COLLECTIONS

Modern Collection

The AMI Modern Collection comprises secular and sacral objects made of ceramics, glass, metal, bone, and stone.

Request access to materials Contacts

Information:

dr. sc. Tatjana Bradara

Department:

Archaeology Department

The Annunciation, stone sculptures of the Virgin Mary and the angel Gabriel

Pula, workshop of Pietro Lombardo, c. 1490

Bronze bell of the St Thomas church

Pula, bell-founder Salvator, 1425

Glass vessels

Pula and Dvigrad, workshops in Venice, Murano, and Ljubljana, 15th-16th century

Bronze medallions depicting the Virgin Mary

Pula, Brkač, and Vodnjan, 17th-18th century

Ceramic bowl

Pula, workshop in Romagna, first half of 16th century

The Modern Collection was established in 2010. Recognising the importance of the material that forms our understanding of a specific historical period and provides valuable evidence of the economies, politics, and culture of earlier populations, AMI was the first of the archaeological museums in Croatia to develop a Modern Collection.

The collection includes a variety of objects made of ceramics, glass, metal, bone, and stone, both secular and sacral, such as tableware and kitchenware, cutlery, stove tiles, items for daily household activities, games, entertainment, and leisure, decorative and utilitarian objects, coats of arms, architectural elements, sculptures and boundary stones, devotional items, bells, and a cannon. Most of the items were found in the course of archaeological investigation in Istria (Pula, Dvigrad, Vodnjan, Motovun, etc.), while a smaller part of the collection consists of chance finds donated to the museum (Rašpor). The artefacts are kept and exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Istria, the St Francis monastery building in Pula, or are loaned to other institutions for exhibition. These finds constitute irrefutable evidence of the continuity of life in Istria and enhance our understanding of past periods.

Glazed tableware originating from workshop hubs in northern Italy and Spain stand out in particular among the objects held in this collection. Other notable artefacts include a pair of sculptures of an Annunciation group, the work of Pietro Lombardo's school, a Venetian sculpture of St John the Baptist, devotional medals from major European pilgrimage sites like Loreto, Padua, Mariazell, Trsat, and Bistrica, and bells cast by the master craftsmen Belo, Vivencius, and Salvator.