by the Estonian Literary Museum, and materials from the National Library of Estonia were also used. 

The exhibition can be visited during the library's opening hours (Mon-Fri 10-19, Sat 10-15, closed on the last Friday of the month).