The House of Batana’s interpretation and documentary centre of the Eco-museum opened to the public in 2004. With its settlement on two floors of a typical Rovinj multi-storey house built in the late 17th century on the coast of the peninsular town’s heart, it already lends it self to the integration of the Eco-museum into the everyday life of the town and its inhabitants.
For centuries families of fishermen, sailors and craftsmen have lived in today’s ‘batana house’, and today there still lives one Rovinj family above the museum. It is an unforgettable sight to see freshly washed laundry flapping in the wind above the House of Batana when you enter, inviting the visitors to an entirely different kind of museum experience unknown until now!
Permanent exhibition
The permanent exhibition, in the Rovinj dialect known as muòstra, stretches over 100m2 and includes three gallery spaces and entrance with a souvenir shop. It is a multimedia exhibition: the short and concise accompanying text complements the diverse visual content (museum objects, drawings, archival and modern photography, films, slide projections and interactive exhibits). A unique method of using innovative new technologies (digital cameras and computers) was used for the purpose of documenting traditional shipbuilding skills, resulting in a compact 15 minute slide projection, which in the permanent exhibition, explains the two-month’s process of building the batana boat Oûn rìgno (Kingdom). By using the interactive exhibits, visitors choose their own level of information and can interactively follow the conversations of the characters of the exhibition in the indigenous language of Rovinj which is becoming increasingly rarer to hear on Rovinj’s streets. More than 90 % of the exhibited objects have been donated by residents who have participated in the process of the creation of the exhibition. In the background can be heard the typical sounds of Rovinj fishing songs – known as bitinada, and visitors can listen in three languages: Rovinj’s dialect, Croatian and Italian, with a leaflet written in English and German. Your hosts are Ornella and Martina!
Souvenir shop
The small souvenir shop of the House of Batana offers a rich selection of souvenirs and gifts about the batana boat and the maritime culture of Rovinj. You can buy a CD of Rovinj music, as well as the books Recipes from the House of Batana and Rovinj’s Batana and its Sails. This is an unmissable place to buy gifts and memorabilia which will remind you of Rovinj - its creative and gentle people and their picturesque Eco-museum forever!
Guided tours and special programmes
The best guide through the permanent exhibition is any inhabitant of Rovinj who is connected in some way with the batana boat. Although for groups of visitors (groups of 20 or so are best) we can organise a guided tour in Croatian, Italian, English and German languages. Along with the tour it is also possible to organise a meeting with one of Rovinj’s fisherman and member of the Eco-museum, uncle Giordano Banich who, along with the occasional anecdote and warm heart, can demonstrate the art of fishing net repairing. Information about other workshops during the year will be posted for you on our website.
Working times
January/February/December:
10am-3pm (Saturday and Sunday closed)
March/April/October/November:
10am - 4pm (Sunday closed)
May/September:
10am-1pm / 6pm-9pm (Sunday closed)
June July August:
10am-1pm / 7pm-11pm (Sunday closed)
Group visits available with advance notice!
Prices
Adults: 3,50 €
Pupils, students and pensioners: 2,70 €
Adult groups (+10 people): 2,50 €
Groups of schoolchildren (+ 10 people): 2,00 €
Members of local associations and the Association/Eco-museum, as well as members of AMMM, ICOM and HMD: free