7 stunning museums in Croatia
Take a look at the unique museums in Croatia that are the guardians of its history and culture.
Some of them preserve artistic masterpieces, some historical artifacts crucial to understanding our past. There are also modern ones that are very interesting and don’t have anything to do with art such as technical museums or natural history museums. Many small museums in Croatia have found their place on the map. Croatia has a rich history and heritage, therefore a lot of museums where part of its turbulent past is presented.
1. Cultural History Museum, Dubrovnik
The museum is located in the Rector’s Palace, the former seat of the most important institutions of government of the Dubrovnik Republic and the Rector’s apartment. With its permanent exhibition, the Museum strives to evoke the original historical space and to present the rich cultural, artistic and historical heritage of the Dubrovnik Republic. On the ground floor, authentic spaces of the prison, courtroom, notary and archives of the Dubrovnik Republic have been preserved. The original fence and bench have been preserved in the area of the former courtroom, and portraits of prominent citizens of Dubrovnik are displayed on the walls. A collection of Dubrovnik coins, seals, measures and watches is on display on the mezzanine floor. There are also beautiful examples of furniture, uniforms, weapons and portraits. This is one of the most amazing museums in Croatia.
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2. Archaeological Museum, Zadar
The Archaeological Museum in Zadar was founded back in 1832 and is one of the oldest and most important museums in Croatia. The Archaeological Museum preserves over 100,000 objects from all historical periods, starting from the Paleolithic until the end of the 11th century. The permanent exhibition is divided into prehistoric, medieval and ancient parts. On the ground floor, there are archeological remains from the 7th to the 12th century. On the first floor, there are numerous objects illustrating life in northern Dalmatia in Roman times. On the second floor, prehistoric archeological material from the Stone and Metal Ages is exhibited.
3. Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral, Rijeka
The museum was founded in 1961 and contains a maritime, cultural-historical, ethnographic and archeological department. The museum is located in a historicist building, the former Governor’s Palace which is a protected cultural monument. The Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral has been one of the most important cultural places of Rijeka for the last four decades. With its permanent exhibition and numerous valuable exhibitions from its holdings or other Croatian museums, it participates in monitoring important events related to the history and culture of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and Croatia. The museum reveals an insufficiently known past of Croatia.
4. Archaeological Museum, Vis
The museum is located in the Batarija Fortress, which was built by Austro-Hungary in the early 19th century. In the museum, it’s possible to see a large collection of emerged amphorae uniquely stacked in the way they were stacked while being transported in the ship’s lower deck. The collection of Hellenistic monuments is the largest in Croatia, and objects from prehistoric times are also on display. The museum also has an ethnographic section where it is possible to see exhibits related to the life of Vis. The most beautiful example of ancient art on Vis, the bronze head of the goddess Artemis, has a special place in the museum.
5. Croatian Maritime Museum, Split
The museum is dedicated to promoting Croatian maritime heritage by raising awareness of its value. Presenting the ship as a cultural heritage of the Croatian people. The museum was the first in Croatia to protect the ship as a cultural asset, or a cultural monument. The exhibition of the Museum is conceived in two parts – war and trade. These consist of collections of vessels, ship equipment and assets, machinery and shipbuilding, mockups, navigation equipment, nautical charts and pilots, weapons and weapon systems, submarine finds and fisheries. The museum is located in the imposing Gripe fortress complex, a bastion fortress from the 17th century.
6. Maritime Museum, Dubrovnik
The Maritime Museum in Dubrovnik was founded in 1949 by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is located in the representative fortress of St. John. The Museum is one of the richest and most important maritime-themed museums on the eastern Adriatic coast. These represent the maritime heritage of the wider Dubrovnik region. The museum has over 7,000 exhibits from ancient times to the present day. The exhibition includes models of ships from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, numerous flags, cannons and other weapons, nautical instruments, ship’s logs, maps and various documents.
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7. Archaeological Museum of Narona, Vid
The Narona Archaeological Museum is located in Vid, a place near Metković. It was built over the Augusteum, a temple dedicated to the divine Augustus. In 1995, archaeologists made an extraordinary discovery – a temple dedicated to the cult of Roman emperors, built around 10 BC. Along with a simple monochromatic floor mosaic, they found 17 marble statues of the imperial family, all of which were beheaded when the temple was destroyed in the 4th century. The place is now enclosed in an impressive piece of contemporary architecture, depicting the temple and other exhibits highlighting the area’s history. The list of stunning museums in Croatia wouldn’t be complete without the archaeological Museum of Narona.
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