Museum of Ancient Glass — Attraction in Grad Zadar

We only visited here as the reviews were good and better than I would have expected for an ancient glass museum.

Verdict is that we also enjoyed it more than expected. Even if you are not interested in ancient glass the exhibition is well curated, so you learn about the history of the glass and it all becomes more interesting. It is amazing the quantity (over 5000 pieces here) and quality of very old glass from 1st century onwards that has been found, a lot almost perfectly intact.

My favourite part though was the modern glass exhibition called “Glass for Eternity” which contained beautiful pieces of glass by an Austrian glass-blower, Peter Kuchler III. Lots of pieces of really beautiful glass of all sorts of colours/designs. Would love to own a piece so loved looking at them all.

There is also a glass making workshop on the top floor, but this was sadly closed when we visited (which was fairly late on a weekday...

A great museum - so interesting, and not just for the amazing glass on display. Incredible how fresh and modern some of it looks, while other objects are so fine it's a miracle they have survived 2,000 years in some cases. The gallery on the necropolis is fantastic - so much information and detail on Roman burial practices and life styles. Glass-blowing wasn't taking place on Sunday when we visited, but great videos showing it, and you can see many of the tools used very clearly. The building is a beautiful setting, and the selection of products in the shop is also good - including perfect recreations of some of the objects on display, at reasonable prices considering they are...

Recommend calling ahead if you want to go specifically to see the glass blowing workshop, as although their websites and signage state that it on weekdays 9am-2pm, I arrived around midday on a Wednesday only to be told it wasn't on that day and to come back tomorrow and it would be on 9am-2pm. I arrived the next day at 9 but it still wasn't on and there appeared to be noone around. After asking about it they eventually did a 5 min show for me at 9 30. I enjoyed this museum but I think they need to be better with communication around this as it is definitely the highlight...