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TRAVELLER
was aKGBdetention centre for political prisoners
and boarded-up warehouses – may be surprised to
hear music spilling out from the deserted-looking
buildings, many of which have been turned into
ad-hoc nightclubs. But at the centre of it all, there’s an
even bigger eye-opener: they’ll discover an old heating
plant that is now the Contemporary Art Museum
of Estonia (
in Estonian, Eesti Kaasaegse Kunsti
Muuseum
[EKKM],
35 Põhja pst; tel: (+372) 5663
6623, ekkm-came.blogspot.com
).
“The state of the place was poor,” recalls Anders
Härm, one of the artists who founded the museum,
having discovered the space while looking for a place
to squat. “There were a lot of homeless living here, the
roof was broken and there was trash lying around.”
EKKM is slowly wining a reputation in the art
world and held its first proper exhibition last summer.
Prior to its opening, there wasn’t a contemporary art
museum in the city, so it now plays an important r
in promoting young talent. “It was an establishmen
Tallinn both needed and lacked,” says Härm. “It’s
about creating your own cultural atmosphere.”
Of course, some buildings have an atmosphere
all their own. Patarei (
6-124 Kihnu; tel: (+372) 504
6536, patarei.org
) is an imposing 20,000m
2
compl
overlooking the coast that was built as a sea fortres
1840 and then repurposed in 1920 as a correctiona
facility. Later, during the Soviet era, it was used as
KGB detention centre and political prisoners were
often held there before going to trial.
Many executions took place at Patarei over the y
and it cast a fearsome shadow over the nation until
the last inmates were shuffled out in 2002. Now, o
the weekends, droves of people clamour to get in to
club nights held there. Barthol Lo Mejor, one of the
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