The permanent exhibition “From Grain to Bread”, located in the museum’s Rye Barn, opened on Rye Mary’s Day (15 August) in 2015 in the hay barn of the historic manor complex, built in 1914. The exhibition is an important anchor point of the national cooperation network Estonian Rye Route. Its opening marked several significant anniversaries: the Estonian Rye Year 2015, the 170th birthday of Friedrich von Berg (the breeder of Sangaste rye, known as the “Rye Count”), and the 140th anniversary of the world’s oldest rye variety still in cultivation, Sangaste.

The exhibition provides an overview of winter rye cultivation, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and flour production, and introduces the tools used in these processes. Visitors have the opportunity to take part in hands-on activities, including threshing and milling: beating rye on a threshing bench, flailing grain with a flail and stick, winnowing grains using a tray or a winnowing machine, crushing rye kernels with millstones or in a mortar, and grinding grain with a hand mill. Visitors can also test their skills by identifying different grains — barley, oats, wheat, and rye — placed in wooden bowls on a table.

Information panels provide additional background on the history of rye cultivation and rye varieties bred in Estonia, presented in Estonian, Russian, and English.