The 308th anniversary of the Kadriorg Palace and Park complex will be celebrated with the Palace Garden Games, the pop-up exhibition Talkative Tableware and special guided tours by gardeners
On 22 July, celebrations dedicated to the 308th anniversary of the Kadriorg Palace and park complex will take place in Kadriorg Park and the museums. This year’s special theme, in addition to the history of Kadriorg itself, is a cultural sphere that significantly influences our everyday lives: food culture.
The celebrations will begin at midday on 22 July with the Palace Garden Games, an outdoor event featuring crafts, puzzles, playful learning, creative tasks, tests of skill and fun for the whole family. Taking place from 12 noon to 4 pm, this year’s Palace Garden Games are entitled “The Tables Are Set!” and are organised by the Kadriorg Art Museum, the Mikkel Museum, the Peter I House, the Miiamilla Children’s Museum and the Kadriorg Park Museum. All Palace Garden Games activities in the park areas near the museums are free of charge.
The day’s theme is supported by exhibitions in the museums: Delft Blue: Ceramic Treasures from a Private Collection at the Mikkel Museum and the pop-up exhibition Talkative Tableware at the Kadriorg Art Museum. The collector Heikki Pauts will lead a special tour at the Mikkel Museum, discussing the blue-and-white ceramics that have become a national symbol of the Netherlands, as well as their production, history and distinctive features. For just one week, tables will be laid in the halls of Kadriorg Palace, where visitors can admire the Liphart family’s tableware from Raadi Manor, porcelain tableware that once belonged to King Louis Philippe of France, the everyday plates of the Russian emperors, Johan Laidoner’s goblet and the tea service used by August Rei at the Estonian Embassy in Moscow. Themed tours link the stories behind the tableware to literature and the visual arts.
Kadriorg Park and the museums located there hold an important place in Estonian culture and in the everyday lives of Tallinn’s residents. Margit Viilip, the new manager of Kadriorg Park, highlights the park’s role as a diverse natural environment open to all: “Kadriorg Park is unique both for its history and its role as a pioneer of park culture, as well as for its diversity. It is a daily leisure spot for city dwellers and the nation’s representative park, a model of garden art and a natural environment teeming with wildlife. To mark the park’s anniversary, we wish to highlight its various facets and the creators of its beauty: our gardeners. They will step before the public on this festive day to showcase the areas under their care at the Rose Hill, the Flower Garden, the Japanese Garden and around the Swan Pond.”
The date chosen to mark Kadriorg’s birth is 22 July 1718, when Peter I and the architect Nicola Michetti designated the site for the future palace. The Kadriorg Art Museum and Kadriorg Park are celebrating Kadriorg’s anniversary for the 26th time. Aleksandra Murre, the director of the Kadriorg Art Museum, comments on this long-standing tradition: “In Kadriorg, we consider it important to remember and value our past, while at the same time striving to be open and meaningful to everyone who visits: art and nature lovers, families with young children, students and foreign tourists. Themed summer celebrations are a great opportunity to showcase different aspects of Kadriorg to the public, introduce new initiatives and receive direct feedback on the activities of the museums and the park, as well as to hear the public’s expectations, which help us to plan our activities more efficiently.”
The celebrations will conclude with a gala concert in the Flower Garden. The much-loved singer Rita Ray will provide a wonderful musical experience, accompanied by a string orchestra.
A more detailed programme for the celebrations can be found on the Kadriorg Art Museum website.