Collection of Awards, Medals and Plaques

The Museum has a collection of about twenty different commemorative medals created from the beginning of the 19^th century (e.g. from the Treaty of Paris in 1814) until the second half of the 20^th century (e.g. the Nikola Karković memorial medal, minted in 1966 on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Vis).

Particularly interesting are the Wilhelm von Tegetthoff memorial medal, the work of prominent Viennese medalist Josef Tautenhayn; a medal dedicated to the expedition of the frigate "Novara" in 1857 - 1859; the Ferdinand de Lesseps medal from 1869, on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal; the Ivan Gundulić medal from the unveiling ceremony of the monument to the poet in Dubrovnik on June 6^th 1893, and the medal of the transatlantic liner "Normandie" which was awarded to the passengers on her first voyage from Le Havre to New York in 1935.

The collection also contains medals from the period of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, socialist Yugoslavia as well as the Republic of Croatia. The largest part, however, is made up of orders and medals from the period of socialist Yugoslavia, and the Museum holds all awards except those awarded to Josip Broz Tito and foreign dignitaries.

Among the more recent items in the Collection, it is worth mentioning the donation of Mile Čatlak, the first commander of the First Detachment of Naval Commandos of the Croatian Navy, who presented the Museum with all the awards given to him by the Presidents of the Republic of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman and Stjepan Mesić.

A special sub-collection consists of plaques of foreign warships that visited Split from the first half of the 20^th century until the present day.

Collection manager: Daniela Kušpilić, curator