House of Batana N.Demark

February 10, 2022 – Surely one of Croatia’s most charming cultural attractions, Rovinj’s museum of traditional “batana” boats is set to reopen after a two-year renovation

Batana’s award-winning home in Rovinj closed at the end of 2019 so the building could undergo a series of renovations. As TCN reported at the time, the attraction was to transform into a 21st-century museum and receive a new exhibit that was to be fully digitized.

Two years later, the museum has a new facade and fixtures, and all that remains is to install the new permanent exhibition in its place. If all goes according to plan, the attraction should reopen in April 2022, reports Morski.hr.

In 2016, the Batana Ecomuseum project was included in UNESCO’s World Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. It has been recognized for its unique approach to the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage of Rovinj, based on local initiatives and expert-led development projects. Read more about the old exhibition in our dedicated article.

The traditional wooden container takes its name from the Italian verb to beat (hitting, beating), associated with the sound of the waves hitting the flat bottom of the boat. The batana was included in the register of cultural heritage of the Republic of Croatia in 2008.

The renovation of the museum building cost about 2 million kuna. The multimedia equipment and installations were partially funded by the Culturecovery Interreg Central Europe project, while the Arca Adriatica Interreg Italy-Croatia project helped fund the graphic and multimedia design.

Revamped and fully modernized, Maison de Batana is due to open in late April and visitors can expect a number of new attractions; for example, the ancient traditions of Rovinj and its natural heritage will be presented through the use of virtual reality. The new exhibition will tell the story of batana and Rovinj-Rovigno in a modern and inspiring way, pushing its own limits and opening up new horizons.

Objects from the original permanent exhibition have been restored in cooperation with the Civic Museum in Rovinj.