Exhibition Lobor – An Early Medieval Centre of Power, 20 Years of Archaeological Excavations

EXHIBITION
Lobor – An Early Medieval Centre of Power, 20 Years of Archaeological Excavations
22 December 2022 – 24 March 2023
Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, 1st floor

Working hours
Tuesday - Wednesday, Friday 12 - 4 pm
Thursday 12 - 6 pm
Saturday 10 - 2 pm
free admission

Due to the ongoing renovation of the Museum, the permanent exhibition is currently unavailable.

The exhibition project Lobor – An Early Medieval Centre of Power, 20 Years of Archaeological Excavations was jointly conceived by the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, the Archaeological Institute of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Zagreb, and the Centre for Early Medieval Research Zagreb – Lobor, with the aim of presenting the results of the rescue and long term excavations carried out from 1998 to the present on the site by the shrine of Our Lady of the Mountain in Lobor (Krapina-Zagorje County), under the direction of Krešimir Filipec.

Lobor is located below Ivanščica Mountain in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region, some fifty kilometers north of Zagreb. One of the most important archaeological sites of northern Croatia is located on the hill called Gora, from which the ancient Roman road Poetovio – Siscia (Ptuj – Sisak) could easily be controlled. This is a multilayered site where the first traces of the utilization of this favourable position are dated to the prehistoric period (Bronze and Iron Ages). Many finds have been preserved from the period of the Roman Empire, such as several tombstones and parts of a sculpture that probably stood in a temple dedicated to the goddess Diana. The Early Christian history of this site begins with the construction of a church with an octagonal baptistery (5th – 6th centuries). In the early medieval period, which resulted in the greatest amount of archaeological data and material remains, particularly in reference to the newly settled Pannonian Slavic and Croatian inhabitants, a three-nave basilica with a narthex and a belltower was built (9th cent.), and next to it, somewhat earlier, a smaller single-nave wooden church with a square apse (beginning of the 9th cent.). After the pre-Romanesque church was destroyed, a late Romanesque single-nave church with a semicircular apse was constructed (12th/13th cent.), and finally as the last, the existing Gothic church was built (14th/15th cent.), which was restored in Baroque style in the 18th century after a devastating earthquake.

The results from these many years of archaeological excavations have been achieved through the cooperation and dedicated work of numerous experts from different professions that participated in various phases in the project or in the excavations. Throughout the many years of work, an abundance of mobile archaeological material has been gathered, while at the site itself the conserved architectural remains were preserved and presented.
Through texts, photo panels, multimedia content, reconstructions, and archeological items, the exhibition seeks to demonstrate various aspects of the life and customs of the population that lived at Lobor, used this position for religious purposes, and finally found their final resting place there. Although the results of the excavations were regularly presented over the years through small exhibits, lectures, scientific and professional works, the upcoming exhibition will present in one place all the most important finds of stone sculpture, jewellery, pottery, and the rare find of a bone reliquary, as well as explicating the final overall complex stratigraphy of the site.