Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art MMSU – Rijeka

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art MMSU – Rijeka

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has a mission to use a creative approach to the tradition of modernity and the living reality of contemporary art to create a dynamic, open and critical environment in which the public can understand and come to love the art of today.

Our vision is to create and use flexible exhibitions and collections which, through dynamic and attractive fusions of local, national and international art, will attract all categories of users, and in this way become a space for inspiration, the exchange of ideas and active participation.

A brief history of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka

MMSU was founded in 1948, and from the very beginning, through programmes such as the first group exhibitions of contemporary art in Yugoslavia, held under the name the "Rijeka Salon" from 1954 to 1963, the "Biennial of Young Artists of Yugoslavia", from 1960 to 1991, the "Biennial of Young Artists of the Mediterranean", from 1993 to 1997, a three-part research-and-exhibition project giving an overview of modernist, Art Nouveau and historicist architecture in Rijeka, completed in the period 1996–2003, and the "International Drawing Exhibition", held regularly from 1968 to this day, it built a reputation as one of the most prestigious institutions in the field of visual arts in Croatia.

Thanks to the recognised quality of its work, MMSU has gained an important role in presenting Croatian art and artists at prestigious international events. Among these events we can highlight the Venice Biennale in 1997, the São Paulo Biennial in 2004, the Venice Biennale in 2007, the 12th Venice Biennale – International Architecture Exhibition in 2010, and many others. Since 1991, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has regularly organised Croatia's presentation at the Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean.

MMSU is a partner in projects of the European Union's Culture Programme (2007–2013): X-OP Exchange of art operators and producers, Soft Control, Password Printmaking. It is the lead partner of the Smuggling Anthology project. In addition, MMSU was also a partner in the European project Digitising Contemporary Art (DCA), within the framework of the EU's CIP-ICT programme.

The art collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art today comprises more than 8,000 works of art covering the period from the end of the 19th century to the present day. According to the plan for the construction of the Museum's new building, we are striving to make it possible, on this basis, with a creative approach to the tradition of modernity and the living reality of contemporary art, to achieve a dynamic and open permanent exhibition thanks to which the public will understand and come to love the art of today.

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art information:

new address: Krešimirova 26 C, Rijeka

Opening hours:

Tuesday - Sunday: 11 - 20

closed on Mondays and public holidays

Winter opening hours (from 1 October to 30 April):

Tuesday – Saturday: 11 - 18

Sunday: 11 - 13 and 17 - 20

closed on Mondays and public holidays

Summer (from 1 May to 30 September):

Tuesday – Friday: 11 - 20

Saturday and Sunday: 11 - 14 and 18 - 20

closed on Mondays and public holidays

open on Mondays by prior arrangement

(051 49 26 11)