Muzeji od doma: digitalne aktivnosti hrvatskih muzeja tijekom pandemije bolesti COVID-19

In March 2020, Croatian museums closed their doors for several weeks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The period of physical confinement was further extended for some Zagreb museums that were severely damaged in the earthquake. After opening, as in many other museums in Europe and the world, physical visits continued to decline and museums recorded a drastic drop in visitors and financial losses. In response to the current situation, with the aim of continuing to fulfil their social, cultural and educational function, museums have turned to the internet and social networks as places for dialogue with users, dissemination of con-tent and presentation of events that couldn’t be physically organized. Many museums devoted themselves to creation of online resources such as digital exhibitions, virtual tours, e-learning materials, online conferences and tried to connect with their audiences in different ways and on different platforms. The aim of this paper was to investigate how Croatian museums have adapted their services and contents to new business conditions by using digital media. The paper analyses and evalu-ates the activities of museums on websites and social networks in one year period since the beginning of the pandemic. The results indicate a quantitatively as well as qualitatively rich online museums’ presence that could mark the beginning of a new era in digital communication and dissemination of heritage content. The research concludes that the digitization of museum activities is necessary for the future sustainability of museum functions and encourages further reflection on the direction of digital access to culture and heritage.