Ivan Šestan was born in Zagreb in 1947; he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, having majored in ethnology and Indology. He wanted to be engaged in the study of contemporary Indian culture, but by force of circumstances did not do so after graduating, yet the knowledge he had acquired helped him in his work in ethnology. His first job, while still ABD, was in the Đakovo Area Museum, Đakovo, where he ran the folk costume collection. Later on he moved to the Ethnographic Museum Zagreb. A particular interest lies in the viticulture and viniculture of antiquity and the Middle Ages. His first exhibition in the Ethnographic Museum was the Heart Motif in Traditional Art Expression, and then he put on exhibitions Olive Culture, Viticulture, Folk Costume of the Bunjevac Croats and so on.
He has authored numerous catalogues, taken part in conferences and symposia at home and abroad. As for scholarly works, important are Trades in the Surrounds of Zagreb, Etnološka istraživanja 3-4, 1987; Gračac and Surrounds as Crossroads of Cultures (Etnološka tribina, 16, 1993); Concerning Some Issues in the Technology of Croatian Traditional Viticulture.
He would like to present his research in a popular way - via a computer game on CD. As well as running the Fruit Growing, Viticulture, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery collections in the Ethnology Museum in Zagreb, he is leader of the main service for ethnology.

NB. Data taken from the questionnaire, material taken from the Personnel Archives of the MDC, and from an interview recorded on April 5, 2006.