The Kalamaja Museum, opened in September 2021, is a unique community museum located in one of Tallinn’s most characterful districts. Kalamaja—literally “Fish House”—has a long history tied to the maritime and industrial development of the Estonian capital. The neighbourhood has gone through many transformations: from fishermen’s village to Soviet-era housing to a vibrant, creative district. Through all these changes, its sense of identity and local pride has remained strong.
This museum was not built for the community—it was built with the community, from the ground up and works every day with the community. That’s what makes the Kalamaja Museum so distinctive, and what ultimately impressed the EMYA award jury we won The Silletto Prize for Community Participation and Engagement 2024.
Origins and Objectives
The idea to create a museum in Kalamaja came from within the Tallinn City Museum system in 2018. A suitable building already existed: a functionalist villa from 1934 that had previously housed several museums. Rather than designing the museum top-down, the City Museum took the unusual and bold decision to hand over the development process to the residents themselves.
They were asked the essential questions: > Do you want a museum in your neighbourhood? > If so, what kind of museum should it be? > What stories should it tell?
This approach was untested in Estonia and initially met with skepticism, even within the museum field. But the City Museum team, together with the project group, remained committed to the idea that the museum would only succeed if it truly reflected the lives and memories of those who live in Kalamaja. The Kalamaja community itself had very strong support and belief.
Community Co-Creation
The first public activity took place during the annual “Kalamaja Days” in 2018, where the team conducted a neighbourhood-wide survey—both on-site and online. Overwhelmingly, residents said yes: they wanted a museum. But they didn’t just want a traditional museum with glass cases. They wanted a living museum: a meeting place for friends and families, a storytelling space, a platform where everyone could contribute. Importantly, the community wanted a museum that would be welcoming to all ages and backgrounds, making it a truly inclusive space.
Over the following months, the team organised numerous workshops and focus groups. Participants ranged from school children to retirees, from lifelong Kalamaja residents to recent arrivals. Together, they developed the concept, themes, and priorities for the museum. These included everyday life, housing history, local businesses, childhood memories, and also difficult topics such as Soviet repression and social marginalisation.
The museum’s visual identity was also decided collectively. Residents were invited to vote for the logo in a public campaign. The winning design, chosen by over 500 people, used a fisheye lens perspective to playfully reference the name “Kalamaja” and the idea of a unique point of view. This intense participation created a strong sense of ownership long before the museum doors opened.
Community cooking evening, Meeli Küttim. Tallinn City Museum
Building a Collection through Personal Stories
At the heart of the museum’s content are the stories and objects donated by the community. Over 60 in-depth interviews were conducted with locals, and each story became a small window into the larger narrative of the neighbourhood.
People donated seemingly modest items: a trousers clip by Mrs. Anneliis, used for cycling during 1930s in Kalamaja and symbolizing a piece of Kalamaja’s industrial history, also toilet seats, furniture, photographs, and more. But each came with a powerful story, offering glimpses into everyday life, personal triumphs and losses, and the rhythm of local history.
The objects were not just collected and labelled—they were co-curated. Interviewees worked together with museum staff to shape how their stories would be displayed.
Museum as a Platform
Since its opening, the museum has continued to serve as a platform for community involvement. Some examples include:
> “Flavors of Kalamaja” – A public cooking series which invites residents to share traditional recipes and cook together in the museum’s public kitchen. These cooking evenings provide an opportunity for residents to connect with one another, share their culinary traditions, and preserve the district’s cultural heritage. From the cooking evenings, an exhibition has emerged, also “Kalamaja Cookbook.”
> Resident-led walking tours – Instead of professional guides, locals share their personal stories while guiding others through the streets of Kalamaja.
> Mini-museum in a phone booth – In 2024, the museum opened Estonia’s “smallest museum branch”: a phone booth on the street in Kalamaja that plays recorded stories of people who live or once lived on that street. It’s open 24/7.
Other creative initiatives include a community Advent calendar, participatory sound art, and outdoor and indoor exhibitions curated by local children or community members, also exhibitions in people's homes and urban art co-created with the community.
An audio exhibition in a phone booth featuring stories from local residents on a street in Kalamaja. Meeli Küttim. Tallinn City Museum.
Challenges and Lessons
If we were to do something differently next time, it would probably be related to the limited staffing at our museum branch in Kalamaja—then and still today, only 3–5 people have been involved in the core content work. Although Tallinn City Museum has more staff overall, many of the ideas and projects we’ve had to let go of due to a lack of resources. The community may bring great ideas, but sometimes we simply don’t have the capacity to carry them out. Financial limitations have also been a challenge—we’ve had to apply for additional funding for many projects, which has taken time and sometimes delayed or even canceled initiatives.
COVID-19 brought unexpected constraints but also hidden blessings: the delayed construction phase allowed for deeper community interviews, more testing of exhibition ideas in pop-up formats, and greater outreach.
The approach taken by Kalamaja Museum was innovative in the Estonian context and beyond. Community museums exist worldwide, but they are often initiated by grassroots activists. In Kalamaja’s case, an established city museum initiated the process but made a conscious decision to hand over power and trust the community to lead.
This model of shared ownership—where community members become co-creators, curators, and hosts—was key to the jury’s decision to award the project. It demonstrated professional excellence not only in terms of content and design but in ethical commitment to inclusion, sustainability, and cultural democracy.
Advice to Others
Creating a museum together with the community has been an incredibly powerful experience. We would absolutely do it all over again. The energy, ideas, and support from the local people are so strong that they heal all the difficulties along the way. We would do it again—no matter what.
Thanks to receiving a major and prestigious European museum award, visits to our small museum increased by 40% within a year. This recognition was truly empowering for the local community. Our team and community members have shared our experience across Estonia, inspiring many others to try similar projects, and we've also presented our story at museum conferences and seminars across Europe.
And the most important lesson—and our advice to any museum building a community museum or community-based project—is this: listen to people. Really listen. Give them the chance to participate and contribute meaningfully. The results will be extraordinary.