About the museum:
The museum was opened to the public in 1951, and was permanently housed on the second floor of the Frankopan castle (early 13th c.) and the Turnac Tower in 1973.
The permanent exhibition includes archaeological, hydro-archaeological, numismatic, ethnographic, historical, sacral, and artistic material. The holdings of the museum comprise donations by individuals from both home and abroad, finds from the investigations of underwater sites and the sites of Povile, Lopar (Novi Vinodolski), Vlaška Peć, and Stinica near Jablanac (remains of the mediaeval town of Murula), and the works of the art colony Vinodol Meeting of Native Painters and Sculptors of the Adriatic (1975-1985).
Among the holdings of the museum are valuable archaeological finds dating from the 1st to the 5th centuries AD, and from the 15th century. Objects related to the famous Mažuranić family from Novi Vinodolski (Governor Ivan Mažuranić's sabre, his plume, silver chalice, a relief he received as a gift on the occasion of his appointment to the position of governor, governor's cards, manuscripts, photographs, and other items), an original folk costume from Novi Vinodolski, and folk instruments related to the city’s folklore are also on display.
The art gallery exhibits paintings by M. C. Crnčić, O. Iveković, V. Nikolić, J. Kljaković, V. Potočnjak, and other painters.
The castle also houses the Croatian Human Rights Institute as well as City Hall, where the Vinodol Law (the oldest document of the Slav south) was passed on 6 January 1288. Facsimilies of pages from this historical and legal document– written in the old Croatian language and in the Glagolitic script – are on display in the lobby. The Law was adopted when the elected representatives of the towns of the Vinodol region – free Vinodol municipalities - gathered at Novi Vinodolski, then known as Novi Grad. This document testifies to the distinctive laws of the Slavs in the Middle Ages and proves that there was a firm organisation of the municipalities of Vinodol.
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