ZAGREB, November 25, 2020 - An exhibition called "From Earthquake to Earthquake 1880-2020" was opened at the Museum of Arts and Crafts on Tuesday, marking the museum's 140th anniversary.

Among those attending were President Zoran Milanovic and Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek.

Over the past 150 years, compared with other cities in Europe, Zagreb has actually suffered very little in this earthquake area, an area of unrest, war, suffering, killing. Zagreb has been trampled, destroyed, set on fire, bombed relatively little compared with them, the president said.

"May this which happened at the end of March this year be and remain one of the biggest afflictions we... experienced," the president said, referring to the March earthquake.

Zagreb is a beautiful city, among the 20 most beautiful in Europe, and it "is waiting to be finally and definitely touched up, which will require a partnership between citizens, owners, the city and the Croatian state," said Milanovic

Minister Obuljen Korzinek said the exhibition was aimed at showing people just a small piece of the damage museums and cultural assets in Zagreb sustained in the March earthquake.

She recalled that the European Parliament decided on Monday to give Croatia €680 million from the Solidarity Fund to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, including over €100 million intended for the reconstruction of the cultural heritage.

June 6, 2020 - The 140th-anniversary celebrations for The Museum of Arts and Crafts, (MUO, Muzej za Umjetnost i Obrt), which started on 17th February were interrupted by a strong 5.5 magnitude earthquake. Croatian Americans decided to help.

The MUO Museum sustained considerable damages from the March 22nd Zagreb earthquake on that Sunday morning. The series of aftershocks caused considerable damages to the building and its artwork. The building has three severely damaged zones: the south wing corridor in the first and second floors, the extension along the north wall of the south wing, and the southwest corner of the mezzanine on the main staircase between the ground and the first floor. The MUO Museum sustained architectural damages but also many objects and artifacts of value and importance for the cultural heritage of Zagreb, Croatia, and beyond were also damaged. In the efforts on deciding to help Zagreb with the earthquake damages, the National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation leadership decided it was best to focus on our group's contribution to MUO. Our strong relationship with MUO Museum dates back to December 2017, in a ceremony, where the museum put on display "Madonna and Child", a major work by Dalmatian-Venetian painter Andrea Schiavone (also known as Andrija Medulić), which was donated to the NFCACF by Dr. Dinko Podrug, and is now leased to the museum. Fortunately, the painting and two other NFCACF-donated items remained undamaged. 

Andrija Medulic Schiavone Painting: Bogorodica S Djetetom

On April 2nd, the NFCACF started a modest fundraising drive to promptly gather and send to MUO, by appealing to NFCACF members to send a tax-deductible donation to NFCACF, with a note for the “MUO Earthquake Fund”. It was good news that one NFCACF supporter extended $5,000 of matching funds to jumpstart our effort on April 4th. The NFCACF raised funds from the group's quarterly newsletter that was sent to all our members, 300 personal emails, and through Facebook outreach. It was recognized that the MUO Art Museum had urgent needs for these funds to prevent further damage and to start with the needed restoration.

The NFCACF President Steve Rukavina proudly stated that "We are pleased to announce that we raised $21,000 US dollars for our NFCACF-MUO Relief Fund." It should be noted that all funds will be spent to clean, repair, and perform maintenance to protect and enhance the Museum’s art collections. We would like to acknowledge that major donations for this MUO Art Museum relief fund were received from Dr. Dinko Podrug, from Peter and Jessica Frankopan and The Staples Trust and from Kresimir Penavic and his AIC Foundation and from one anonymous donor.

The NFCACF will host it 27th Annual Assembly of Delegates June 5-6 and the public webinar session on June 6th will include featured guest speakers: US Ambassador Bob Kohorst, Croatian Ambassador Pjer Simunovic, former US Senator Mark Begich and Croatian Fraternal Union President Ed Pazo and MUO Art Museum Director Miroslav Gasparovic. This year's assembly will be all virtual meetings and on June 5th, Croatian Americans will host a "Happy Hour" as a fundraiser for Croatia's Special Olympics.

Mark Plavetic, the NFCACF 2020 Rudy Perpich Summer Fellow is a co-author of this article.

To find out more about the Croatian diaspora, follow our dedicated section. 

For the next eight years, Zagreb and its Museum of Arts and Crafts (MUO) will be a unique destination for international art lovers. The MUO has become the temporary home of a Renaissance masterpiece made by great Croatian-Venetian painter Andrija Medulić Schiavone, "King Saul being greeted in triumph after David's defeat of Goliath”, reports Večernji List on February 17, 2019.

It is an oil on wood painting made in Venice in 1540 which has never been publicly presented. Even the Medulić's 1980 monograph says that the work had been seen only in photographs. The dimensions of the painting are 92.5 x 109.8 centimetres.

During its rich history, the painting has changed many owners, from the London antique dealer Martino Colnaghi, through Prince Paul of Karađorđević in the 20th century, who sold it in 1969 together with the furniture of his villa, to a private collector in Italy, from where it appeared after 50 years at Christie's in London.

This is when Andrija Kojaković, the Dubrovnik-born entrepreneur, ambassador and collector, bought the painting. After being hidden for centuries, he decided to lend it to the MUO so that art lovers would have an opportunity to enjoy the work of the great Croatian painter. “Others who have such artworks should give them to the museums too and present them to the general public because enjoying something alone is a bit selfish,” said Kojaković at the MUO where he was joined by art historian Flora Turner-Vučetić and MUO director Miroslav Gašparović.

“I never wanted to compete at an auction when a Croatian institution or museum would be involved because I thought it was not fair. If more similar paintings appear in the future, I will certainly continue with my efforts,” said Kojaković, adding that he was just a person who enjoys things connected with Dubrovnik; he also owns a collection of old Dubrovnik money. He is also interested in paintings by British artists who painted Dubrovnik and old maps depicting the Dubrovnik Republic. “While I worked as an ambassador, I had to prove that Prevlaka is part of Croatia, and on all the old maps that is shown very clearly. That is why they are so interesting to me,” Kojaković said.

The temporary donation is a great honour for the MUO since this painting is one of just 20 confirmed works by Andrija Medulić, two of which are already located in Zagreb. “This is really an act of charity, which is not common in our society, and therefore this sends a message of how we should all do good for the community," Gašparović pointed out.

The city authorities also thanked Kojaković. “With this generous act, the MUO permanent exhibition will be considerably enriched during the next eight years, and this will certainly help this museum to remain one of the most visited museums in Croatia,” said Jelena Pavičić Vukičević, the representative of the Zagreb Mayor.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Jelena Ružić).

More Zagreb news can be found in the dedicated section.

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