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Hidden gem1st c. BC – 6th c. ADTicketed

Narona

Vid, Arheološki muzej Narona

city · Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia

What it is
Narona was a Greek trading post that became a major Roman town in the Neretva valley, at today's village of Vid near Metković.
What you’ll see
The Narona Archaeological Museum was the first museum in Croatia built in situ, over the remains of the Augusteum, the temple of the emperor Augustus (hr.wikipedia).
Worth the trip?
Yes, for the museum: a room full of imperial statues standing where they were found. The rest of Narona is scattered remains, so the museum is the reason to come.
Getting there & cost
The museum is in Vid, about 4 km from Metković (the nearest town, OpenStreetMap).Ticketed · €6 · checked 26 September 2026Hours, tickets and parking
Tumbled grey stone wall blocks along a dry hillside in the foreground, looking out over a wide green river plain with cypress trees and mountains on the horizon.
The remains of the city walls at Vid, above the Neretva valley. · Photo: Miroslav Vajdić · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A row of headless and damaged white marble statues of men and women in togas and robes standing on a plinth along the back of an excavated temple room with a mosaic floor, under a modern metal gallery.
Statues of the imperial family found in the Augusteum, shown where they were found inside the museum. · Photo: Rolf Kawel · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Wikimedia Commons
A modern grey museum building with a diagonal external staircase, stone fragments on its forecourt and large blue letters reading "Arheološki muzej Narona" at the entrance.
The Narona Archaeological Museum in Vid. · Photo: Dreizung · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Narona was a Greek trading post that became a major Roman town in the Neretva valley, at today’s village of Vid near Metković. Its highlight is unusual: a museum built right over the town’s temple of Augustus, where the statues of the imperial family found in the temple stand in the room they were found in.

What is there today

The Narona Archaeological Museum was the first museum in Croatia built in situ, over the remains of the Augusteum, the temple of the emperor Augustus (hr.wikipedia). In its main hall, on the site of the temple, stand the statues of emperors and members of their families found there in 1995–96 — at least 19 statues, 16 of them emperors and relatives — together with the temple’s mosaic. Around it some 900 finds from Narona are on show, and outside, on terraces reached by stairs, are architectural fragments, inscriptions and a mosaic under a glass floor that probably belonged to a Roman shop (hr.wikipedia). The temple had been dedicated by the governor Dolabella; its statues were vandalised in the 4th century and their heads knocked off, and two heads bought nearby by Arthur Evans in 1878 have since been reunited with their bodies (en.wikipedia). Stretches of the city walls and other excavated sites lie around the village.

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, for the museum: a room full of imperial statues standing where they were found. The rest of Narona is scattered remains, so the museum is the reason to come.

Getting there

The museum is in Vid, about 4 km from Metković (the nearest town, OpenStreetMap). From June to September it is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09.00 to 19.00; from October to May, Tuesday to Friday 09.00–16.00, Saturday 09.00–17.00 and Sunday 09.00–13.00; it is closed on Mondays and holidays. A ticket is €6, or €3 for pupils, students and pensioners, and a family ticket €14. Guided tours can be booked in Croatian or English (Narona Archaeological Museum, read 26 September 2026). The outdoor terraces can be walked even when the museum is closed (hr.wikipedia).

Visiting details

Opening hours
From 1 June to 30 September, Tuesday to Sunday 09.00–19.00. From 1 October to 31 May, Tuesday to Friday 09.00–16.00, Saturday 09.00–17.00, Sunday 09.00–13.00. Closed on Mondays and public holidays. Booked groups can visit outside these hours.
Tickets
€6; €3 for pupils, students and pensioners; €14 for a family; €4 a head for groups. Guided tours by booking, €25 in Croatian or €30 in English.

Before you go

  • The outdoor terraces with larger stone pieces can be walked even outside opening hours (hr.wikipedia).

Hours and prices checked 26 September 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

Narona began as a Greek emporium in the 3rd or 2nd century BC and became the major Roman stronghold of the region in the 1st century BC, in the province of Dalmatia. It came under Byzantine rule in the 6th century, when it was a bishopric (from 530); the see was suppressed in 600 because the city was ruined, and the settlement ended in the 7th century with the arrival of the Slavs (en.wikipedia). The first known excavations were in 1877, and the great discovery of the Augusteum and its statues came in 1995–96; the museum opened on 18 May 2007 (hr.wikipedia).

More photographs

A long, low wall of large pale stone blocks along a grassy slope, with houses of the village above.
A stretch of the southern city walls. · Photo: Ma▀▄Ga · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

  • Thick rubble-stone walls about head high, with a small round-arched opening and a flight of stone steps rising along the wall, on a lawn with tall cypresses behind.

    Photo: Ma Ga · CC BY 3.0 · Commons

    6 km · villa · Čapljina

    Mogorjelo

    The 4th-century compound measures 102 by 86 m, with a tower at each corner — three square and one, the eastern, round — and gates on three sides, the north gate once flanked by carved blocks with acanthus and vine.

  • Conserved Roman walls of pale stone around a sunken room, with a low arched opening in the far wall, weeds growing among the stones and trees on the horizon.

    Photo: Croromano · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons

    14 km · fort · Ljubuški

    Castra of Gračine

    The site covers about 4 hectares, of which the walled complex took about 1.5; its wall, about 0.9 m thick, ran 140 m north to south and 110 m east to west (hr.wikipedia).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 197400CC BY
Wikidata Q1965337CC0
OpenStreetMap way/182879558ODbL
Wikipedia (en) — NaronaCC BY-SA 4.0
Wikipedia (hr) — Arheološki muzej NaronaCC BY-SA 4.0
Arheološki muzej Narona — opening hours and prices (the operator)licence not recorded