Long Friday on Lenuci’s Horseshoe

On every last Friday of the month, the Archaeological Museum, the Art Pavilion and the Modern Gallery will be open between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. as part of the “Long Friday” on the Lenuci’s Horseshoe action for all those who wish to view these museums’ treasures at popular prices.

At the end of February, the Archaeological Museum, the Art Pavilion and the Modern Gallery launched a joint project titled “Long Friday on Lenuci’s Horseshoe”. Since then, on every last Friday of the month, these museums have been open for visitors between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., with an admission fee of a symbolic 10 kuna for adults, and free entry for children up to the age of 7. Visitors have been able to view the museums’ permanent exhibits as well as special shows.

All the three museums are located on Lenuci’s horseshoe, several hundred meters apart from each other, along Zagreb’s most beautiful park - Zrinjevac.

The Archaeological Museum is the oldest museum institution in the Croatian capital. It was established back in 1836 and boasts over 450 thousand different artefacts in its representative holdings. In the 80’s of last century, the museum got involved in the intense archaeological works in various parts of Croatia. As a result, not only were the museum holdings expanded with valuable archaeological remains but also, precious data has been collected for the study of the population that inhabited those areas from prehistory to medieval times.

The near-by Modern Gallery boasts the largest collection of representative works by great Croatian painters and sculptors such as Vlaho Bukovac, Josip Račić, Miroslav Kraljević, Ljubo Babić, Robert Frangeš Mihanović, Ivan Meštrović, Fran Kršinić and many other great masters of the brush and chisel, as well as contemporary artists – the masters of modern media. The museum’s holdings include some ten thousand works of art. Since 1934, their home has been the historic Vranyczany Palace in the heart of Zagreb, on the corner of Andrija Hebrang Street and Josip Juraj Strossmayer Square. Apart from its permanent exhibit, the museum also features occasional exhibitions of significant artistic opuses by Croatian as well as foreign artists.

The third museum institution in this interesting trio, which have joined forces in this interesting project, is the Art Pavilion. The history of the oldest gallery and exhibition area in this part of Europe, purpose-built at the initiative of painter Vlaho Bukovac to accommodate large-scale and representative exhibitions and inaugurated in 1898 with the representative exhibition Croatian Salon also reflects the history of the Croatian art in the 20th century.

A guided tour of the museums’ permanent exhibit and special exhibitions may be arranged by phone or e-mail.