Museum of Puppetry Arts was created out of a need and wish to find a place where to store and display puppets that had reached the end of their stage life. On 7th March 2010, the museum was opened in the building adjoining the theatre.
Hundreds of theatre puppets found a home in display windows, visitors could see puppet makers at work and special emphasis was placed on virtual solutions and touchscreen information boards. Since its opening, the museum has been constantly changing – parts of the permanent exhibition have changed, new rooms and activities have been added.
There have been various temporary thematic exhibitions that displayed Estonian theatre masks, puppeteers’ jubilee exhibitions, television puppets, shadow theatre in all its versatility, puppet exhibitions from abroad and much more. From the very start, the museum has been closely connected with the adjoining theatre –performances, meetings with actors and theatrerelated workshops take place in the museum.
Since 2014 the museum has been developing the educational functions of the museum. The goal has been to turn the museum into a place of more comprehensive puppet theatre experience for visitors of all ages, offering various educational programmes and creativity-inspiring activities.
The goal of the museum is to introduce everything that is created and done in the theatre, and to provide inspiration for alternative teaching methods by introducing the method of puppet-thinking as a means of self-development.