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Contact PHOTO EXHIBITION · TALLINN SPEAKING! A CENTURY ON AIR
From the Tower to Your Pocket
When Tallinn TV Tower was completed in 1980, it was literally indispensable for getting news and programmes into the televisions and radios of our homes. The exhibition “From the Tower to Your Pocket” takes the visitor through the history of mobile phones to the present day, where the device for news, entertainment and communication sits in all our pockets, the smartphone.
Watch the video
Curator Kertu Saks explains the background of the display and introduces the stories that await visitors.
01 — OVERVIEW
The exhibition in brief
The exhibition shows a range of historic mobile phones, from the first large radio telephones to small button phones and the earliest smartphones.
Also on display is a coin telephone with a rotary dial, the kind that stood in street booths 40 years ago in case you needed to call someone. Its successor is here too, the card telephone, which let you call from the street by inserting a card into the machine. The beautifully designed phone cards are on show as well.
FROM THE TOWER TO YOUR POCKET — FOUR STOPS
Radio telephones
The first large mobile telephones, heavy, expensive and rare.
Coin and card telephones
The telephones of street booths: the rotary coin phone and the card phone with its beautifully designed phone cards.
Button phones
Small handy mobiles that fitted into any pocket.
Smartphone
The communication device of today, news, entertainment and contact in one.
Watch the video
A short overview of the exhibition.
02 — EXHIBITION SERIES
Part of the series “Tallinn speaking! A Century on Air”
From the Tower to Your Pocket is part of the exhibition series “Tallinn speaking! A Century on Air”, created at Tallinn TV Tower for the 100th anniversary of Estonian broadcasting. Several more exhibitions and education programmes will open within the series this year. In 2026 the TV Tower operates under the banner of Estonian Broadcasting 100.
Partners: Ivo Kõvamees, Estonian Maritime Museum, AS Levira and Veiko Sepp. The exhibition is curated by Kertu Saks.
Location: 21st floor of Tallinn TV Tower
MINI MAGAZINE
From the Tower to Your Pocket
GALLERY
Exhibition gallery
Photos: GoodNews, Risto Štukert
IN THE MEDIA
Coverage
AKTUAALNE KAAMERA
Tallinna teletorni uus näitus viib Eesti raadioajaloo algusaegadesse
kanal 2 “telehommik”
