Originality and exhibitionism are twin sisters. Similar, but not the same. Achieving value in a new and creative way is a supreme human quality that we often plagiarize with diversity for the sake of diversity itself. To have value, when it comes to museums, diversity must contain a step forward in its content, in its applicability, in the acceleration of cognition, it must make life easier, beautify it and contribute to a better understanding of reality. This is exactly what many Croatian museums are trying and succeeding in, unusual in their content but logical as if they are part of a nature, and not someone’s idea, someone’s spark of genius.
From Zagreb to Dalmatia
When it comes to a great idea for a museum over the past few years, most will be the first to think of the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb. The idea of connecting exhibits that are insignificant in their content (figurines, mobile phones, matchboxes…) with great intangible values, love relationships, the disappearance of which they symbolize, ingenious or not, is certainly beautiful. The Museum of Broken Relationships is actually a museum of short stories about melted loves, one of the few in which we find contact with our own reality, in which very few of us are not one of the exhibits. According to some, Zagreb is the city with the most museums per square mile. True or not, the number of museums is certainly large enough for successfully opening a new one to presents a major challenge. The Museum of Broken Relationships has certainly mastered it.
North of Zagreb is Hrvatsko Zagorje, region of many museums in medieval castles and those of ethnographic content. But the highest number of visitors is in one that exhibits much older history, the Museum of Krapina Neanderthals. The museum was created on the site where Dragutin Gorjanović Kramberger discovered the remains of Neanderthal man in 1899. A few years ago, the museum was completely renovated and turned into a multimedia kaleidiscope, a stimulating classroom on the history of the development of the human species, but also of our planet in general and life on it.
Museum of Ancient Glass
In the last decade, Zadar has been our most propulsive Adriatic city with a rapidly growing number of symbols that are becoming an indispensable part of tourist itineraries. One of these symbols is the Museum of Ancient Glass, a completely logical museum in the ancient city. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum also has a glass workshop in which replicas of ancient glass are made by glass blowing.
The eclecticism made of the archaic fairy tales of Ivana Brlić Mažuranić on one side and the modernist multimedia arrangement on the other, is the dominant atmosphere in Ivana’s Fairytale House in Ogulin.
This unique blend of new technologies and traditional canons such as the struggle of good and evil is primarily intended for the youngest. It is an ideal combination of learning to manage new technological tools at the same time as developing moral standards through the messages of the most famous Croatian author of fairy tales. The permanent exhibition of this interdisciplinary centre relies on knowledge and creativity. Workshops, creative and educational programs for children and adults can be organized here. The centre especially celebrates the fairy tales of Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, who was born in Ogulin, but also fairy tales and their authors in general.
There are more museums that deserve the adjective unusual in Croatia, if you explore for yourself you may come across even more unusual ones. There are also those who have a different purpose than just a good mood and enjoyment, such as the Museum in the Hospital in Vukovar, which reconstructs the events from the time of the siege of the city in early 90-ies.
If you can, help any of the slightly different Croatian museums. If you do not have values that could be part of exhibitions, and you do not have the money to donate for a new facade, you have only one way left – the best one. Buy a ticket and visit it.
