61st Mushroom Exhibition
September 07–17, 2023
The 61st Mushroom Exhibition at the Estonian Natural History Museum, which took place from September 7th to September 17th, 2023, featured approximately 170 mushroom species, with at least half of them being edible. The exhibition was visited by 8,577 people.
"This year, our forests are abundant with mushrooms, but several poisonous species closely resemble edible ones in appearance. Therefore, the mushroom exhibition is an excellent opportunity to refresh your knowledge before heading into the woods," said Heidi Jõks, the director of the Estonian Natural History Museum. "The interest in our exhibition is much greater than our current building can accommodate. However, whether the long-awaited construction of the new Estonian Natural History Museum will begin in the near future depends on the government's decisions in the coming weeks. If the decision is positive, there is hope that in a few years, we will welcome mushroom enthusiasts in a new and significantly larger museum."
Loore Ehrlich, a biologist at the Estonian Natural History Museum, added that each mushroom exhibition is unique. "Mushroom years are not the same – if last year was an extremely poor mushroom year, and we were happy with every single find, this year is quite different. There is an abundance of mushrooms in Estonian forests, and we hope to offer visitors both familiar species and exciting discoveries," she stated.
During the mushroom exhibition, consultants from the Estonian Natural History Museum were available to provide information about the characteristics of different mushrooms. "Our main message is, if you are not 100 percent sure that it is an edible mushroom, please leave it in the forest. No mouthful is worth the risk," emphasized Loore Ehrlich.
Throughout the exhibition, museum educators conducted various educational programs on mushrooms for both preschool and school-aged children.
Illar Muul - A Man from the treetops
21.03.2023-20.08.2023
Illar Muul is a scientist who dedicated his life to studying flying squirrels. Originally from Saaremaa Island, Estonia, Muul was force to flee his home country as a young boy in 1944 due to II World War. The twists and turns of life took him to the tropics where he created canopy walkways between trees to better study these curious animals who never descend from the treetops.
In addition to his scientific work, Muul took the sustainable management of forests as his mission. He also saw the possibilities of tourism as a way to keep forests from being cut down and give a source of livelyhood for the local people.
In 2020 after Illar Muul's death, his legacy found it's way to our museum. Now we have opened what we hope to be the first on many exhibitions based on these materials. This exhibition centers around Illar Muul as a person and a scientist. The exhibition displays over 20 drawings by Muul of different species of flying squirrels and almost as many historical photographs.
Mushrooms as Seen by Children
08.09 - 28.11.2022
When we started planning the 60th Mushroom Exhibition in the beginning of this year we set our hearts and minds out to fill the museum with amazing mushrooms. To guarantee this we decided to hold a drawing competition for children. And as the dry mushroomless autumn has proved, we made the right decision.
Alltogether 63 drawings were submitted to the competition from children’s art schools and elementary schools. All of the drawings were very spirited and depicted both mushrooms of specific species, as well as some from fairytale forests. One could see that the topic had inspired children. And this made the job of the jury a lot more complicated.
14 of the best drawings reached the exhibition that hung in our stairwell gallery for two and a half months. The works included some depicting the favourite species of mushroom enthusiasts as well as more fantastic scenes from the everyday life of forest creatures, that may or may not have been based on true events.
Mushroom exhibition 60
8. -18. 09.2022
The first mushroom exhibition took place in the Estonian Museum of Natural History already in 1946. With some gap years the exhibition has brought joy to visitors for already 60 times.
At the jubilee exhibition visitors had a chance to take a look
Juubelinäitusel said külastaja piiluda seenenäituse korraldamise telgitagustesse läbi aegade ning kuulata muuseumi audiogiidi vahendusel praeguste ja kunagiste tegijate meenutusi seenenäituse korraldamisest, seeneretkedel käimisest ja seente näitusele panemisest.
Koos näituse avamisega 8. septembril esitleti ka raamatut "60 seenenäitust Eesti Loodusmuuseumis", mille on arhiivimaterjalide ning kunagiste ja praeguste näitusetegijate meenutuste põhjal kokku pannud kuraatorid Marja-Liisa Kämärä ja Loore Ehrlich.
Näituse info leiab siit >>>
Here you will find information about temporary exhibitions that have taken place in our museum.
Terribly adorable bats
13.02.2020 - 10.08.2022
An extremely popular temporary exhibition about bats that stayed in our exhibition hall quite a bit longer in our than usual. So, perhaps the museum visitors should say thank you to this virus that so disrubted our lives, but also gave the chance to enjoy this particular exhibition longer.
In 2021 the exhibition was awarded the Museum Rat award for best temporary exhibiton at the annual Estonian museum awards.
Now visitors can admire the exhibition in our virtualmuseum >>>
A short introduction to the exhibition can also be found here >>>
