A new interactive exhibition at the Estonian History Museum’s Great Guild Hall features hundreds of mirrors from different periods. The exhibition is brought together by fashion designer Liisi Eesmaa’s mirror dresses.
The Estonian History Museum has a tradition of holding Christmas exhibitions based on notable private collections. This is how “The Magic of Mirrors: From Function to Fashion” began. The exhibition invites visitors to explore mirrors through the ages – from a natural pool of water to the modern smartphone.
Among the nearly 100 mirrors on view, the rarest include a bronze mirror made four thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, distinctive Venetian examples, and pieces in rococo and baroque frames, as well as distorting mirrors from Rõika-Meleski – the largest mirror manufacturer ever to operate in Estonia.
The partly tarnished, distorted images they cast can feel unsettling and offer a glimpse into why mirrors have long been surrounded by superstition and mystique. The exhibited mirrors come from the collections of the Estonian History Museum and private collector Toomas Zupping, many of them shown to the public for the first time.
“When I saw Toomas Zupping’s private collection, which really did contain a lot of mirrors, that’s where it all started. Of course, the large 19th-century Venetian mirror was completely enchanting,” said the exhibition’s curator Anne Ruussaar.
According to Ruusaar, more and more mirrors with exciting stories were added during the course of the work. The interior design was created by theater and film artist Eugen Tamberg.
“For example, there is a mirror that once belonged to (Estonian actor) Lisl Lindau, which came to us through her grandchild. Then there is a mirror from the national broadcasting company, which Toomas Zupping himself recognized, as another mirror is in our collection and they are simply a pair. So there are such a lot of wonderful discoveries and small nuances here, as welll as our own rare mirrors,” Ruussaar explained.
The exhibition is given a special aura by the mirror dresses from fashion designer Liisi Eesmaa’s award-winning 2008 collection “Mirror Tetris,” which are reflected tenfold in the wall mirrors.
More information about the exhibition is available here.
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