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Gallery Klovicevi Dvori. Picture By Suradnik13.

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Gallery Klovicevi Dvori

Klovicevi Dvori Gallery is a Croatian art gallery located in Zagreb. The gallery, which opened in 1982, is named after the 16th-century Croatian-born artist Juraj Julije Klovi, who is regarded as one of the greatest manuscript illuminators of the Italian Renaissance (the phrase “Klovievi dvori” translates as “Klovi Palace” or “Klovi Hall”).

The gallery is housed in a former 18th-century Jesuit monastery in the historic district of Gradec in Zagreb’s Upper Town, close to St. Catherine’s Church, St. Mark’s Square, Old City Hall, and Lotrak Tower.

The upper station of the Zagreb funicular, as well as the Museum of Broken Relationships, are also nearby. The art gallery has remarkable facts that are discussed in this article;

1.  The gallery first opened to the public in March 1982 

The former Jesuit monastery was converted into an exhibition space in the two years following its formal establishment in 1980 as a venue to house Ante Topi Mimara’s extensive art collection.

However, because the controversial collector was dissatisfied with the location of his artworks, the gallery first opened to the public in March 1982 with shows that included major traveling exhibitions of international importance, such as collections of engravings by Albrecht D眉rer and works by painter Oton Gliha and sculptor Duan Damonja.

 The gallery’s first major success was a three-month exhibition of ancient Chinese art in 1984, which featured 160 objects loaned from the National Museum of China and drew hundreds of thousands of visitors. 

2.  The Gallery expanded to four exhibition venues which were managed as a single public entity

The gallery expanded to the nearby Lotrak Tower in 1985, and the Mimara Museum opened in 1987. In the same year, a fourth location, Gradec Gallery (Galerija Gradec), opened nearby.  MGC managed all four exhibition venues as a single public entity (Muzejsko-galerijski center).

The Gradec Gallery closed in the 1990s due to decay, while the much larger Mimara Museum split off to become a separate entity dedicated solely to housing the Mimara collection.

The remaining two venues in Zagreb’s historic Upper Town, however, remained open, with GKD and Lotrak Tower hosting a variety of traveling exhibitions by Croatian and international artists. It hosts approximately 30 exhibitions per year and is one of the largest such institutions in the country.

3. He has been the pioneer in taking major steps in the Croatian artistic and cultural scene

Gallery Klovicevi Dvori artistic works. Picture By Vlaho Bukova.

The Klovi膰evi dvori Gallery is one of the most important cultural institutions in Croatia.

With its broad area of activities encompassing artistic and cultural phenomena from prehistory to modernity, and by engaging with a variety of topics and original approaches, the Klovi膰evi dvori Gallery continues to intrigue domestic and foreign audiences.

From its foundation in 1982, the Klovi膰evi dvori Gallery then called the Museum Space (Muzejski prostor), has been the pioneer in taking major steps on the Croatian artistic and cultural scene.

4. The Gallery promotes historical and cultural heritage

The Gallery hosts up to 30 exhibitions per year on its four floors of exhibition space, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of people. The high quality of exhibition programs is achieved by introducing novel approaches, choosing intricate subjects and presentation styles, and incorporating new technological advances into gallery spaces. The Klovievi dvori Gallery promotes historical and cultural heritage, as well as contemporary art, through its exhibition program. Exhibitions were among the most significant projects completed in recent years.

5. The Gallery boldly began to launch major cultural projects, previously unfathomable in Croatia

The monastery building was restored in the 1980s and has been used as an exhibition venue since 1982. From the early 1980s, the Gallery boldly began to launch major cultural projects that were previously unthinkable in Croatia.

Albrecht D眉rer, Duan Damonja, and Oton Gliha’s works were on display when the Gallery opened. Soon after, it astounded the audience with the first-ever look inside the Zagreb Cathedral Treasury.

The sculptor Ivan Metrovi’s retrospective exhibition was another achievement of the 1980s, but the exhibition on Ancient Chinese Culture was the clear highlight that wowed the European audience. Hundreds of thousands of visitors descended quickly.

6. The Gallery was the first in Croatia to promote comics, caricatures, and illustration

Illustrations in the Gallery building. Picture by Giulio Clovio.

The Gallery was one of the first in Croatia to promote comics, caricatures, and illustrations. In addition, it established the Croatian Biennale of Illustration.

The Klovievi dvori Gallery brought works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Mir贸, Vasarely, Chagall, Degas, Monet, Kandinsky, and a slew of other famous German Expressionist and Russian Avant-garde artists to Zagreb.

The Gallery has successfully showcased Croatian historical heritage and contemporary art to Europe and the rest of the world on several occasions.

7. The Gallery was the first to evaluate the bodies of work of Croatian modern artists

It revealed previously unknown artistic heritage to its domestic audience.

numerous church treasuries, exquisite artworks kept by monastic orders, the Dalmatian Hinterland as an undiscovered land, and Slavonia, Baranja, and Srijem as the sources of European civilization.

Emanuel Vidovi, Leo Junek, Slava Rakaj, Jozo Kljakovi, Robert Auer, Vlaho Bukovac, Mate Celestin Medovi, and Menci Clement Crni were among the first to have their bodies of work evaluated by the Gallery.

It also provided the first cultural synthesis of Croatian avant-garde and Croatian Expressionism, as well as the first comprehensive presentation of Greek and Classical Roman heritage on Croatian soil.

8. The building is the work of two architects

Klovi膰evi dvori, Building. Picture By Suradnik13.

The current form of the building is the work of two architects, Vahid Hodi and Igor Emili, who were in charge of its adaptation to a museum from 1973 to 1984.

The interior underwent numerous changes, including the addition of a second floor to the west fa莽ade and the lowering of the main yard’s ground level. These interventions transformed Upper Town’s largest and most beautiful edifice into a museum, the purpose of which has been preserved to the present day.

Since 1982, the Museum has been housed in an adapted building of the Jesuit monastery, which was originally intended as an exhibition space for Ante and Wiltrud Topi Mimara’s collection of artifacts.

In response to international trends, the Museum began implementing new market strategies in the design of exhibitions and complementary programs.  

9. The Museum is a tourist attraction site

Tourists at a festival in Klovicevi Dvori Gallery. By Branko Radovanovi膰.

It is also one of the most successful ones in Croatia. Its production of about thirty exhibitions a year and thirty-three years long history reached the number of 2000 realized exhibitions in total.

It also holds six individual art collections: the Herman Collection, Crnobori Collection, Per膷i膰 Collection, Kopa膷 Collection, Restek Collection, and Collection of donated artifacts.

All the collections are preserved and often used for various projects. Galerija Klovi膰evi Dvori installs exhibitions presenting works belonging to the most famous international heritage.

10. It was once destroyed but the fire but renovated

A renovated Klovicevi Dvori Gallery. Courtesy of Jorge L谩scar. Wikimedia

It was partially destroyed in a fire and was later constantly renovated and rebuilt. A former Jesuit monastery that had been used for offices and archives had been drastically altered between 1974 and 1983 when it was transformed into an art exhibition center.

Since then, the Gallery has hosted numerous exhibitions of paintings and sculptures by well-known Croatian and international artists. The Gallery and its elegant Atrium are ideal for holding meetings, receptions, and banquets.

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