Art Pavilion in Zagreb
| Umjetnički paviljon u Zagrebu | |
Front entrance to the Pavilion, as seen from King Tomislav Square
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| Established | 15 December 1898 |
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| Location | 22 King Tomislav Square, Zagreb |
| Coordinates | 45°48′26″N 15°58′43″E / 45.80722°N 15.97861°ECoordinates: 45°48′26″N 15°58′43″E / 45.80722°N 15.97861°E |
| Type | Art gallery |
| Director | Radovan Vuković |
| Curator | Stanko Špoljarić |
| Website | umjetnicki-paviljon.hr |
The Art Pavilion in Zagreb (Croatian: Umjetnički paviljon u Zagrebu) is an art gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. The Pavilion is located in the Lower Town area of the city, south of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square and just north of the King Tomislav Square with the Zagreb Central Station. Established in 1898, it is the oldest gallery in the Southeast Europe and the only purpose-built gallery in Zagreb designed specifically to accommodate large scale exhibitions.
The idea of creating the gallery was first put forward by Croatian painter Vlaho Bukovac in the spring of 1895. In May 1896 a Millennium Exhibition was to be held in Budapest, celebrating 1,000 years of Hungarian statehood, and artists from what was then Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia were invited to attend. Urged by Bukovac, Croatian artists decided to present their works in a purpose-built Pavilion, constructed around a prefabricated iron skeleton so that it could easily be shipped to Zagreb after the exhibition. The Budapest Pavilion was designed by Hungarian architects Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl and was constructed by the Danubius building company.
After the exhibition had ended, the building's skeleton was transported to Zagreb and Austrian architects Fellner & Helmer (who were at the time active in Zagreb, and had earlier designed the Croatian National Theatre building) were hired to design a new version of the building based on the iron skeleton, while the Hönigsberg & Deutsch building company was contracted to perform the actual construction. The building's exterior was decorated with sculptures in the academic art style — the eastern facade displays busts of three Renaissance painters of Croatian ancestry — Giulio Clovio (Julije Klović), Andrea Schiavone (Andrija Medulić) and Vittore Carpaccio, and the western facade has busts of Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian.
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