35 years have passed since the restoration of Estonia’s independence. With the passing of time, there is a growing need to remember and reflect on a period that some people still recall from personal experience, but which is already unfamiliar to younger generations.

Viljandi Museum’s photographic exhibition looks back at Soviet-era Viljandi – the town, its people and everyday life under occupation. Through photographs, it reveals a world in which ordinary daily life was intertwined with restrictions, adaptation, silence and the effort to preserve one’s own values.

The title of the exhibition refers to a traditional hide-and-seek game in which the seeker counts to one hundred with their eyes closed before setting out to find those in hiding. During the Soviet period, too, much had to be hidden, left unsaid or deliberately overlooked. After the restoration of the Republic of Estonia, people could open their eyes again and begin to seek out and restore what had remained hidden for decades.

The exhibition invites visitors to consider what we remember about the Soviet period, what we have forgotten, and how our shared historical memory is formed. The accompanying public programme explores themes of remembering, forgetting and preserving historical memory through talks, conversations and events.