The museum traces its origins from the City Gallery of Contemporary Art which was established in 1954.[5] The gallery was located at the Kulmer Palace in the Upper Town area and also housed the Center for Photography, Film and Television and a museum library. Due to lack of space the original museum never had a permanent display.
Architecture
In 1998, a decision was made to move the museum to a brand new building on the corner of Dubrovnik and Većeslav Holjevac avenues in Novi Zagreb district.
A competition for the building's design was held, and architect Igor Franić's design was chosen out of 85 entries submitted. The cornerstone for the new building was laid in November 2003, and the new museum finally opened on 11 December 2009, after six years of construction which was beset with several delays. Originally planned to cost around 200 million HRK, the cost eventually amounted to 450 million HRK (around 84 million US$), invested in equal parts by the Ministry of Culture and the City of Zagreb.[7]
The present building has a total area of 14,600 m2, out of which 3,500 m2 is reserved for its permanent collection and around 1,500 m2 is designated for occasional exhibitions.
The building also houses a library, a multimedia hall, a bookstore, cafe and a restaurant.