The Ethnographic Museum was founded in 1919. It lies in the fine Secession building of the one-time Trades Hall of 1903. The ample holdings of about 80,000 items cover the ethnographic heritage of Croatia, classified in the three cultural zones: the Pannonian, Dinaric and Adriatic. There are about 3,000 items in the permanent display of the Museum, and they are arranged so as to illustrate two main themes: the folk costumes of Croatia and given items of popular art and handicrafts with a representative selection of Croatian national costume (lace from Pag, Slavonian goldsmith work and Konavle jewellery) as well as collections of rarities from extra-European traditional cultures. In the non-European section there are items from the traditional cultures of Africa, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Oceania. About 5,000 items of clothing, furniture, arms, tools, jewellery, musical instruments, religious and cult items and many other things were collected at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The collections vividly presents the features of some of the local cultures and civilizations of these continents.
