Mestrovic Gallery and Crikvine Kastelet

Mestrovic Gallery and Crikvine Kastelet

Address: Šetalište Ivana Meštrovića 46, 21 000 Split

Phone: +385 (0) 21 340800

The Ivan Meštrović Gallery is an art museum in Split, Croatia, dedicated to the work of the 20th-century sculptor Ivan Meštrović.

The gallery preserves and presents to the public the most significant works of Meštrović, and is in itself an art monument. The permanent collection includes works of sculpture, drawings, design, furniture and architecture.

Holdings include original plaster models by the artist, as well as finished works in bronze, marble and wood.

The gallery building and grounds were based on original plans by Meštrović himself, and included living and working areas, as well as exhibition spaces.

Not far from the gallery, a five- minute walk further west along the same road, lies Kaštelet-Crikvine. Address: Šetalište Ivana Meštrovića 39, 21 000 Split

Kaštelet is a16th century summer house bought by Meštrović in 1939 and converted into a chapel. Inside lies what is arguably the artist's most stunning creation, a cycle of 28 wooden reliefs based on the life of Jesus Christ. The result of almost twenty years work, the cycle incorporates motifs from ancient, medieval and modern art, combined to produce an emotionally powerful piece of spiritual sculpture.

There is still a well preserved church of Our Lady of Good Advice in Kaštelet, built in 1513. During complete renovation of Kaštelet in 1883, the owner Vicko Capogrosso-Kavanjin payed special attention to the restoration of the church, then known as the Madonna del Buon Consiglio.

Meštrović was also famous for the huge works he produced for public spaces, most notably the statue of Grgur Ninski in Split. Marko Marulić is another important statue created by Ivan Meštrović.