The town of Split in Croatia - the museum of the Navy

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Presentation

The Museum of the Navy of Split or, of its complete name, the maritime and historical Museum of the Croatian littoral (Pomorski I povijesni muzej Hrvatskog primorja), recalls the past animated of the Dalmatian coast through the centuries.

Situation

Model of the maritime museum of Split. Click to enlarge the image.

The Museum of the Navy is on the hill of Influenza inside the fortress of Influenza built by the Venetian ones at the 16th century.

The museum is only at 10 minutes of the tourist center of Split, the Palace of Diocletian, but the streets which go up there, while skirting the Market with the fruit and vegetables on the line, are very testing. However, if one is in car, one can park oneself inside the fortress which seems to be used as wild carpark for the residents.

The museum itself occupies the ground floor of a palace - frame by Austrian monarchy in the middle of the 19th century on a terrace inside the fortress; this building was the residence of the Hungarian governors, and, later, of Gabriele d’Annunzio.

Visits

The Croatian maritime Museum presents an interesting collection of marine equipment, equipment of navigation, scale models of boats of all the times, weapons and uniforms of navy, and illustrations. The museum is divided into two parts: maritime stories civil and soldier of Croatia.
Rooms of the Merchant navy
The first showrooms, including more than 500 parts, shows the evolution of the sailing ships since the traditional time until the age of the vapor. The voyage starts during the first traditional time with a collection of marine archaeological parts, in particular an enormous ceramics container probably used to preserve alive fish: a “dolium” (in Latin), or “pithos” (in Greek), dating from 1st or the 2rd century before J. - C., discovered in the not very deep water of Kaštela a few years ago. The Dalmatian coast has a long tradition which goes back to the Greeks and, later, in Illyriens, but most parts go back to 200 to 300 years. The purely Croatian maritime tradition goes up, it, with more than 1,000 years and appears through religious tables, watercolours of sailing ships and a certain number of models of boats dating from 17th at the 19th century. One discovers a beautiful collection of figureheads of ships of the island of Korčula of the 19th century, and instruments of navigation such as magnetic octants, sextants, compasses and binoculars. One sees also portraits of captains, as well as the newspaper of the captain of the Novara scientific exhibition, which made the turn of the sphere between 1857 and 1859.

The daily life of the Croatian fishermen is represented by a collection of Dalmatian traditional fishing boats and instruments used in the fishing industry, as well the rivers and as at sea: a gajeta, mid--decked fishing boat with a mast of Dalmatia power station, 1857; a trupica, flat-bottomed boat of the Neretva river.

Historical Tables
“Marko Martinović teaching the juniors by Pierre the Large one” (unknown author, 1711). Marko Martinović (1663-1716) was a famous nautical expert of Perast - today in Montenegro - so famous for his knowledge that the Senate of Venice, at the request of the tsar Pierre the Large one, sent to Perast, in 1698, seventeen boyards Russian to be educated in navigation there in order to organize the Russian fleet on their return in Russia.	The Battle of Durazzo (Drača)

Engravings on Copper of Pierre Mortier (Amsterdam, 1704)
Novigrado (Novigrad) and Cataro (Kotor)	Split	Zara (Zadar)

Eastern chart of Dalmatia by P. Santini (1789)		Table of the houses

Rooms of the Navy
These rooms are devoted to the warships of the Adriatique coast, recalling its history since Antiquity, through crucial battles such as the battle of Lépante in 1571, the battle of Screw in 1811, the “combat of Screw” in 1866. The models understand the liburna illyrienne, the Roman birema, the ship of the pirates of Omiš, the galley of Hvar, as well as the small galley of Dubrovnik and the ships Austro-Hungarian “Sankt Georg” and “Viribus Unitis”. The Second World War is represented with scale models of fishing boats armed and an invaluable collection with old knives and firearms. Part of the weapons of the collection of weapons of the museum was used during the Croatian war of independence (1991-1995), but were restored after the war. Works of art understand paintings of warships painted by the Austrian artists Alexander Kircher (1867-1939) and Johann Seits (1887-1967).
The last section of the gallery understands a single collection of torpedes, of which the oldest torpedo never manufactured in the world. The principle of the torpedo, indeed, was invented, by 1860, by a Croatian officer of the Navy Austro-Hungarian, Ivan Blaž Lupis (Giovanni Biagio Luppis von Rammer, 1813-1875), originating in Rijeka (then called Fiume). In 1864, Lupis presented to a British engineer, to Robert Whitehead, his project of salvacoste (saver of the coast), a floating weapon fired by cords since the ground, and signed a contract with him in order to improve this invention. The first functional prototype was construct in 1866 by Whitehead which directed a metallurgical foundry to Rijeka. Whitehead created later, in 1870, “a true” self-propelled torpedo and gave him the name of torpedo (the Italian name of fish torpedoes, or electric ray). Robert Whitehead developed and marketed the new underwater weapon in the first world factory of torpedes. Success was such as the company took in 1876 the name of Torpedo.
The Exposure in the open air
The exposure in the open air is in the court of the Gripe fortress. It presents a collection of firearms dating from the Second world war, of the guns of the fort and many other weapons, like two old boats. The first boat is a fishing boat, built in 1937, which was transformed into patrol craft of the Yugoslav navy, the PC-22 “Streljko”, during the Second world war. The “Streljko” is preserved about such as it was in the last days of the war. Other boat, Bakar, only the prow is presented. Bakar was one of the most famous ships of the first days of socialist Yugoslavia. It was armed with guns and took part in the engagements in 1943 when the partisans attacked Omiš.

History, literature, arts, traditions, legends, religions, myths, symbols…

History

The history of the museum goes back to its foundation in 1926 like national museum of “Yugoslavia”.

The fortress of Influenza deserves also the visit: it is one of the most beautiful vestiges of the fortifications of the middle of the 17th century in Dalmatia. It was built in answer to the attempts repeated of the Othoman Turks to seize Split. Split undergoes a first attacks in 1645; seeing the development of artillery, the citizens of Split asked the Republic of Venice - which dominated the area at that time - to build a fortress on the Gripe hill, because this place would have been perfect to attack and destroy Split.

The construction of the fortress began in 1648, under constant attacks of the Turks, and was completed in 1657. On June 21st, the Turks launched a massive attack that people of Split, fewer, succeeded in pushing back only with the reinforcement of the Venetian soldiers, and of the volunteers of Trogir, Makarska and Hvar. The following day, the Turks again tried to seize the fortress, but they were driven out the very same day.

The Turkish domination disappeared slowly from the area at the beginning of the 18th century, but the fortress of Influenza preserved its military role until 1990 date on which it was given to the civil administration of Split.

Practical information

General information

Visiting times

Croatian maritime museum of Split (Hrvatski Pomorski muzej Split)

Addresses: Tvrđava Seizes up, Glagoljaša 18, HR-21000 Split

Schedules of visit (to sound at the entry…) :

from September 5th to June 15th; Monday to Friday, 9:00 at 14:30; Thursday, of 9:00 to 14:30 and 17:30 to 20:00; saturdays, of 9:00 to 13:00
from June 15th to September 15th; Monday to Friday, 9:00 at 14:30 and 17:30 at 21:00; saturdays, of 9:00 to 14:30.
closed the dimanches.

Tariff of entry: 10 kunas.

Telephone: 00,385 (0) 21,347,346

Website (only in Croatian): www.hpms.hr