Museum of Broken Relationships
Photo: Own work — CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb showcases personal items from past relationships, each accompanied by stories of joy, sorrow, and everything in between.
Planning your visit
Two Zagreb artists ended a relationship in 2003 and joked about a museum for the objects left over. They collected donations from friends, then from strangers, then internationally, and the result won the European Museum of the Year award in 2011.
The format is simple and it works: an ordinary object, the length of the relationship, and a short anonymous text written by the donor. A wedding dress in a jar. An axe used to chop up an ex-partner's furniture. A garden gnome. A prosthetic leg. The objects mean nothing; the labels do everything, and the range runs from very funny to genuinely devastating within a few metres.
The scope has widened beyond romantic love into loss of all kinds — parents, children, countries, selves — and donations still arrive from around the world.
It sits in the Upper Town near St Mark's. Allow an hour, though people commonly stay longer than intended. Bookable options include skip-the-line tickets. Current availability is listed below.
Before you book
Where is Museum of Broken Relationships?
Museum of Broken Relationships is in Zagreb, Croatia. The map on this page marks its exact location.
Do I need to book Museum of Broken Relationships in advance?
Skip-the-line entry is worth booking ahead here: the saving is the queue, which is exactly what sells out.
