ZAGREB, April 27, 2020 - The Museum of Arts and Crafts (MUO) in Zagreb is one of the museums most affected by the March 22 earthquake, but despite that the museum will not cancel its anniversary plans for 2020, and if all goes well, it will reopen this autumn, says the museum's director, Miroslav Gašparović.

A little over two months ago, the MUO presented its new visual identity and opened parts of the new permanent exhibition on the occasion of its 140th anniversary, but all planned activities were soon put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic and then made uncertain by the earthquake that damaged both the building and the collections.

Speaking in an interview with Hina, Gašparović said that these days were a confirmation of the old saying that history repeats itself - a month after the museum was opened in Praška Street in 1880 there was an earthquake, and it happened again a month and five days after the new parts of the permanent exhibition were opened in 2020.

"Despite the shocking start of the museum's history, eight years after the first earthquake a palace was built for it and the museum is still housed in it. That was the first building in Zagreb that was purposefully built as a museum space, and I hope that in eight years a full reconstruction of the museum will have been done, and that it will shine with new splendour," Gašparović noted.

The anniversary is not forgotten, and Gašparović believes that some projects planned for this year will still be carried out. One of those projects is publishing the first monograph dedicated to the museum's history.

Gašparović said that they have gained considerable insight into the damage to the building itself, and part of it is available for everyone to see via impressive aerial footage the museum published on its Facebook page.

Structural engineers and various expert committees have inspected the building multiple times, the roof has been filmed by a drone, and 3D scanning of the whole building is in progress, which will be extremely important when further steps are taken.

More museum news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

Art lovers have plenty of reasons to rejoice as the new year kicks off with impressive cultural events in the Croatian capital