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The Pram Museum service development

The project start and end: 01.04.2022 – 30.06.2023

Brief description of the project

The Pram Museum started its activities in 2012 with the aim of reducing consumption, preserving history, restoring old traditions, keeping memories. Most of our museum’s collection has been saved from the landfill, we have restored many old things and we have seen many people happy to see their childhood toys, strollers or other forgotten things again. The museum is located in the village of Käru in Järva County, 1900. in the Railway Station building built in 1915 (which has been partially restored by us) and built in 1915 and opened in 2008. in a restored Railway barn. The museum works on the basis of voluntary work, we have a total of 8 active volunteers who work as guides, restorers. as archivists, etc. The opening of the Käru Museum as a museum of carts and carriages to the public took place on 20.12.2018. In 2019, about 1,500 people visited the museum, in 2020, about 1,880 people, and in 2021, about 5,000 people. In 2021, we organized several events and festivals, made a mural and developed a new exhibition, we regularly repair the museum buildings, repair and expand the collection. The Pram Museum’s collection of prams and prams already includes over 200 exhibits (prams, prams) and over 1,500 different objects related to childhood – dolls, toys, children’s clothes, baby bottles, items related to child care, etc., over 2,000 different photos and postcards, negatives, a separate collection of stamps, etc. , every year our collection grows. We have unique so-called Estonian (first half of the 20th century) strollers and unique 18th and 19th century baby carriages, which come from Estonia and 32 different countries. This makes our museum unique not only in Estonia but throughout Europe. We are currently in a situation where we cannot continue working with only volunteers, as volunteering has become a full-time, unpaid job. Receiving visitors, adding to the collection, recording or writing down memories, restoring objects and many other works related to the museum are time- and money-consuming. The museum is open every weekend throughout the year, people from all over Estonia come to visit, we are open longer in the summer. The lack of services offered is also a problem, because although people are mostly excited by what they see and hear, we can currently offer a dense program for 1.5-3 hours, and from customer feedback, we have noticed a lack of space for displaying the exposition, staying longer at the place of interest, including meals, accommodation, visiting concerts, etc. In addition to the functioning museum building (at the addresses Rahvamaja 1 and Rahvamaja 3), the NGO owns 2 more historical buildings at the addresses Jaama 5 and Jaama 7, both buildings have depreciated and need thorough renovation. We are currently writing various projects in order to find funding for the expansion of the museum complex. The aim is to build an innovative museum complex with new exhibition spaces, an art residency, accommodation from different eras, a restaurant and a research and restoration center – this is also the content of this financing project.

The purpose

The aim of the project is to reconstruct the depreciated historic building as part of the museum complex and start offering new tourist services – accommodation, entertainment, events, workshops, cultural residency. In the perspective of 3 years, The Pram Museum is known as Europe’s largest and most diverse selection of exhibits and an introducer-practitioner of recycling methods.

The result

As a result, we offer a diverse range of services in 4 buildings and a large village square throughout the year, including guided tours, thematic workshops, art residency, catering, accommodation, permanent and temporary exhibitions, concerts-performances.

Name of the fund

Funded as part of the Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grant amount 192 041,85