On 1 December 2022, the Karlovac City Museum closed its doors to the public to allow for structural renovation works to begin. The permanent exhibition was gradually dismantled and relocated, while museum staff continued to work in the building until the City of Karlovac completed the procedure for selecting a contractor for the renovation works.
Once the structural renovation of the museum building is completed, the interior will be refurbished and a new permanent exhibition will be installed. Work on the museum concept for the new permanent exhibition has already begun.
In the days leading up to the closure, the Karlovac City Museum hosted Open Days, offering visitors one last opportunity to experience its permanent exhibition. Admission was free on Tuesday, 29 November and Wednesday, 30 November, while expert-led tours of the permanent exhibition were also organised on Wednesday.
The Open Days gave citizens the opportunity to revisit an exhibition that had, for many years, introduced generations of Karlovac residents to their heritage, while presenting the city’s cultural and natural heritage to visitors from elsewhere. The Museum had also been an important place for encounters and shared experiences, hosting numerous exhibitions, educational programmes, lectures and a wide range of thematic events.
The history of Karlovac’s oldest palace and the history of the Karlovac City Museum have been closely intertwined since 1953. That was the year when the Museum, founded in 1904, moved into the palace where it has remained ever since. The palace was built around 1631 at the initiative of Vuk Krsto Frankopan, a general and military commander in Karlovac.
The closure marked the end of an important chapter in the Museum’s history and the beginning of a new one – the transformation of the building and the creation of a new permanent exhibition that will present the history, heritage and identity of Karlovac to future generations.