100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VARAŽDIN CITY MUSEUM

The Varaždin City Museum is one of the most important cultural institutions in northern Croatia, and in 2025 it will celebrate its 100th anniversary. For generations, the Varaždin Museum has been a place of gathering and learning, upholding the cultural identity of the city. At the same time, it continues to preserve, research, acquire and showcase the treasures from its collections. Today, the Varaždin City Museum is a well-established institution with several dozen employees working across nine departments: the Cultural and Historic Department with 14 collections, the Natural History Department with 11 collections, the Archaeological and Ethnographic Departments, the Art Gallery with 8 collections and the Historic Department with 7 collections. It also includes the Restoration and Conservation Department, the Museum Shared Services Department, the Documentation Department, as well as two museum collections currently in storage. Altogether, the Varaždin Museum diligently cares for nearly 200,000 items. Some items were purchased or uncovered through archaeological research, but the majority were donated by the people of Varaždin, whose centuries-old urban heritage, Croatian, German and Jewish, has been preserved precisely within the Varaždin City Museum. Where is this Museum located? At the time of celebrating its illustrious centenary, the Museum is housed at six prominent locations in the city of Varaždin: the Old Town, the watchtower and the granary serve as home to three museum departments and the Museum’s Administration. Four departments are located in Sermage Palace and three departments are in Herzer Palace. A new addition in the jubilee year is the Patačić Palace, which is already being prepared for new museum exhibitions. These locations are well known to both the people of Varaždin and tourists, as the museum actively participates in various city events – in summer, the courtyard of Sermage Palace welcomes guests of the Špancirfest festival, in winter it hosts Advent celebrations, and the ramparts of the Old Town serve as a summer stage. In conclusion, we can only wish the Varaždin City Museum all the best, hoping it will continue to be a place of gathering and education, steadfastly upholding the dignity and promoting the culture of our beloved Varaždin. dr. sc. Vladimir Huzjan, President of the Governing Board of the Varaždin City Museum