Through its basic, documentation, information, consulting, museological, research, educational, publishing, library and exhibition activities, the Museum Documentation Centre participates in the development of the Croatian and international museum community.

History

The Museum Documentation Centre was founded in Zagreb in 1955, on the initiative of Dr. Antun Bauer, pursuant to the Decision of the Board of the Museum Society of the People’s Republic of Croatia, in Zagreb, with the following tasks:

• to systematically collect, record and process material on the development and the activities of museum institutions;
• to collect scientific and scholarly museological literature, documentation and material;
• to serve the needs of experts and all persons interested in the furthering of the museum profession;
• to popularise the work of museum institutions.

In order to promote the establishment of the Museum Documentation Centre Dr. Antun Bauer donated to the City of Zagreb comprehensive holdings including documents, photographs, books and a collection of prints, collected over three decades and related to museological activities.
Interestingly enough, a publication entitled Museums and Archives in Croatia was produced on the Initiative of the Executive Council of the Parliament of the People’s Republic of Croatia as early as 1952, because it was found that in Croatian museums “... there are no systematic records or concrete information on museum institutions.”

The collection of comprehensive information on every museum in Croatia, based on the principle used in the systematisation of analogue material in the ICOM Museum Documentation Centre in Paris, started in 1953 with the support of the Information Office of the Executive Council of the Parliament of the People’s Republic of Croatia.

Between 1955 and 1964 the Museum Documentation Centre was part of the Croatian School Museum. By decision of the Museum Council and in agreement with the Republican Secretariat of Culture, on 21 January 1964 the Museum Documentation Centre became an independent department of the Croatian School Museum in Zagreb. Two years later, on 5 December 1966, it became part of the Technical Museum.
On 22 July 1968 the Museum Documentation Centre was registered as an independent institution by the District Commercial Court at the address Mesnička 5, Zagreb.
Its current address is Ilica 44/II, Zagreb.

Vision of the Museum Documentation Centre

• Central online database on museum exhibits and collections;
• exchange with European museum databases;
• coordination of the infrastructure of museum holding digitisation;
• creation of a Croatian digital museum network.

Višnja Zgaga, Director of the Museum Documentation Centre, Development strategy for 2003-2007