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Make sure your itinerary to visit Dubrovnik, Croatia looks like this:

1. Walk Dubrovnik’s fortress walls
2. Visit The Red Museum

Yes, I’m telling you that the museum is the second most important thing to do.

The Red Museum was one of the most important cultural experiences I had during my six weeks of travel in the Balkans. The museum exhibits are immersive and interactive. The curator seeks to provide an objective view of what life was like for an average citizen in communist Yugoslavia.

If you are a “child of the 90s” then you were indoctrinated into the cold war and the “threat of communisum” in the 1980s via public education and media. If you were born afterwards, then you’re more likely to associate Drubovnik, Croatia with King’s Landing and Game of Thrones.  We first learned about Croatia when it declared its independence from Yugoslavia during the decline of authoritarian communism in Eastern Europe – the same decline that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in East Germany.

Traveling through the Balkans for six weeks, I am learning a lot about the 20th century history of Yugoslavia and the countries that pulled together to create it in 1918 as a monarchy and recast it as a communist country in 1946.  I’ve also watched videos explaining the conflicts that kicked off in 1991 as its member states (North) Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia declared their independence from Yugoslavia.

The Red Museum captures Yugoslavia as a unique, (and economically thriving) communist country. The curator has expertly created an immersive experience where you will feel as if you’re stepping into the past as an average citizen of the country.

If you were born after 1990, you likely lack preconceived notions of Communist countries like Yugoslavia and the U.S.S.R. After 1989, cold war rhetoric in the U.S. faded and the government and media looked to frighten us with new threats.  My teenage impression of life in a Communist country is captured in the word “bleak”.  “The Free World” (i.e., the U.S. and Western Europe) was cast as “thriving” and life under communism was cast as “meager”, “joyless”, and “oppressed”.

Therefore, stepping into the section of The Red Museum that recreates a typical 1960s Yugoslavian home was a little jarring.  To abuse a People magazine meme, I thought, “Yugoslavians, they’re just like us.”  You will walk through the recreation of a family’s kitchen, living room, and bedroom.  I had not realized that Yugoslavia was the first country to open itself up to trade with Western capitalist countries and was quite surprised to see so many branded consumer products on the shelf.  This Westward shift was due to conflict between the revered leader of Yugoslavia, Marshall Tito, and the austere leader of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin.  

Equally surprising was to learn that Yugoslavia had a thriving music industry that paralleled the rise of pop & rock music in the U.S. There is a fascinating wall plastered with 20 album covers. You can listen to 7 tracks! The tracks cover pop, rock, folk, and even punk genres. Don’t miss “Rock Me” by Riva which was the song that made Yugoslavia a Eurovision champion in 1989.

The museum strives to take a balanced and objective view of Yugoslavian history.  One exhibit that exemplifies their approach is a set of two videos that are side by side.  In one, a man  who was imprisoned at Goli Otok – labor camp stationed on an island where many rocks and men were broken – tells his story.  In the other, the man who was part of Yugoslavia’s ruling communist party and was responsible for the labor camp tells his story.  You witness two different perspectives of the morality of the camp and leave expecting that the “truth” is somewhere in between.

The grand finale of your walk through the museum is the opportunity to climb into the driver’s seat of a domestically manufactured Yugo automobile.

Admission is €9 per adult. If you have previously purchased a Dubrovnik Pass to explore the fortress walls than you are eligible for a 20% discount at The Red Museum.