Exhibition "URBAN LANDSCAPE. Lost City Centers of Tallinn, Tartu, and Pärnu"

22.09.2024 – 5.01.2025 at Pärnu Museum 

“URBAN LANDSCAPE. Lost City Centers of Tallinn, Tartu, and Pärnu”

On September 22, it will be 80 years since the destruction of the center of Pärnu during the Second World War, when retreating German troops through the Pärnu harbor set buildings on fire and blew up bridges. The advancing air force of the Red Army contributed to the disastrous fires with air attacks. Overnight, most of Pärnu's medieval old town, market buildings and the railway station, the Endla theater building, several school buildings, and the old Nikolai church in the heart of the city were destroyed.

To commemorate the tragic anniversary, Pärnu Museum will exhibit this fall the exhibition “URBAN LANDSCAPE. Lost City Centers of Tallinn, Tartu, and Pärnu,” created in collaboration with the Estonian Museum of Architecture and collector Aare Olander in 2022. It brings the transformation of the central streets and squares of these three Estonian cities over the last century and a half to the audience, starting from the time when photographers captured the first cityscapes that have reached us.

To facilitate the tracking of changes in the urban space, historical views are juxtaposed with contemporary photographs taken from the same photographic points. These contemporary images are by the exhibition's curator, Aare Olander.

The exhibition expands and complements a panel display in the Pärnu urban space, presenting destroyed symbolic buildings and objects in their historical locations.

Exhibition Curator: Aare Olander
Panel Design: Robi Jõeleht (Polaar Studio)
Exhibition Coordinator: Triin Ojari (Estonian Museum of Architecture)
Exhibition Design in Pärnu: Indrek Aija (Pärnu Museum)