Credit: Tomi Burčul / Zadar National Museum

According to the 2024 attendance survey by the Museum Documentation Center (MDC) conducted among 171 museums listed in the Register of Public and Private Museums in the Republic of Croatia (92% response rate), total visits to Croatian museums grew by 8%, from 4,397,405 in 2023 to 4,757,790 last year. The figures show that the three traditionally most visited museums reported record attendance in 2024.

The Archaeological Museum of Istria remained the most visited museum for the tenth year, with 641,000 visitors, a 15% increase from the previous year.

The Dubrovnik Museums kept their second-place spot, with 517,000 visitors, 25% higher than the previous year. Considering that 9 out of 10 visitors to the Dubrovnik Museums are foreign tourists, the significant increase in attendance can be attributed to the rise in the number of overnight stays in Dubrovnik County.

The Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb rose to third place with 377,000 visits, followed by the Split City Museum, which, together with the Diocletian's Cellars, attracted 288,000 visitors. The Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje moved down into fifth place with 283,000 visits.

Of the private museums listed in the Register that have sparked public interest in recent years, the most visited is the Museum of Red History in Dubrovnik, which explores the socialist period in Croatia (21,000 visitors in 2024).

Analyzing museum attendance by city, the first spot takes Zagreb with 912,000 visits, a 28% rise compared to 2023, mainly due to a significant increase in visits to the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum (117,000 more than in 2023) and the Klovićevi dvori Gallery (40,000 more). Additionally, the completely renovated and expanded Croatian Museum of Natural History opened in September 2024 and received 43,000 citizens in just over three months, more than in the record-breaking 2018.

Coming in second is Pula with 842,000 visits, followed by Dubrovnik with 817,000.

Looking at the category of visitors, there were 1,771,964 tourists, 36% more than in pre-pandemic 2019; however, what is worrying is the continuing downward trend in the categories of preschool and school-age visits—14% fewer young people entered museums than in 2023, and as much as 18% fewer than in the reference year 2019, which raises the question of how much museums have used their potential in integrating heritage into educational processes or adapting their content to the interests of younger generations.

Although half a million visitors are still needed to reach the attendance from the pre-pandemic year, if we take into account that a fifth of Croatian museums had to limit access to their contents or close their doors due to the development of new permanent exhibitions or complete or energy renovation, an 8% increase in attendance is a very positive result that shows that museums are active and relevant.

Visitor survey 2024 (pdf)

(Ivan Guberina, published originally in News from the Museum World 240, March 4, 2025)