Something for Everyone: Discover Zagreb's Museums
Zagreb is the city with the largest number of museums per capita, according to the Zagreb Tourist Board. From traditional ones like the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Arts and Crafts to the unusual ones that have been opening up over the last few years. The latter seem to be increasingly interesting, judging by the number of visitors. Tourists visiting Zagreb will ask you if you have been to the Museum of Broken Relationships or the Museum of Illusions, and those keen on trends will also inquire about the Museum of Hangovers, the first of the kind in the world. So, there are many to choose from and the choice is up to you.
Museum of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče
The Museum of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče is the first museum of medicine in Croatia, opened in 2014 on the 135th anniversary of the hospital. Besides the rich history of the Vrapče Psychiatric Clinic, it also thoroughly presents the development of psychiatry in Croatia. Thus, one can find here the first case history from 1879 when "mania" was diagnosed by doctors at the then Royal Terrestrial Institution for Mental Diseases in Stenjevac, early massive EEG devices, electro-shockers (electroconvulsive therapy devices), strait-jackets and the nurses' uniforms. The museum was designed by the late director of the hospital, Professor Vlado Jukic, who planned the exhibition and collected interesting exhibits for years. It is housed in a small building that used to be a grocery store and is designed to take visitors through all the "stages" of treating a patient - from entering the waiting room, doctor sessions, going through a work therapy, and eventually leaving the hospital.
Museum of Hangovers: A Unique Experience
As Croatia is, according to statistics, among the world's top countries in terms of alcohol consumption, it could be expected that the first ever Museum of Hangovers would be opened here. As a nation that likes to have a drop too much, we have quite enough stories, both entertaining and instructive, that could be turned into museum exhibits. The owners of the first Hangover Museum were led by a similar idea when they decided to open a space in December last year to collect drunken experiences and demonstrate interactively, using "drunken glasses", what's it like to steer a wheel with more than two percent of alcohol in your blood. Their idea was not to promote alcoholism, Mr. Mikelić told us, but to create a place where people could have fun, laugh and learn something about alcohol. In less than two months, more than 1,400 people visited the museum, and many foreign media such as Lonely Planet, CNN, the New York Post, the Daily Mail and many others have covered it. The museum is conceived as a "drunken homecoming from the bar" - the first section is a "street" decorated with murals and graffiti, next come "mirrors" that represent shop windows, a "garden" and finally a "room" where one goes to sleep drunk and wakes up hungover. At the entrance of the museum each visitor is given three darts and the possibility of "drunken" shooting into the center of the darts board for free entry. Those who fail to do so get a shot of Lika brandy for comfort.
Museum of Illusions: A Global Phenomenon
When the Museum of Illusions opened its doors in Zagreb in 2016, few could imagine it would become a successful franchise that has expanded to Zadar, Vienna, Ljubljana, New York, Dubai, Oman and many other cities. Although its "tentacles" are found around the world, the originator of the worldwide trend of the Museum of Illusions is located in the Croatian capital city, comfortably located at Ilica 72. The permanent exhibition of the museum has more than 70 exhibits, from the Illusion
of a chair, Head on the platter, Infinity room and Ames room (there is a giant in one corner and a dwarf in the other). The exhibits are highly interactive and amusing, and the exhibition often changes depending on the occasion or the time of year (eg the exhibits have been adapted to celebrate Halloween and the whole museum "transforms" into the Museum of Reality to mark the UNICEF's birthday). The Museum of Illusions is one of the most visited museums in Zagreb, and its desire is to intrigue your confidence in the senses, to delight you, to confuse you a little, but at the same time to educate you. Visiting this museum is an adventure for all senses.
Mini Train Museum - Backo Mini Express
Did you know that the largest railway model in Southeast Europe can be seen in Zagreb in the Mini Train Museum - Backo Mini Express, located at number 4 Gundulićeva Street since 2015. The museum covers the surface of about 300 square meters, where 150 trains simultaneously operate on 1500 meters of rails. The creator of the fifth largest railway model in Europe is Antun Urbić called Backo, who with his associates
spent five years diligently turning the boy's dream into a reality. The model is almost 85 percent Croatian product, extending over several levels, three meters tall at the highest and ten centimeters below the surface at the lowest part (some trains run below the floor level and pass under the visitor's feet). For a complete experience, various meteorological phenomena are simulated, such as the sound of rain and thunder. It is especially interesting to see the authentic view of Zagreb, like the main railway station and people rushing to work or skiing track on Sljeme with miniature skiers and maintenance workers.
