Mimara Museum

History of the museum

The full name of the museum is: Public Institution “Ante and Wiltrude Topić Mimara Art Collection” – Mimara Museum, with its headquarters at Rooseveltova trg 5 in Zagreb. The statute of the museum allows the use of a shorter form of the name: Mimara Museum.

The founder of the museum is the Republic of Croatia. The museum is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, which finances its activities. Annual programs are co-financed by the City of Zagreb.

The museum was founded in 1980 and opened to the public on July 17, 1987.

Beginnings of establishment

The museum's holdings are once a private collection of works of art by the collector Ante Topić Mimara (1898-1987), which he donated to the Croatian people for permanent ownership, provided that space is arranged for its permanent exhibition. The fund is expanding with new acquisitions.

The terms of the grant were determined by the contract between Ante Topic Mimara and the Republic of Croatia of 6 October 1973 and the addendum to that contract of 29 October 1986.

It was originally planned to permanently house Mimara's collection in the building of the former Jesuit monastery in Zagreb's Upper Town, Jesuit Square 4. However, after an architectural modification, the building was originally named Museum Space, and today known as Klovićevi dvori Gallery : it hosts major foreign and domestic lending exhibitions.

In the mid-1980s, the Croatian Parliament and the Zagreb City Assembly decided to permanently house Mimara's art collection in the central part of the gymnasium complex on Rooseveltova trg 5 in Zagreb, where I. and IV. gymnasium and to adapt that space for museum needs, which was done from 1985 to 1987.

In 1985, the "Law on the Museum-Gallery Center" stipulates that the Mimara Museum operates as part of the Museum-Gallery Center, with its headquarters at Jesuit Square 4, together with the Museum space, later renamed the "Klovićevi dvori" Gallery.

In 1998, the Law on Museums terminated the Museum-Gallery Center, which was divided into two independent public institutions and equal successors: the Mimara Museum and the Klovićevi dvori Gallery.

By being entered in the court register at the Commercial Court in Zagreb, the Mimara Museum has been operating as an independent public institution since 9 February 1999.

Exhibitions from the Ante Topić Mimara Art Collection held until the opening of the museum building in 1987.

In the years preceding the opening of the museum to the public in 1987, parts of the collection were repeatedly exhibited in Zagreb:

Exhibition of a part of the Ante Topić Mimara Collection. Villa “Zagorje”, Pantovčak, Zagreb, September 27, 1983 – July 31, 1984. Ante Topić Mimara Collection – Chinese Art. Museum space, Zagreb, March 21 – June 16, 1985. Exhibition Mimara – From the world of samurai. Museum space, Zagreb, April 6 – June 16, 1985. Prayer carpets and mosque lamps from the Ante Topić Mimara Collection. Museum space, Zagreb, 16 May – 16 June 1985