The Museum of Ancient Glass
The Museum of Ancient Glass features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Zadar. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Zadar Zadar guide
About The Museum of Ancient Glass
A palace by the harbour filled with the delicate glass of Roman Zadar: thousands of bottles, urns and perfume phials dug from ancient graves, with live glassblowing that revives the craft of two thousand years ago.
The Museum of Ancient Glass fills the nineteenth-century Cosmacendi Palace, overlooking the Jazine harbour. Opened in 2009, it holds one of the richest collections of Roman glass anywhere, with more than five thousand objects and around fifteen hundred on display. The glass dates from the first century BC to the fifth century AD and was made in Zadar, then the Roman town of Iader.
Most of it was recovered from Roman cemeteries around the city: tiny perfume bottles, jars and goblets, jewellery and funeral urns, many still iridescent with age. Glassblowers give live demonstrations of the ancient free-blowing technique, usually in the mornings, shaping vessels before visitors' eyes, and the pieces they make can be bought in the shop.
Did you know? The Museum of Ancient Glass, opened in 2009 in the nineteenth-century Cosmacendi Palace by the harbour, holds one of the world's finest collections of Roman glass, with more than five thousand objects and about fifteen hundred on display.
How long is a visit to The Museum of Ancient Glass?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for The Museum of Ancient Glass. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is The Museum of Ancient Glass worth your time?
The Museum of Ancient Glass is among the 13 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Zadar, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Zadar
Day 2 of the Zadar in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of The Museum of Ancient Glass
Preview the Zadar tour free in the Gingerguide app.