Visit Muhu — Muhu Museum

Muhu Museum

Welcome! Muhu Museum!

Welcome to Muhu Museum!

Formerly a prosperous coastal village farm, Juhan Smuul's birthplace Tooma, along with all outbuildings and farm equipment; also featuring an old village school and a textile exhibition.

Open: Sept 16th-May 14th Tue-Sat 10-17

May 15th-Sept 15th daily 10-17

Visit Website

Muhu Museum is located in the village of Koguva on the island of Muhu. The museum was founded in 1973 in the birthplace of writer Juhan Smuul, Tooma, as his memorial museum. In 1990, the museum's status was changed, and it was renamed Muhu Museum, dedicated to preserving the material and spiritual heritage of Muhu Island. The museum is unique in that the buildings are in their original location, and the museum farm is surrounded by a lively village.

Among the buildings of Muhu Museum is a small village schoolhouse where, from 1876 to 1923, several generations of Koguva residents received their primary education. In the restored school building, there is an exhibition introducing the educational and cultural conditions of Muhu school.

In the Koguva Art Hall, there is a temporary exhibition hall and a museum shop selling Muhu handicrafts, art, and souvenirs.

Services:

Coffee and snacks
Sale of art

The focal point of the museum is Juhan Smuul's birthplace, Tooma Farm, whose buildings provide a comprehensive overview of Muhu farmhouse architecture. Tooma is one of the three oldest free peasant farms, also known as postman's farms in Koguva, established no later than the mid-17th century. The farm buildings surround a spacious courtyard characteristic of Muhu. In the courtyard buildings and the part of the residential house used for storing tools, agricultural and fishing implements are displayed. The exhibition also includes the granaries, the courtyard kitchen, and the summer barn with a smoke sauna. In the living room, reconstructed in the 1950s, there is a historical and literary exhibition. In one of the bedrooms, there is a permanent exhibition introducing Muhu Island. The back chamber and the chamber behind the stove, which belonged to the master and mistress, are furnished with 1920s-style farmhouse furniture, and the end chamber serves as Juhan Smuul's summer workshop.

In the central building of the Välja Farm, which houses Muhu Museum, there is a permanent exhibition of ethnographic Muhu textiles – folk costumes and blankets (1850–1940).

As a separate visit location at Muhu Museum, there is the Eemu Windmill and the First World War-era defensive trenches located in the village of Linnuse, along the Kuivastu-Kuressaare highway. Information about these objects can be obtained from the information boards on-site.