The exhibition ‘Dinner is served!’ presents an overview of how Tallinn residents have celebrated their life’s milestones with family and friends over the decades and explores how table-setting customs have changed over the past century.

Whether it’s weekday evenings after school and work in the family circle around the table or special occasions with joint feasts – the time spent together, the stories heard and home customs convey an important part of the culture of living. Setting the table at home keeps family ties alive and also builds our social networks. The more insecure the life around us is, the more important are all our connections with loved ones and the people we gather around us. In this way, gathering around the dining table at home and the rituals associated with it are also important from the point of view of security and our sense of well-being in the broadest sense.

‘Dinner is served!’ introduces the viewer to the table set for a celebration. The exhibition brings together the thirties and eighties of the last century and the present time. The tableware on display comes from the collections of the Tallinn City Museum, the Estonian National Museum, the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, the Samovar House and Priidu Nõmm as well as from private collections.

Photographs from the collections of the Tallinn City Museum, the Estonian National Museum, the Tartu Art Museum, Riga Porcelain Museum and the Art Museum of Estonia complement the exhibition. In addition, the exhibition includes photos of party tables from the albums of past and present citizens of Tallinn from the aforementioned decades.

The exhibition is illustrated by interviews with people in whose lives tableware plays a special role.

Exhibition curator: Kristina Madisson-Laht, 

Artist of the exhibition: Merike Tamm

Execution team: Merike Tamm (design, GD, props), Joonas Parve (construction), Jaanika Jüris (design, construction, props), Luise Sommer (lighting)

Technical assistance for the exhibition: Karoli Loo

The exhibition is open from 11th of May until 31st of December

EXCURSIONS

You can order a private excursion at the exhibition. The cost of a guided tour in english is 55€ plus entrance fee to the museum.

Contact: Karoli Loo,  or

When curating the exhibition, the museum asked for the help of all past and present residents of Tallinn to supplement the museum’s existing photo collection with shots depicting party tables.