About

The Museum of the Đakovo Region was founded in 1951 after a two-year preparatory period which had a happy ending due to the enthusiasm of a few individuals who had been very much aware of the need to preserve a cultural properties of Đakovo and the surrounding area. The first museum was situated in a Vienna Seccession building with only 208 sq. meters and a very limited number of staff. Even in such inadequate and small facilities the first permanent exhibition was organised in 1952 and the most of the musem´s collections were estabilished (archeologic, ethnographic, works of art, numismatic and historical and cultural). The library and the above named collections are the basis of a remarkable holding of this museum with its few thousand items.

At the end of the 1960s the museum moved to a new building, which was built in 1857 by the bishop Strossmayer for the Franciscan priests from Bosnia. After having improved the sanitary conditions, the first permanent exhibition was opened in 1970 and within the next two years it doubled in size. From the middle of the 1970s up to the period of the Patriotic war this museum was one of the most active and most prominent cultural institutions in Đakovo. Numerous exhibitions took place, the number of items in the museum´s collections increased significantly, some officials took part in the most relevant cultural events of the town. «Đakovština» publication was established and published a few remarkable books.

When the Patriotic war broke out all positive efforts to continue the development of the museum were in jeopardy, so the Ministry of Culture ordered the museum´s holdings to be moved to safer parts of Croatia. In the meantime, in May 1994 the museum had to give its former headquarters back to the Diocaese of Đakovo and Syrmia.

As a result, the facilities that the museum moved into after the war could not meet the lowest museum standards. Although it was supposed to be a temporary solution, the museum stayed there until May 2002. Then it moved into the restored facilities of a former 19th-district administration centre in 34 Starčević Street.

The interior of the museum is divided into the permanent exhibition rooms, a multipurpose showroom, which is at the moment the centre of various activities (exhibitions, concerts, lectures, book promotions) and offices. The building is surrounded by a large uncultivated yard which opens new possibilities for future activities.

In conclusion: After 50 years of its existence, the Museum of Đakovo Region has finally got appropriate facilities where it can decently present the rich cultural heritage of Đakovo and the surrounding area.