Cultural Heritage & Conservation

Cultural Heritage & Conservation

The aim of the Cultural Heritage and Conservation programme is to provide knowledge and the necessary practical skills for qualified professional work in the field of cultural heritage protection, preservation, conservation and restoration.

  • The Academy of Arts is the only school of higher education in Estonia where one can acquire an academic higher education in cultural heritage and architectural conservation and restoration, as well as the conservation and restoration of art. The department’s faculty members are recognised and highly respected specialists in their fields.
  • The curriculum is responsive to changes and developments in the philosophy, as well as theories and practices, of cultural heritage and restoration. It is based on the principles of sustainable development and balanced innovation through the consistent development of the cultural environment.
  • Preserving and protecting the cultural legacy, and its professional conservation and restoration necessitates the education of highly qualified specialists.
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News and events

Lecture: Riin Alatalu “Living Heritage and Traces of Heritage on Wooded Meadows”

The division of cultural heritage into intangible and tangible categories is always arbitrary; after all, our Song Festival Arena, one of the Estonian architectural highlights, is meaningless without our tradition of song celebrations. It is interesting to note that Estonia has more entries on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List than on the World Heritage List, where only ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation

Collected relationships: The Sámi–Finno-Ugric–Estonian nexus

The book accompanies the exhibitions no beginning, no end: Decolonial Gestures in Sámi Worldbuilding and Expedition: Finno-Ugrians and the Power of Images. Born out of dialogue, the two exhibitions share a concern with the connections between knowledge, images, and power. Simultaneously, they are motivated by a desire to highlight the potential that art and heritage offer for activism. The ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation Faculty of Art and Culture Institute of Art History and Visual Culture

KVI Open Lecture: Sven Spieker & Anders Härm “Curating Socialism”

The starting point for the discussion is the recently published book Curating Socialism: A Handbook of International Art Exhibitions 1947–1989 (University of Toronto Press, 2026), which examines international art exhibitions organised by socialist states and curatorial practices during the Cold War. In this context, exhibitions are understood not merely as instruments of diplomacy and ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation Faculty of Art and Culture Institute of Art History and Visual Culture

Open Lecture: “The importance of Dynamic Evolving Architecture” by Dr. James Ritson

Open lecture “The importance of Dynamic Evolving Architecture” by architectural heritage specialist Dr. James Ritson will be held in the Department of Heritage Protection and Conservation as part of the EU-Repair project on October 5 at 11:00-12:30 in room D-412. Introduction to the content of the lecture: Our sustainable future requires us to adapt to new paradigms of a ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation

Seminar: How Should We Commemorate the Tartu Concentration Camp?

**Please take note: this event is in Estonian only, no translation provided on location** How should a concentration camp and its victims be commemorated in the urban landscape of Estonia today? During the German occupation, between 3,500 and 4,000 people were executed at the Tartu concentration camp. The victims included people who had collaborated with the Soviet authorities, Jewish and ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation Faculty of Art and Culture Institute of Art History and Visual Culture

Field Trip to Ida-Viru County: Exhibitions, (Industrial) Heritage, Concert

We invite everyone to Ida-Viru County on Saturday, 29 August, for the finissage of the exhibition “Field Trip”. The day begins at 1:30 PM at the outdoor exhibition “How to Reframe Monuments: The Past as Artistic Material” in Kohtla-Järve’s central square. The exhibition explores the possibilities of contemporary art in addressing Soviet heritage and the memory conflicts associated with it. We ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation Faculty of Art and Culture Institute of Art History and Visual Culture

Estonian Manor Portal Gets a New Look

One of the most visited websites among Estonia’s heritage enthusiasts – the Estonian Manor Portal, mois.ee – now has a new look. In 1999, Valdo Praust founded the manor portal, introducing the public to the history and present-day condition of more than 700 of Estonia’s most noteworthy manor estates. In 2021, the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) acquired the right to use the database and has ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation

Exhibition “Big Hall, Small Town: Postmodernist Cultural Centres in Estonia” at the Paide Music and Theatre House

On 17 April at 5 PM, the exhibition “Big Hall, Small Town: Postmodernist Cultural Centres in Estonia” will open in the ground-floor foyer of the Paide Music and Theatre House. The exhibition is part of the bachelor’s thesis of Anete Raabe, a student of cultural heritage and conservation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. The exhibition presents the architecture of 1980s cultural centres and ...
Cultural Heritage and Conservation

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