Mimara Museum


The Mimara Museum is an art museum in the city of Zagreb, Croatia, opened on July 17, 1987. It is situated on Roosevelt Square, housing the collection by Wiltrud and Ante Topić Mimara.
The museum contains over 3,750 objects, including Ptolemaic glassware from Alexandria, jade and ivory Qing-dynasty ornaments, 14th-century wooden crosses encrusted with semiprecious stones, and European paintings by many artists such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Bosch, Velázquez, Goya, Renoir and Degas.

History

Background
Situated in the historical centre of Zagreb close to the Green Horseshoe system of city parks, the neoclassical museum building dating from the second half of the 19th century is part of the typical urban architecture of Zagreb's Lower Town. It was built in 1896 as a complex of school buildings. Built in pseudo-renaissance style of the Italian urban palaces, the building is classified as architectural heritage protected by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. The monumental school building was built on the initiative of Dr Izidor Kršnjavi, a prominent Croatian figure in the late 19th century. The museum's atrium and the former school gym was built in the style of ancient Greek temples. The three-storey school building was designed by A. Ludwig and L. Th. Hülssner, German architects who specialised in building schools in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Ante Topić Mimara, was born on April 7, 1898. Starting in the mid-1920s he began collecting art objects, a hobby that grew into a significant collection over the years. He lived in various European cities, including Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and Berlin, continuously expanding his collection throughout his life. Even before World War II Mimara had a noteworthy art collection, with professional texts about his works appearing in prestigious German art magazines.
In 1948 he made his first donation by giving numerous paintings and sculptures to Strossmayer's gallery in Zagreb. The foundation of today's Mimara Museum was established through his major donations in 1973 and 1986, including works from his collection and those of his wife, Prof. Dr. Wiltrud Topić Mersmann.
Collections within the museum:
  • A collection of ancient civilizations
  • Collection of drawings, graphics and illuminations
  • Collection of European sculpture
  • Collection of ivory
  • Collection of metals and other materials
  • Collection of ceramics and porcelain
  • Glass collection
  • Collection of furniture
  • A collection of textiles and rugs
  • Collection of Far Eastern art
  • Collection of icons
  • Flemish painting
  • Spanish painting
  • French painting
  • Italian painting
  • English painting
  • Dutch painting
  • German, Austrian and Swiss painting
A "small Louvre" in the centre of Zagreb
The Mimara Museum is one of the largest art collections in Southeastern Europe. The glass collection covers the history of glassmaking from 2000 B.C. to the late 19th century and includes fine samples of the glass making tradition in Venice and Murano. The Oriental collection includes items made of fine china, semi-precious stones and other luxury materials.
The first floor is dedicated to ancient civilizations and a collection of European sculpting art and crafts, including artefacts from the Mesopotamian civilization, Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome. The oldest piece in the collection is a bone figurine of Venus from the early Paleolithic age. Almost all historical styles of sculpture present in European civilization are represented in this collection, from Romanesque sacral art to 20th-century sculpture. Crafts are represented in collections of artefacts made of ivory, china, textiles, metal and other materials, and a furniture collection dating from the late 15th to the early 19th century that is part of the museum's permanent display.
The rooms on the second floor are dedicated to paintings by Italian, French, Flemish, Spanish and Dutch masters, dating from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century, as well as a large collection of icons. Apart from works by old masters such as Paolo Veneziano, Rubens and Diego Velázquez, impressionist art from the second half of the 19th century is well represented with Auguste Renoir's Bather, Édouard Manet's still-lifes and a number of pieces by Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro.
Other activities
In addition to the gallery which is home to the art from the permanent display, art exhibitions are occasionally organised in the atrium, the collector's room on the ground floor, and the studio in the basement.
The atrium is used to host cultural events such as book promotions, award giving ceremonies in art and culture, press conferences and other types of events, including product or service presentations and gala dinners. There is also a multimedia hall which is used for lectures and screening events, and a Gymnasium Cafe with a large terrace, which also offers catering services for all types of events.
The grand hall on the second floor of the museum, where many old masters' paintings are displayed, is also used to host events, including concerts, business conferences, conventions, lectures. and presentations.

Museum Mimara – Reconstruction

The Mimara Museum faced significant damage during the 2020 Zagreb earthquake. It had to close its doors to visitors from March 22, 2020. The roof of the building and the fancy hall on the second floor got really damaged. Even some of the art on display got damaged, but they have been working on restoration. As of 2025 the museum is undergoing reconstruction, and it’s planned to be open by summer of 2026.

Artworks

According to Thomas Hoving, "Topic Mimara's hoard of masterpieces are 95 percent fakes produced by him and his hired forgers.". On its opening, a "prominent Yugoslav art historian" told AP that "it might be the greatest collection of fakes in the world.". According to Federico Zeri, the preview contained "trash along with some good things. Ninety percent is junk."; Ante Topić Mimara built his collection by forging, but also by looting and swindling.
Of the total of 3,700 varied works of art, more than 1,500 exhibits constitute permanent holdings, dating from the prehistoric period up to the 20th century. Some of the most famous exhibits include works attributed to Lorenzetti, Giorgione, Veronese, Canaletto, 60 paintings to the Dutch masters Van Goyen, Ruisdael, 50 works attributed to the Flemish masters Van der Weyden, Bosch, Rubens, Van Dyck, more than 30 to the Spanish masters Velázquez, Murillo, Goya, some 20 paintings to the German masters Holbein, Liebermann, Leibl, some 30 paintings to the English painters Gainsborough, Turner, Bonington and more than 120 paintings attributed to the French masters Georges de La Tour, Boucher, Chardin, Delacroix, Corot, Manet, Renoir, Degas. The drawings collection holds some 200 drawings attributed to Bronzino, Guardi, Claude Lorrain, Le Brun, Oudry, Greuze, Géricault, and Friesz.
The museum was opened in 1987. The building itself originates from the 19th century, its conversion to a museum overseen by a Zagreb architect Kuno Waidmann; originally it served as a gymnasium.