Arriving at the museum
The Niguliste Museum seeks to provide its visitors with a great cultural experience and excellent service. This page contains all of the necessary information for people with special needs.
For information about how to get to the museum, click here: Getting here
For information about free entry to the museum, click here: Tickets
For visitors with mobility disabilities
The exhibition halls of the Niguliste Museum are wheelchair-accessible. A stationary ramp has been installed next to the stairs leading to the Antonius Chapel. All four floors of the Niguliste Tower can be accessed by wheelchair on a handicapped elevator. Only the second floor of the Small Chapel is inaccessible to visitors with mobility disabilities.
In order to enter the museum with a wheelchair, the security guard will install 180 millimetre-wide ramps at the entrance. Due to the unique characteristics of the ramp, it cannot be used to enter the museum with a mobility scooter, disability tricycle, or a heavy chargeable mobility aid with a low floor.
The check-in counter, cloakroom and accessible toilet are located on the first floor (ground floor). Wheelchair-bound visitors can access it by a lift. Visitors with mobility disabilities do not have to enter the basement level in order to access the exhibition area in the Large Hall. The threshold can be crossed using a portable ramp. In this case, the visitor’s companion must obtain a museum pass, but a museum worker or security guard can also help if asked.
If necessary, a museum wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge.
For visitors with intellectual disabilities
For groups of visitors with intellectual disabilities, we will adapt our museum classes accordingly and turn the museum visit into an engrossing experience. From the list of museum classes, pick a programme that you are interested in and then contact the museum by e-mail at .
For visitors with hearing disabilities
Visitors with hearing disabilities are welcome to bring their own sign language interpreters. At the moment, it is not possible for the museum to provide a sign language interpreter. It is possible for visitors with hearing disabilities to borrow induction loops from the check-in counter for events and guided tours organised by the museum.
A tablet computer containing sign language translations for all of the exhibition’s most important works is available for free from the check-in counter. Translations are also available on Youtube.
For visitors with visual disabilities
The museum can be visited with a guide dog.
A tactile guideway will assist the visually impaired in getting to the museum’s exhibition area. A tactile map of the museum is located in the exhibition area to the left of the elevator.
Audio guides containing an introduction to the exhibition and audio descriptions are available for free from the museum.
The five audio descriptions in the audio guide offer overviews of the construction of St. Nicholas Church, Bernt Notke’s Dance of Death and three altarpieces dating from the Late Middle Ages.
The audio descriptions and movement guides are available under the audio guide numbers 1 to 16 and on YouTube and Soundcloud
In addition to the audio description of Bernt Notke’s Dance of Death, the verses (link Soundcloudi) can be listened to in Estonian, English, Russian and German, as well as in the original Low German language.
You can listen to the same text in the Antonius Chapel, where there is a bench in front of the masterpiece. Beside the bench is an audio guide holder. The bench has a sign in Braille with instructions on how to use the audio guide.
The English-language lectures of the Niguliste Museum podcast are available on Soundcloud.
Location description
Layout of the halls
The Niguliste Museum is located in the Old Town of Tallinn in the former St. Nicholas Church. It is a sacred building from the Middle Ages. Special care has been taken to preserve the original architecture and character of the building as much as possible. Therefore, it must be kept in mind that the building has heavy doors, some high steps and thresholds. However, the building is generally highly accessible, with an elevator and multiple ramps.
The building has several doors leading outside, but the museum is entered and exited through the main entrance on Niguliste street. It is a historic door situated two steps below street level that requires a little bit of force to open. Two more steps down after the threshold lead to the foyer where visitors are greeted by a security guard who will provide assistance and important information about navigating the building.
To the left of the main entrance is a staircase with a tactile guideway that leads to the lower level. Here, wheelchair-bound visitors can use a lift. Upon arriving on that floor, you must turn left, move a few meters down the slightly sloped floor and then turn left again. To the right is a glass wall, behind which is the museum shop and ticket booth. A self-service cloakroom and accessible toilet are located just ahead. Tactile guideways are present for the visually impaired so they can access the ticket booth, museum shop, accessible toilet and exhibition area. Tactile numbers have been added to the lockers near the restroom and the locker keys.
In the cloakroom, an audio guide can be borrowed from the museum workers containing a movement guide, audio descriptions and a regular audio guide in Estonian and English. The tablet computer containing a sign language museum guide can be obtained from the check-in counter. The audio guide and audio descriptions guide blind and visually impaired visitors through the building and exhibition area while also providing information about the individual exhibits. For visitors with hearing disabilities, signs placed next to the exhibits equipped with the corresponding icons assist in finding information.
The exhibition area on the first floor is accessed through a set of stairs equipped with a tactile guideway just past the check-in counter to the left. Past the vestibule, you will arrive at an elevator, to the left of which is a tactile map of the building and a tactile scale model of the St. Nicholas Church.
Turning left, you will arrive at a large hall that measures roughly 50 × 20 meters. As the hall frequently hosts events, there may be chairs placed in that room. On the other side of the hall, the museum’s most important works are on display: the High Altar of St. Nicholas Church, also known as the Rode altarpiece, alongside other altarpieces. They can be safely accessed through the side aisles. The Small Chapel on the left frequently hosts temporary exhibitions. The second floor of the chapel can only be accessed through the spiral staircase with high steps, making it unsuitable for visitors with movement disabilities.
To the left is the Silver Chamber, located in the former sacristy. Mind the low threshold when entering it.
St. Anthony’s Chapel, where Bernt Notke’s famous Dance of Death is located, is accessed by immediately turning right after arriving at the large hall and then turning right again. After that, three steps must be ascended, but a stationary ramp can also be used.
Entering the tower
After ascending the stairs from the cloakroom, you will enter a vestibule that leads to the room below the tower. There you will find a glass elevator that you can take to enter the tower above.
You can also listen to the audio description movement guides How to enter and
Navigating inside the museum.
Programmes
The Niguliste Museum offers educational programmes for children, teens and adults with movement, visual, hearing, intellectual and combined disabilities. Programmes are adjusted according to a group’s needs and interests. More information can be found here.
Notice to visitors
In order to make your stay with us as comfortable and memorable as possible, we would be grateful if you contact the museum security guard in advance by calling +372 5191 6356 or sending an e-mail to .
Visitors with movement disabilities can park for free in front of the Niguliste Museum if they have given notice of their visit in advance.