THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED TO VISITORS

The permanent exhibition, opened on the centenary of the Museum in 2000, presents the wealth, diversity and value of the national heritage related to the history of the school system, stored in the Collections and the Library of the Croatian School Museum.

The School System in Croatia Between the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Century is the main thematic and chronological aspect of the exhibition, which is placed in the context of the wider historical overview of the development of education and schools. Eight exhibition units contain one thousand exhibits, conceived in museological terms according to the key elements of the national school system, the history of pedagogy and prominent historical figures.

The Classroom is one of the most impressive exhibition units that authentically re-constructs the appearance of primary school classrooms in Croatia at the end of the nineteenth century.

Teaching Aids are displayed according to teaching subjects in primary and secondary schools. Alongside teaching aids and materials, textbooks and manuals that had been used in schools since the end of the eighteenth century are also displayed.

Primary, secondary and higher education are presented by photographs of pupils, teachers, professors and schools, by school documents, yearbooks and protocols, regulations and reports and exhibits such as medals, seals, or school flags, which illustrate the development and structure of the national school system.

Pedagogical Thought is a unit displaying the country’s oldest works in pedagogy, first capital works in school historiography, pedagogical journals and children’s books.

Pupils’ Works unit presents works pupils created in arts classes, works and models in calligraphy and needlework done by boys and girls.

The Paris Room is a particularly valuable cultural-historical unit showing how the school system of the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia was presented at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Historicist furniture was made by the pupils of Royal Territorial Trade School in Zagreb according to Herman Bollé's plans, and the watercolours with motifs of school and cultural institutions were created by renowned Croatian fine artists.

Mato Lovrak’s Study is a reconstruction of the original study room of Mato Lovrak, with the library, photographs, acknowledgements and utility items from Lovrak’s legacy.

The catalogue of the permanent exhibition – Croatian School Museum 1901-2001 – was published in 2001 and is a reference source for researchers of the Croatian school system history.

In 2001, Croatian School Museum was awarded the Charter of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Zagreb Award.

The number of visits to the Museum, especially group visits by pupils and students, as well as continual media attention, testify to the importance of the Museum’s permanent exhibition.

The permanent exhibition was funded by the City Office for Education, Culture and Sports.

Conceptual framework: Ivan Vavra

Concept development: Štefka Batinić, Vesna Rapo, Elizabeta Serdar, Ivan Vavra

Selection and professional processing of material: Štefka Batinić, Sonja Gaćina Škalamera, Vesna Rapo, Elizabeta Serdar, Branka Ujaković

Interior and visual design: Mario Beusan

Croatian School Museum