Ethnographic Museum of Istria

The Ethnographic Museum of Istria is a cultural institution dedicated to collection, conservation, interpretation and presentation of cultural phenomena related to the Istrian territory. The museum’s mission focuses on safeguarding the traditional Istrian culture and the awareness of contemporary cultural and social phenomena.

The museum contains holdings of 8000 ethnographic artefacts of textile, agricultural tools and objects of everyday life in Istrian villages from the end of the XIX and beginning of the XX century (pottery, carpentry, blacksmith objects and objects of traditional handicrafts). There is also a large collection of souvenirs. In the ground floor of the castle, is where the carpenters and blacksmiths workshop is. You can see different tools, blacksmiths furnace and many objects in blacksmith workshop.

On the second floor there are, besides rooms with permanent exhibition, room for the periodical exhibitions. The permanent exhibition offers a look at the Croatian traditional clothes of the all regions of Istria and traditional clothes from city of Peroj (traditional clothes of people that came from Crmnička Nahija in Montenegro) and city of Vodnjan (Italian women traditional clothes). You can also see traditional cuisine with fireplace, inventory and dishes, objects of traditional farmng with agricultural tools and objects connected with production of vine and oil in Istria.

Our goal in future is to methodically collect ethnographic artefacts from rural and urban environments. We are also interested in modern cultural phenomenon. Our research themes are everyday life, clothing, rural farming, children’s games, music, traditional food, believes, habitation, oral history, multiculturalism…