Etnografski muzej, Dubrovnik

Etnografski muzej occupies Dubrovnik’s former grain store, a building created in 1590 to hold the city’s grain reserves. At ground level, fifteen large storage wells were cut into the rock; three are open and enclosed with railings, making their unusual construction part of the building’s display. The museum’s permanent collection presents traditional culture from the Dubrovnik region.

Its material includes economic life, clothing, textiles, folklore, lace, and customs, arranged across the building’s levels. The conversion from storehouse to museum lasted from December 1987 to October 1989, and the museum covers about 1263 square metres. Those exposed wells are the striking detail here: they reveal that this museum began as working infrastructure, not as a building designed for exhibitions.