Croatia’s Newly Revamped Bunari Museum And Cafe, Sibenik

One of the highlights of Croatia Online’s last extensive exploration of the Dalmatian Coast was to re discover the Bunari building. We’ve been watching it for a few years since the museum  opened for the first time, one of the most innovative in Croatia, and then closed soon after. Now the museum has been brought back to life and there’s a great cafe and nightspot downstairs. Below are extracts of our report for Time Out Croatia.

Caffe and Wine Bar Bunari

Obala palih omladinaca 2 (022 219484). Open 8am-1pm daily. No credit cards.

Šibenik nights are much brighter now that the Bunari museum is back in action albeit in a somewhat different form. New owners Ivica Pilić and Ivan Livić have overcome most of the obstacles to bring this remarkable venue back to life. Originally just an award winning exhibition space masterminded by specialist museum designers JANVS, the exhibition space remains upstairs (separate entrance and opening times ) but downstairs is a vibrant, spacious and modern interior made all the more vibrant by an imaginative year round programme of events featuring jam sessions for local musicians, karaoke, and live bands and DJs playing most genres of music including jazz, blues, klapa and gypsy swing. Events are almost daily in the summer; 3 or 4 times a week in winter. Drinks are reasonably priced, there’s free WiFi and internet, brioche breakfasts are in the plans though otherwise there’s no food, and there’s occasional jazz on the fantastic terrace next to Pelegrini where you can peer down through the protective glass into the wells or gaze over the estuary, or peek through the terrace entrance to the majestic cathedral just across the square.

 

Bunari – Secrets of Šibenik

Obala palih omladinaca 2 (022 219484). Open Apr-Sep 9am-10pm daily; otherwise by arrangement. Admission 15kn, concessions 10kn, under 7’s and over 65’s free.

A great exhibition in a remarkable building tells the story of Šibenik and particularly its four wells. Brought to life again after being closed for a few years, the interactive museum includes a pinball machine about Šibenik’s shipwrecks, an ancient diving suit, treasure chests, a 3D castle puzzle and a “reveal” of Šibenik’s main sights. Guides are available to take you around the city itself and when you get thirsty or in need of entertainment, pop downstairs to the Caffe and Wine Bar Bunari. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, the raison d’etre is the story of the wells and the history of the town itself. The four wells housed beneath the terrace were still in use until the middle of the twentieth century, when a public water mains system was installed, 500 years after they were first constructed. The capacity of up to 28,800 barrels saw Šibenik citizens through long periods of siege and drought and the building also protected them from air raids in the Second World War.