The batana is a flat-bottomed wooden rowing and sailing boat unique to Rovinj, used by fishermen for centuries to navigate the shallow waters along the Istrian coast. The Batana Eco Museum, opened in 2004 on the harbour front, documents this tradition through models, tools, photographs, and recorded testimonies of the last batana builders and fishermen.
What makes the museum more than a standard heritage display is its connection to living practice. The adjacent boathouse where batanas are still built and repaired is sometimes accessible to visitors. The museum also organises occasional evening events — trips in a batana with traditional music and song — that are worth checking the schedule for. The batana tradition was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.