Zagreb is a city full of curious and untraditional museums. While planning a couple of days’ visit, I was immediately drawn to the Museum of Lost Tales, in Croatian Muzej Zaboravljenih Priča. It is a space that tells, in an extremely evocative way, the world of fairy tales, legends, myths, and the creatures of Croatian folklore.
“While the life of Fairies is not limited in years or age like that of humans, it does happen that these creatures die. These beings could stop breathing out of sadness or hate of through the malice of other beings. Their little bodies are then buried under the bulbs of Snowflakes so they can return to the sun again the next spring.”
To me, it felt like stepping into a Tim Burton story, complete with creaking wooden floors and unsettling details that surprise you around every corner. Highly recommended!
Visit to the Museum of Lost Tales
For reasons that are unclear to me, the website of the Museum of Lost Tales is available only in Croatian. As a result, retrieving the essential information for a visit can be slightly more complicated than expected. Below is a summary of the most important points.
Admission costs €12 for adults and €10 for children and teenagers aged 5 to 15. There is the option to purchase an audio guide and to take part in a guided tour. If you choose the latter, make sure to contact the museum in advance to confirm the language in which they conduct the tour. The order in which you visit the rooms is not important. The fewer people there are in each room, the more you will enjoy the visit, as you can take your time reading all the stories and interacting with the exhibition. If a room is crowded, I therefore recommend moving on and coming back to it later on.
“If it should happen that thou findest a green frog on Saint George’s Night, do but cast it o’er thy shoulder and no fever shalt ail thee for a year.“
Finally, the list of “no’s”: no online advance ticket sales, no large bags (a cloakroom is available to visitors), no animals, and no flash photography. I would add no very young children, as the Museum of Lost Tales has a rather gloomy atmosphere. Let’s say that if The Nightmare Before Christmas is not suitable for your children, then you probably shouldn’t take them to this museum either!
The exhibition
The Museum of Lost Tales occupaies the first floor of a modern building in the centre of Zagreb, only a few minutes’ walk from all the city’s main attractions. Each room explores a theme from Croatian folk mythology, ranging from woodland creatures such as spirits and pixies to witches and nocturnal beings, fantastic animals, the devil, the afterlife, and even a curious version of the creation of the world.
“The pozoj is a breed of dragon. In some lands it was also known as basilisk. It has a snaky and lizard-like body, a cockerel’s beak and crest, and bird’s talons instead of feet. When a rooster reaches nine years of age, it will lay an egg. And whoever wishes to hatch a pozoj, let him carry this egg in his armpit and keep it warm for nine years.
The spaces combine sets, illustrations, puppets, sounds, lighting and symbolic objects, creating an atmosphere suspended between dream, past and unease. Every character and object on display has its own story, told through the many information panels. However, the exhibition is also designed to be interactive, not just to be read and observed. Visitors are encouraged to (gently!) open drawers, little windows, small doors and caskets. Each one contains a miniature world or some distinctly unsettling object.
The Museum of Lost Tales consists of just seven rooms. Yet, you could easily spend an entire day there if you wanted to read every single legend and open every drawer. I suggest to allow at least one to two hours for your visit, depending on how much you enjoy the genre.
The artist
The creative mind behind the museum is the Croatian artist Zdenko Bašić, an illustrator of extraordinary talent with a deep passion for mythology and folklore. He is responsible not only for the drawings, but also for the sets, the models and the overall spatial design. I became a fan of his instantly! And I happily took home one of the beautiful illustrated books sold at the museum entrance.
“The watermen were peculiar and unpredictable dwellers of the deep rivers and waters. Covered in fur or long hair, they would hide amongst the reed and under water lilies. They would only emerge from the water next to a watermill under silent moonlight. They loved the taste of flour, so, when a miller would drift off into sleep, they would secretly steal it. However, they would always leave a gift behind. Among the spilt flour they would leave behind, the millers would find some silver or gold coins left by the watermen.“
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