Senj’s Town Museum occupies the Gothic-Renaissance palace of the Vukasović family, a beautifully restored building with wooden-beamed ceilings and atmospherically creaky staircases. The museum’s pride and joy is the brand-new display of Roman-ea amphorae in the basement, where a recreated seabed scene shows how these shipwrecked ancient vessels looked when the marine archeologists first found them. Three more floors of exhibits follow, showcasing Senj’s importance as a spiritual centre from the Middle Ages onwards. Occupying pride of place is the so-called Senj Tablet (Senjska ploča), a fractured piece of stone bearing a twelfth-century inscription in the Glagolitic script. Built into a staircase in the Nehaj fortress, the tablet probably originally belonged to a medieval monastery demolished to provide Nehaj with construction materials. Senj was a major centre of Galagolitic printing during the Renaissance, recalled here by a collection of old books and facsimiles. Several rooms pay moving tribute to those Senj citizens who served during the Homeland War of 1991-1995. The display culminates with a room devoted to the Bunjevci, Croats who originally lived in the river Buna area (Herzegovina) but were dispersed in the aftermath of the Ottoman invasion. Today, descendants of the Bunjevci live in three main locations: the Senj region, the hinterland of Dalmatia, and the area around Subotica in northern Serbia. Characteristically colourful Bunjevci costumes are beautifully displayed here, alongside embroidery, tufted rugs and other traditional handicrafts.

Admission 10 - 20kn.