“Lanza” collection
Among more than four thousand specimens of ores and minerals collected by the natural history collector Franjo Lanza (from Split), the director of the then National Museum of Natural History in Zagreb, Gjuro Pilar, selected and purchased the most valuable specimens in 1875 for the newly established museum.
This marked the creation of the Lanza Collection, one of the oldest mineralogical collections in Croatia.
From it, Pilar selected around one thousand representative specimens, which became the backbone of the future systematic collection of minerals and laid the foundation for its further development.
Temporary collection manager: Dr. Ivan Razum, museum advisor
