The mission of the Croatian Museum of Tourism is to collect, research, preserve and present items related to the history of tourism in Opatija and Croatia.
Our visitors often do not fully understand how museums collect items for their collections. Individual items do not arrive at museums randomly, but are selected by museum experts. Upon entering the museum, items become part of its collection.
Our museum acquires items mostly through purchase or donations from our fellow citizens or guests of Opatija. Only after professional examination are the items presented to the public, in the appropriate manner. Because not every old article will be important to the museum, it is up to our experts to determine whether a certain item is special in some way: if it has the potential to tell a story that goes beyond merely revealing its time, place and function. Such items can thematise important events, people or historical periods, or the lives, traditions and customs of a community.
These are stories about our town and country and, no less importantly, about those who lived here before us, but they are also about ourselves. In this exhibition, we will show you the items that have been acquired since the spring of 2024 through donations or purchases, and have now become part of the Croatian Museum of Tourism collection. They show part of the history of Opatija – the cradle of Croatian tourism – but also other parts of Croatia, mainly its coast and islands. Postcards and guidebooks, examples of which are exhibited here, were once the only media for promoting Adriatic tourist destinations. Important and valuable items for the museum are beautiful guidebooks from the late 19th and 20th centuries with images of Opatija and some other towns, which testify to the architecture and flourishing of tourism, as well as to the changing appearances of these places.
The exhibition also shows interesting souvenirs that tourists used to buy and take home as a memento or a gift for their loved ones. A late-19th-century theatre poster from the Hotel Stefanie is also very valuable for our museum, as is a beautiful glass from the same period with an inscription and a depiction of this hotel.
We are proud that we have managed to purchase a miniature portrait of Iginio Scarpa (an 1839 watercolour) from a Vienna art gallery. This is now the second portrait of him owned by our museum. Iginio Scarpa is a significant historical figure for this area, especially with regard to the construction of the Villa Angiolina and the beginning of tourism in Opatija. Our intention in engaging the sculptor Mladen Mikulin to make a bronze medallion with a portrait of Angiolina Sartorio Scarpa was to preserve a lasting memory of Iginio’s wife, after whom the villa where Croatian tourism began was named. Portraits of the couple will be the central items in part of the museum’s new permanent collection.
For music lovers, the exhibition also offers several old records with songs by Ivo Robić and melodies from the Opatija and other festivals, which were important cultural events in the second half of the 20th century. We invite you to enjoy the exhibition and feel the spirit of Opatija and Croatia’s rich tourist history. We hope that this exhibition will encourage you to explore your own attics and basements, closets and drawers, and perhaps find some items that could complement our museum collections.
