PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Introduction
Kristel Kevvai (2008) dealt with the research and preservation
issues of wallpaper fragments found in Pikk 23, Tallinn. In
addition to the theoretical work, she compiled a folder with all
the conserved fragments. It can be seen in the archive of the
conservation company Vana Tallinn Ltd. in Tallinn.
Liis Tamm (2012) was also interested in various means of
producing wallpaper. Besides researching the history of wallpaper
production in Estonia during the late 19th century and
20th centuries, she created a collection of modern wallpapers,
and there are plans for it to be published.
Since preserving wallpapers has not been seen as a priority,
very few objects have been conserved. A few conservation
companies and specialists have collected fragments of wallpapers
from various historic buildings, but there is no systematic
overview or proper documentation of the finds and their original
locations.
In Estonia only a small number of wallpapers have been
conserved and presented in interiors, for instance a wallpaper
in the foyer of the Viimsi Manor, the dining room and the chinoiserie
dressing room of the Puurmani Manor and a former salon
in the current Estonian Literary Museum. The most extraordinary
wall cover discovered in Estonia is a French panoramic
paper, ”Don Quixote” (printed by Jacquemart & Bénard in Paris),
which originally hung in the festive hall of the Lohu Manor. It
was removed in the 1960s to uncover an illusionistic fresco carried
out by the German etcher and landscape painter Christian
Gottlieb Welté (1745/49–1792). 7 The wallpaper was conserved in
Moscow and is now housed in the Estonian History Museum.
The current situation of preserving historic interiors in
Estonia is alarmingly one-sided and resembles the one described
above. Since the main attention has been on searching for and
uncovering painted surfaces, walls are stripped of wall coverings
in hope of finding wall paintings. As a result, very few examples
of historic wallpapers have been left in situ. A large number of
historical photographs, numerous finds and frequently uncov-
7
Anne Untera. Maarjamaa rokokoo. Gottlieb Welté (1745/49–1792,. ed. by Kadi Polli,
Renita Raudsepp (Tallinn: Kadrioru Kunstimuuseum, 2007). Exhibition catalog.
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