Press Materials 2018

October 19, 2018–May 12, 2019, Niguliste Museum 
The exhibition The Power of Things focuses on a number of works in the Niguliste Museum from the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period, among them the great painting Danse Macabre by the Lübeck master Bernt Notke and the altarpiece of the Virgin Mary of the Brotherhood of the Black Heads by the Master of the St Lucy Legend from Bruges. Placing them side by side with the objects from the collections of the Tallinn City Museum and the Estonian History Museum, a meaningful dialogue develops between the world of painted and material objects.

Curator: Kerttu Palginõmm

On Tuesday, 21 August 2018, the new permanent exhibition of the Dance of Death painting will open at the Niguliste Museum. Tallinn’s Dance of Death, which dates back to the late 15th century and has been attributed to the Lübeck master Bernt Notke, is the only surviving medieval danse macabre painting in the world painted on canvas. The new exposition solution for the rare and impressive work has been created by KOKO Architects. The specially designed exhibition wall is the first time that large-dimension specially ordered museum glass has been used in Estonia. The work is shielded by a piece of protective glass manufactured in Germany that is eight metres long and weighs more than 600 kg; it enables museum visitors to see the painting in as authentic form as possible. The new exposition of Tallinn’s Dance of Death was made possible by grants from the government and private companies.