About the museum:
The Batana Museum, established in Rovinj in 2004, is dedicated to the batana fishing boat and to the local community that has identified it as its symbol. The Batana is the most widespread traditional vessel in Rovinj, which reflects the continuity of the local material culture and the intangible seafaring and fishing heritage, as well as the way of life of the local population.
The permanent display of the eco-museum includes three galleries with multimedia exhibitions. The exhibits (all of them donations made by local residents) are supplemented by captions and diverse visual contents: drawings, historical and contemporary photographs, films, slide projections, and interactive exhibits. One of the main attractions of the permanent display is a compressed slide projection showing the two-month process of building a batana. Visitors can follow the conversations of the builders in their native Rovinj dialect, accompanied by the sounds of the typical fishermen's songs of Rovinj – the bitinadas. The exhibition is made accessible to visitors in three languages: the Rovinj dialect (the mother tongue of the batana), Croatian, and Italian.
Local residents who have the knowledge of batana-building and of the intangible heritage related to it participated in the development of the display.
Thanks to this initiative and the foundation of the eco-museum, the batana-building process has entered the register of protected intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Croatia.
In 2007 the museum was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award - EMYA.
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