Museum of the Great War

Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 9am - 7pm

General enquiries: musei.erpac@regione.fvg.it

Guided tour bookings for groups: didatticamusei.erpac@regione.fvg.it

To understand how soldiers and civilians experienced their daily lives during World War I. The museum collects photographs, objects, and multimedia exhibits that evoke the wartime experience and its impact on society.

Located in the historic seat of the Provincial Museums of Borgo Castello, managed since 2016 by Erpac FVG, the Museum of the Great War was renovated and reopened in July 2025, reimagined as a “Museum for Europe,” in alignment with “GO! 2025 Nova Gorica – Gorizia European Capital of Culture.”

With a new exhibition design curated by Alessandra Martina and Lucio Fabi, the museum itinerary unfolds across ten rooms, each with a specific theme. The objects on display—uniforms and equipment, weapons, ammunition, documents, and photographs—guide visitors in discovering the everyday life of Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the front lines, as well as that of civilians in towns and villages.

The new setup builds upon the concepts that formed the foundation of the original Museum of the Great War, inaugurated in 1990, which marked a turning point in WWI museum narratives at the beginning of the 1990s by focusing on the daily lives of soldiers and civilians. Under the direction of Maria Masau Dan, the original curators were Antonio Sema, a military historian who sadly passed away in 2007, and Lucio Fabi.

The battlefield diorama, already present in the previous display, has now been enhanced with new multimedia features designed by Ikon, a renowned company specializing in innovative digital experiences.

Additional multimedia stations are installed from the very first room, which is dedicated to the Gorizia area during the pre-war period and to the events of 1914. A video introduces visitors by transporting them from the light-hearted atmosphere of the Belle Époque to the harsh realities of war.

With trilingual descriptions (Italian, Slovenian, and English), the new exhibition follows the guidelines of the Italian Ministry of Culture for museum communication: concise texts, clear language, and a layout designed to facilitate reading.

The final room of the museum includes a new section focused on the memory of the Great War, with particular attention to the monuments and memorials built in the years following the conflict.

ERPAC FVG – the Regional Body for Cultural Heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia – thus expands the cultural offering by encouraging reflection on the narrative and memory of war, a theme already explored in the 2024 exhibition on the various previous displays of the Museum of the Great War and one that will continue to be featured in future conferences and cultural initiatives.

The museum itinerary is further enriched with a thematic section on the Gorizia area before the war and in 1914. In the room dedicated to Gorizia, a large multimedia table illustrates the destruction of the city, which spent thirty months on the front line, bombed and partially destroyed by opposing artillery.

The Museum of the Great War also features significant improvements in accessibility, inclusivity, and usability for all types of visitors. These include ramps, platforms, elevators, stair lifts, and a comprehensive upgrade of the museum’s physical and visual accessibility through new entrances, internal pathways, and a custom-designed lighting system.

Additional infrastructure improvements include a data network supporting both the exhibitions and the smart management of the entire museum complex, along with video surveillance, intrusion detection, and fire prevention systems.

These were important, complex, and necessary works. During excavation for the installation of an external elevator and a ramp to overcome level differences in the garden area connecting the various buildings of the Provincial Museums of Borgo Castello, archaeological finds were discovered. These are currently being studied by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of Friuli Venezia Giulia with the aim of reconstructing a new chapter in the history of Gorizia’s historical settlements.

ERPAC – Borgo Castello, 13 – Gorizia
Phone: +39 0481 385230
Email: didatticamusei.erpac@regione.fvg.it
Email: musei.erpac@regione.fvg.it
Website: https://musei.regione.fvg.it
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
For group guided tour bookings: didatticamusei.erpac@regione.fvg.it

Ticket prices: Full price €6.
Reduced price €3 for individuals aged 18 to 25, groups of a minimum of 10 people (price per person), families with minors (price per adult), Coop members, FAI members, Touring Club Italiano members.
School groups: €1.
Free admission for minors, teachers on duty, licensed tour guides, journalists with press ID, individuals with disabilities and one accompanying person, ICOM members, FVGcard holders, and all visitors on the first Sunday of each month.

Tickets with guided tour: Full price with guided tour €11.
Reduced with guided tour €8.
School groups with guided tour €6.
Free admission with guided tour €5.