Partner Institutions

The Municipality of Trieste
Trieste is a city and a seaport in the northeastern part of Italy, situated towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory, lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. Trieste was one of the oldest parts of the Habsburg Monarchy, from 1382 until 1918, and was the most important seaport of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. At the end of the 19th century, it emerged as an important hub for literature and music, and was frequented by artists and philosophers such as James Joyce, Italo Svevo, Sigmund Freud, and Umberto Saba.

Today, from the perspective of culture, Trieste is still a cosmopolitan city, but has also become an important scientific center thanks to its universities, as well as other important scientific institutions. To underline the importance of science, the City will host the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in July 2020.

"J. J. Winckelmann" Museum of Antiquity, Trieste
The idea of creating a museum that could bring together the antiquities found in the city and in the Istrian and Aquileian territory in Trieste was born in the early nineteenth century. The chosen location was the San Giusto hill. On June 8, 1843, on the 75th anniversary of Winckelmann’s death, the Lapidary Garden was officially opened to the public.

In 1909, in consideration of the fact that the civic collections were no longer composed only of ancient artifacts, but also of important works of art, as well as historical and ethnographic finds, the Museum assumed the name of the Civic Museum of History and Art. The official inauguration of the current building in via della Cattedrale took place in 1925.

On June 8, 2018, the Municipality of Trieste and the Civic Museums paid tribute to J. J. Winckelmann, giving the Museum of Antiquity his name. 

Today, the Museum houses the prehistoric, protohistoric, Egyptian, Roman, and Mayan, as well as a collection of classical pottery.

The Croatian Community of Trieste ("Illyria Route" project)
The non-profit cultural association "Croatian Community of Trieste — Hrvatska zajednica u Trstu" was founded in Trieste in 1999, at the initiative of a group of citizens of Croatian origin from Trieste, with the aim of creating a cultural bridge between the city of Trieste, the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, and Croatia.

The Community, which, as per its own statute, has a non-partisan and non-denominational character, is mainly focused on promoting different levels of communication between Italian and Croatian citizens, associations, and institutions, in order to encourage the development of socio-cultural relationships, knowledge, and friendship between the two nations.

The Croatian Community has distinguished itself in organizing numerous artistic events such as: theatre performances, concerts of classical and modern music, exhibitions of figurative and photographic art, as well as historical and archaeological exhibitions.

The Community is also one of the founding members of "Illyria Route", a cultural project that involves numerous partners in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia Herzegovina. The project aims to create a Cultural Route that promotes the history, and archaeological sites, of ancient pre-Roman people who lived in the area between the Venezia Giulia region, and Montenegro and Albania.