Nominations for two of Zagreb's museums

Zagreb’s two newest museums, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Broken Relationships, have been nominated for the “European Museum of the Year” title. Among the nominations of 34 museums from 15 countries, both of them will be competing for recognition as the best European museum of 2010.

It has been officially confirmed that two of Zagreb’s museums, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Broken Relationships, have been nominated for the coveted Museum of the Year award. It is the first time in recent history that two of Zagreb’s museums, and the newest ones at that, have been nominated for this prestigious award by the European Museum Forum. The competition includes 34 other museums from 15 countries that have also been nominated.

The Museum of Contemporary Art was opened in late 2009 and has since been considered one of the most representative and modern cultural institutions in the city. In just a year it was visited by more than 230,000 visitors, which is a perfect indicator of the museum’s popularity as well as quality. Aside from the classic museum selection of permanent and temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists, visitors can also view the museum’s collections of photos, drawings, graphics, videos, films, sculptures, paintings, media and other valuable donations, as well as participate in an array of other programmes on a daily basis. The museum’s concept of work relies on interactive participation, so the programmes are predominantly intended to incite creativity among visitors, as well as encourage them to learn about, and consider art. Exhibitions regularly feature concurrent events, such as meetings with artists, music programmes, film projections, theatre workshops, etc. Each day there is something new and exciting.

Although entirely different in concept, the Museum of Broken Relationships also deserved its nomination for the best European Museum of the Year. The first private museum, and the most recently opened, equally attracts culturists as well as regular visitors. As suggested by its name, the exhibits are not artworks but, rather, knickknacks that were donated by numerous people whom they reminded of their broken relationships. The museum opened in late 2010, after an extended world tour during which the story of this original concept from Zagreb achieved great success and popularity. As of recently, the museum’s standing motto invites visitors to come to a new permanent destination: “If you have a broken heart, go to Zagreb, Croatia”.