Description of the attraction
The zoo and nature museum in Split appeared thanks to several valuable natural collections donated to the city at the beginning of the 20th century. Professor Umberto Girometta in 1923 raised the question of creating a Museum of Natural History. The Split Municipal Council took this issue for consideration and in 1924 the first museum was founded, and Girometta became its leader until his death in 1939.
In the first years of its existence, the museum was located in one of the municipal buildings in the very center of the city. Soon the premises were not enough, and the museum was moved to one of the buildings of the Marjan Park. Along with the museum, a small zoo was opened, presenting some species of local and exotic animals. For the first Oceanarium on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, an additional room was built next to the museum building. A few years later, the Oceanarium was closed and converted into a small terrarium. Today the Split Zoo has over 300 animal species.
The building in Marjan Park was closed during the 1991 hostilities for security reasons. Then the museum moved to the Gripe fortress, and after 1997 returned to Marjan again. After 2000, at the request of the workers, a new space was allocated for the needs of the Museum, with a total area of about 1156 sq.m., in which the Museum began work in January 2002.
Before the opening of the new director of the museum, the museum was reorganized, the collections were re-counted and several new expositions were added (for example, a collection of stuffed animals and birds, the department of geology and paleontology, entomology, the department of vertebrates and invertebrates, etc.). Also, work was carried out on the processing and systematization of exhibits, field research in the central part of Dalmatia, numerous thematic exhibitions in the museum and outside it. In addition, the staff of the Museum participate in numerous scientific conferences.
Various thematic exhibitions are held on the ground floor of the museum, and permanent exhibitions are located on the remaining floors. Anyone can purchase additional materials from the museum on the history of the museum and local natural history.
