Kadriorg Palace & Park
Kadrioru loss / Kadrioru park
A Baroque palace and gardens built by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine. It now houses a foreign art museum, and the grounds also contain Kumu, the Art Museum of Estonia.
Kadriorg, meaning "Catherine's Valley" in German, was commissioned by Russian Tsar Peter the Great in 1718 and dedicated to Empress Catherine I. Designed by the Italian architect Niccolò Michetti, it is a summer palace in the Northern Baroque style. The palace now houses the Kadriorg Art Museum, part of the Art Museum of Estonia. It holds paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries by Dutch, German and Italian artists, along with Russian art. The main hall, the White Hall, has a ceiling with ornate stucco reliefs and murals. Behind the palace lies a formal French-style garden and a swan lake, and in front is a swan pond, which has swans and fountains in summer. The park covers about 70 hectares and contains the Presidential Palace, which is not open to the public and is guarded at its gates, the Peter the Great's Cottage Museum, the Children's Museum and more. At the eastern end of the park stands Kumu, opened in 2006, Estonia's largest art museum. It displays Estonian art from the 18th century to the present, along with contemporary exhibitions, and the building itself won the European Museum of the Year Award. Admission to the palace costs about 10 euros and to Kumu about 15 euros (check the official websites). Most venues close on Mondays. Getting there: take tram 1 or 3 from the city centre to Kadriorg stop, about 10 minutes.
Opening hours
Park open all day; Palace Museum approx. 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays (shorter hours on some winter days; check official website)
Nearby sights
- Kumu Art Museum
- Russalka Memorial
- Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
- Rotermann Quarter
- Viru Gate
- Tallinn City Walls
- Fat Margaret Tower (Estonian Maritime Museum)
- St. Catherine's Passage