Museum of Zagreb in the 1980s: A Nostalgic Journey
Remember the time when everyone drove Fićo cars and rode Tomos motorbikes, played Space Invaders on Commodore 64, hid erotic magazines under the bed and was fully prepared in case of a nuclear war? This was, of course, during the 80s of the last century when the ultimate Croatian music hits were "Đuli" and "Rock me", when people read Start and Danas magazines and "Štefica Cvek in the Jaws of Life" novel, world top charts were dominated by bands like Queen, a-ha, Duran Duran, and fashion trends were big hairstyles, sequins and neon outfits. You can step into Zagreb in the 80s if you head to Radićeva Street 34, where, for the last three years, there is a time machine which takes you back to the not so distant past. The Museum of Zagreb in the 1980s consists of six rooms that reconstruct what a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom and an office looked like at the time. Many exhibits have been donated to the museum, and behind each one there is a unique story. Everyone is invited to play a video game on a black-and-white TV, try on a crazy fashion outfit, peek into wooden dressers, and take a photo in the legendary Zastava 750 car as a keepsake of their visit.
Museum of Broken Relationships: A Heartfelt Exhibit
The originator of the "unusual museums in Zagreb" is the Museum of Broken Relationships, which delighted Croats in 2006 and the rest of the world was soon to follow (in 2016 a permanent exhibition was opened in Los Angeles). The museum first attracted media attention as a traveling exhibition which then became a permanent exhibition in Zagreb and Los Angeles. The museum even won the prestigious Kenneth Hudson Award for Europe's Most Innovative Museum in 2011. It is designed as a concept of recovery from love breakups, so that heartbroken romantics donate to the museum their own objects, memories and relationship reminders, hoping this would make their emotional breakdowns less painful.
Museum of Torture: A Harrowing History
"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind." This quote by Mahatma Gandhi at the entrance of the Zagreb Museum of Torture is a kind of "warning" to visitors to prepare for what is to come, but also not to forget that torture, although mostly physical, can often be mental means of punishment. The first such museum in Croatia has about 70 instruments and devices for torture, and with its dark atmosphere and musical theme worthy of a horror movie, the museum attacks all your senses not allowing you to relax even for a moment. The most striking devices are certainly the Iron Maiden or the Nuremberg Virgin - the cruelest method of torturing convicts in the Middle Ages, the pendulum, i.e. a swinging ex which gets lower with each swing, the guillotine, the boot, the crown of Matija Gubec, the mask of shame, the rack.
Museum of Chocolate: A Sweet Experience
Chocolate lovers finally got their cup of tea when the Museum of Chocolate opened in Zagreb in November. Even the ticket for the museum is edible (it's a chocolate tasting kit with nine different types of chocolate to be tasted through the Museum). The sweet tour begins in the rainforests of Central America with cocoa beans tasting and learning about the history of cocoa. It then moves on to the 16th century when the conquistadors conquered Native American tribes and brought cocoa to Europe. At that time, chocolate was only used in the court and was reserved only for the rich. It still wasn't sweet and it was consumed as a liquor. It wasn't until the 19th century that the consumption of chocolate similar to what we have today began. The Museum of Chocolate is a unique experience where all the exhibits must be touched, smelled, tasted and, finally, enjoyed. The rooms are designed to the detail and look like Hollywood movie sets worthy of being photographed in for social media.
| 1. Zagreb/ Zoran Jelača | 2. The Museum of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče/ Davor Pongračić, Hanza media
| 3. The Museum of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče/ Davor Pongračić, Hanza media
| 4. The Museum of Hangovers/ Marko Todorov, Hanza media
| 5. The Museum of Illusions/ Boris Kovačev, Hanza media
| 6. The Mini Train Museum - Backo Mini Express/ Tomislav Krišto, Hanza media
| 7. The Museum of Zagreb in the 1980s/ Sandra Šimunović, Hanza media
| 8. The Museum of Zagreb in the 1980s/ Sandra Šimunović, Hanza media
| 9. The Museum of Torture/ Darko Tomaš, Hanza media
| 10. Muzej Museum of Torture/ Darko Tomaš, Hanza media