From February 1st, a new exhibition on the history of Tallinn's first Jewish cemetery can be seen at the Estonian Jewish Museum. The exhibition provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the historical documents, maps and pictures of the cemetery located on Magasini Street in Tallinn. This is the first known Jewish burial place in Tallinn. According to some data, Jews who served in the army of the Russian Empire were buried here in the cemetery since 1790. In 1880, the architect Nikolai Thamm Sr. designed the cemetery guardhouse, auxiliary buildings and the cemetery gate. The mausoleum of Shajeh Levinovich (died in 1906), the initiator of the establishment of the synagogue and the leader of the Jewish community at the time, was located in the old Jewish cemetery in Tallinn, which was designed by the Tallinn architect Jacques Rosenbaum.

The old Jewish cemetery was closed in 1910 and finally liquidated in 1963. In 1967, a car garage was built on its site. The tombstones were used in the construction of the beach defense between Russalka and Vanalinna harbor, some were simply demolished. However, the gate building with the wing buildings was demolished only in 1979.

Even at the beginning of the 21st century, the abandoned workshops and garages of the car park and depot were still located on the territory of the cemetery. They were finally demolished in the second decade of the century. Only in 2021-2024 did the city of Tallinn renovate the area and it became the Magasini Street Cemetery Park. The work was organized by Mefab OÜ.

The exhibition was realized in cooperation with the Estonian Jewish Community and with the support of the Estonian Cultural Foundation.

Explanatory texts of the exhibition.

Posters of the exhibition.