The Vaivara Blue Hills Museum

The Vaivara Blue Hills Museum is a source of military history, focusing on the 1944 battles on the Narva River and in the Blue Hills.

The Vaivara Blue Hills Museum (Vaivara Sinimägede Muuseum) was opened in 2008 in the ruins of the auxiliary structures of the former Vaivara Manor. The exhibition hall is the renovated manor granary, which is an cultural heritage monument. The name of the museum refers to both the historic battlefield and the historical name of the region.

The exhibition is dedicated to the battles held on the Narva River and in the Blue Hills in 1944. The museum exhibits weapons, uniforms, wartime photographs, propaganda posters of the enemy parties, etc. Documentary footage from 1944 and a 15-minute film overview of the region in both during the Great Northern War and the First and Second World Wars, can be viewed on a screen. In addition to anti-tank guns, mortars and handguns, soldiers’ personal items ranging from army kettles to felt boots, are also on display. The largest exhibit at the moment is the Soviet Ilyushin Il -2 ground-attack plane, which made an emergency landing on the ice of Lake Konsu in February 1944 and sank into the bottom. Behind the exhibition hall, there is a hall awaiting the T-34 tank that was pulled out of Lake Kurtna Mätasjärv twenty years ago. This is the most valuable find of the war history club Otsing in Ida-Viru County so far. The Germans took this tank from the Red Army as war spoils and painted Balkenkreuz on it. Retreating, they sank the tank together with ammunitions into the lake.

In the courtyard of the museum, there are two Soviet howitzers, and war-related items found in swamps and on the ground, which by today have historical value only. Memorial stones to the Norwegians, Danes and Flemish volunteers who fought in the III Armoured Corps units in the battles of the Blue Hills have found their place in the courtyard. The region is a great destination for a longer trip in order to explore the unique fortifications in Estonia: a fortified line (popularily Swedish Wall) built by Muscovite Russian troops during the Great Northern War before the Battle of Narva in 1704; structures of the Petrograd defensive line built by Imperial Russians and their prisoners of war on the Park Hill (Pargimäg; also Orphanage Hill or Lastekodumägi) and the large-calibre coastal battery in Meriküla, which were erected during the First World War; the defence line (Tannenberg Line) of the Second World War. We recommend going up to the tower on the Park Hill to take a look at the whole area.

Today, the Vaivara Blue Hills Museum exhibits war history through exhibitions, events and various programs. At the same time, we are also trying to tell the stories yet to be told, such as the local people getting out of the war’s way at the beginning of 1944 or the fact that it was often impossible for them to return later – whether due to their houses having been shattered or them being discouraged by the Soviet authorities. We are trying to give history the faces and stories of real people. Another thing the Vaivara Blue Hills Museum is unique for is that you can touch almost all the exhibits here.