”Old Village” Museum

About the Museum

The idea of protecting the historic core of the Kumrovec settlement was already present in 1947, when Marijana Gušić conducted ethnographic research in Croatian Zagorje and prepared a study of the Kumrovec settlement, focusing on the birthplace of Josip Broz.

In 1950, the cultural, historical and artistic section of the museum exhibition was created by academic painter Edo Kovačević and Zdenko Vojnović, then Director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, while Gušić arranged the Broz family's living quarters. In 1953, the Marshal Tito Memorial Museum was established and operated under the management of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. The most extensive interventions in the arrangement and reconstruction of the "Old Village" were carried out between 1979 and 1985.

Today, the open-air ethnographic museum in Kumrovec is the largest preserved traditional village complex in Croatia, offering visitors an authentic representation of a Zagorje village as it appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. With around forty restored traditional buildings, the Museum presents the way of life of the local population in the past.

The exhibits present customs and everyday life of peasants and their families, as well as traditional crafts and occupations through which the inhabitants of Zagorje villages made their living. Traditional homesteads and gardens, barns and stables form a rich mosaic of rural life. The restored birthplace of Josip Broz Tito, located in the centre of the village, houses ethnographic and historical exhibits. The Old School contains a reconstruction of a former classroom and the teacher's apartment.

In addition to the permanent exhibitions presenting the traditional way of life in Croatian Zagorje at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Museum offers visitors a variety of interactive programmes, including events and educational workshops led by professional ethnologists in collaboration with masters of traditional crafts. The programmes are adapted to different age groups.

General Information

Address:
Josipa Broza 19
49295 Kumrovec

Phone: +385 (0) 49 225 840; +385 (0) 49 225 835

Head of the organizational unit:
Anita Paun-Gadža, Museum Advisor

E-mail: mss@mhz.hr; rezervacije-mss@mhz.hr
Website: mss.mhz.hr

Centre for Traditional Crafts, Knowledge and Skills of the "Old Village" Museum, Kumrovec

The Centre for Traditional Crafts, Knowledge and Skills is open to visitors Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Phone: +385 (0) 49 225 844
E-mail: craftattract@mhz.hr

Curator: Tihana Kušenić

Staff of the "Old Village" Museum

Head of the organizational unit, "Old Village" Museum, Kumrovec
Anita Paun-Gadža, Master of Phonetics and Ethnology, Museum Advisor

Tatjana Brlek, University Master of Primary Education, Museum Advisor
Tihana Kušenić, Master of Museology and Ethnology, Curator
Mateja Harapin, Master of Visual Culture Education, Curator (Educator)
Gabrijela Juričan, Museum Technician
Kristijan Bezjak, Second-Degree Conservation and Restoration Technician
Josip Škvorc, First-Degree Conservation and Restoration Technician
Biserka Krajcar, Operator
Nada Turk, Clerk
Jasna Škreblin, Housekeeper
Biserka Pecigus, Housekeeper
Albin Greblički, Security Guard
Ivica Broz, Security Guard
Eduard Rumiha, Security Guard and Gardener
Mario Županić, Gardener