The Archaeological collection of Osor
The Archaeological collection of Osor
The beginnings of a long and turbulent history of the Archaeological Collection of Osor reach back to the 18th century, related to Dinaričić, the Bishop of Osor who acquired the first collection of stone monuments in the Bishop's Palace in Osor, according to the records by Alberto Fortis from 1771. A hundred years later, the collecting passion of Bishop Dinaričić continues with Ivan Kvirin Bolmarčić, a parish priest. As an amateur archaeologist, he undertook the first archaeological explorations in Osor in the period from 1874 to 1881, researching the city walls and the Illiric-Roman Necropolis on the Lošinj side of the Kavuada channel, eventually acquiring a respectable archaeological collection which consisted of several thousand items in 1880. In 1889, the archaeological collection of the parish priest Bolmarčić became the property of the Municipality of Osor, it moved into the building of the Osor City Hall and was opened officially to public. The Archaeological collection of Osor has been the oldest museum institution on the islands of Cres and Lošinj and one of the oldest archaeological collections in Croatia in general. From 2007, after numerous changes of status, neglect and restoration, the Archaeological collection of Osor functions as an independent department of the newly established Lošinj Museum. The archaeological material on display follows the everyday life in Osor and its vicinity from the very beginning in prehistory, through the Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Different types of human production have been presented - from ceramics and glass to items made of metal, from stone relief plastic and sculptures to numismatics. The collection was opened to public in 1889 and since then it has been housed in the building of former City Hall and loggia. It is a Renaissance building from the first half of the 15th century. Other public buildings in the main square, the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral, date from the same period. The building has been protected as the monument of culture since 1964. The Lapidarium is situated inside a spacious loggia, together with the ancient stone fragments, medieval wicker ornaments and the Renaissance spolias, while the items predominantly from the period of the Early Roman Empire have been displayed on the first floor of the City Hall.
Tickets for entry to the Osor Museum can be purchased at the agency "VAL", Veli Lošinj, Vladimir Nazora 29 - val@val-losinj.hr; 0038551236604
