Kondas Centre


Housing vibrantly colourful works by local painter Paul Kondas (1900–85) and other self-taught artists working outside the mainstream, this is Estonia’s only gallery dedicated to naïve and outsider art. It’s not hard to find – in a marvellously oblique reference to the artist’s 1965 work Strawberry Eaters, the stalks of all the giant strawberries scattered around town point here. The handsome, red-brick building is the former vicarage of adjacent St John's.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. St John’s Lutheran Church

0.05 MILES

This dignified, compellingly picturesque 17th-century church, with its pale-grey walls and stone altar, has been restored since its Soviet incarnation as…

2. Viljandi Museum

0.12 MILES

Occupying two floors of a late-18th-century pharmacy on the old market square, this modest museum has displays tracing Viljandi’s history from the Stone…

3. Old Water Tower

0.12 MILES

One of Vijlandi's most distinctive landmarks, this odd 30m red-brick water tower topped with a hexagonal wooden structure offers fine views over the…

4. Viljandi Teutonic Order Castle

0.21 MILES

Set within a lush park on the natural defensive prominence of Lossimäed, the scant-yet-evocative remains of Viljandi's powerful castle form a picturesque…

5. St Paul’s Lutheran Church

0.26 MILES

Built in 1866 to accommodate Viljandi's growing Lutheran congregation, this visually arresting, Tudor-Gothic-style church has a wooden pulpit and gallery,…

6. Viljandi järv

0.32 MILES

Accessed by a steep path leading down from Pikk street, the lake is a popular place for a swim on warm summer days. All the usual hallmarks of the…