In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The Ivan Meštrović Gallery is the villa in Meje, on the southern slope of Marjan, that the sculptor built as his family home. A ticket is €12, covers the villa and Meštrović’s Crikvine - Kaštilac nearby, and the gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00, closed on Mondays and public holidays, with last entrance 30 minutes before closing (Meštrović Museums). Tickets are also sold on the museums’ online shop. Promet Split buses 7, 8, 12 and 21 go there. Or book a tour: Split: Walking Tour of Split with an Art Historianad (from €25, 5 stars from 31 reviews) is a two-hour small-group walk that puts the city’s art and its sculptors in context before or after you go.
⚠️ It is closed on Mondays and public holidays, and ticket prices rise by 50% outside opening hours and by 100% on holidays (Meštrović Museums).
Tickets and hours
Prices are from the Meštrović Museums price list (mestrovic.hr).
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult | €12 |
| Children, pupils, students, pensioners, Tourist Card | €8 |
| Family (parents with children under 15) | €20 |
| Group of 20 or more adults, per person | €10 |
| Group of 20 or more children, pupils, students, per person | €7 |
| Children’s workshop | €4 |
The student and pensioner rate needs a document issued in Croatia. Entry is free for unemployed people and people with disabilities (also with a Croatian document), and for members of professional bodies such as ICOM and AICA.
The ticket includes the Gallery and Meštrović’s Crikvine - Kaštilac. Both are open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00, with last entrance half an hour before closing, and both are closed on Mondays and public holidays (Gallery, Kaštilac).
| Guided tour (45 minutes, per group) | Price |
|---|---|
| Docent tour | €50 |
| Curator tour | €120 |
| Costumed storytelling tour with the character Olga | €120 |
Tours need two days’ notice by email to the museum. Photography without flash is allowed for private use; professional photography needs permission.
Getting there
The Gallery is at Šetalište Ivana Meštrovića 46 and the Kaštilac at number 39, both in Meje on the south side of Marjan. The museums list Promet Split buses 7, 8, 12 and 21 as the public transport to the Gallery (Meštrović Museums). The getting around Split page has fares and timetables, and the Riva walk starts the other way.
Tours around the gallery
The gallery sells its own tickets and guided visits, so a GetYourGuide tour is for the context around it: the sculptor’s other work in the city and the hill behind the villa. The listings below do not include gallery entry unless their titles say so.
Walking tour with an art historian
From €25 · 5 stars from 31 reviews · 2 hours · small group · free cancellation
Split: Walking Tour of Split with an Art Historianad: a small-group walk led by an art historian, bookable two hours ahead. It suits a first morning in the old town, where Meštrović’s Gregory of Nin and St John the Baptist statues stand.
E-bike tour of Split and Marjan Hill
From €60 · 4.9 stars from 15 reviews · 4 hours · small group · free cancellation
The Handcrafted E-Bike Tour of Split & Marjan Hillad: a four-hour small-group ride that includes Marjan Hill, the slope above the gallery, with skip-the-line entry in the listing.
City highlights by tuk-tuk
From €46 · 4.9 stars from 2,014 reviews · 2 hours · wheelchair accessible · free cancellation
Split: City Highlights Electric Tuk-Tuk Tourad: a two-hour electric tuk-tuk ride with views from Vidilica Terrace and Marjan Hill and a short walk through Diocletian’s Palace, according to the listing.
Official ticket or tour: the prices side by side
A GetYourGuide “from” price is the cheapest option in the product.
| What you want | Official | On GetYourGuide |
|---|---|---|
| Gallery and Kaštilac, adult | €12 (Meštrović Museums) | Buy from the museum or its online shop |
| A museum guide for 45 minutes | €50 docent or €120 curator, per group | Not offered |
| Art and sculpture in the old town and Marjan | Not offered | Art historian walk from €25; e-bike and Marjan from €60 |
The villa
Ivan Meštrović bought plots in Meje, the western part of Split, in the 1910s and began to build in the late 1920s. Construction of the east wing began in 1931, and his family lived in the villa from the summer of 1932. In April 1941 they gathered there for the last time, on the death of his mother, because the Italian occupation of Split caught them there and Meštrović left for Zagreb. Under the deed of donation of 31 January 1952 he gave four buildings and 132 works of art to the Croatian people, which is how the gallery began (Meštrović Museums).
The Meštrović Gallery. Photo: SchiDD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The villa was meant for work, living and exhibiting, and only the dining room still looks like the family home. The gallery holds his works in marble, such as Psyche (1927) and Contemplation (1924), in bronze, such as Distant Chords (1918), Cyclops (1933), Persephone (1946) and Job (1946), in wood, such as Grieving Angels and Merry Angels (1916), and in plaster, such as the Pietà. A large ground-floor hall is given to sacred sculpture and is dominated by the wooden figures of Adam and Eve (1939-1941). The first-floor halls show his work inspired by Impressionism, Secession and Art Deco, and his sculptures between the two world wars. The gallery also keeps his archive: photographs, letters and the family papers found in the house in 1952.
The dining room. Photo: Bgag, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Job, one of the bronzes. Photo: Bgag, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Visitors with mobility difficulties can reach the garden with its sculptures, the clay-modelling studio, the toilet in the garden and the museum shop, and are asked to announce the need for help at the entrance. Guide dogs for blind and partially sighted visitors are allowed, and the museum asks you to say in advance if you want to use gloves to touch certain sculptures (Meštrović Museums).
The Kaštilac
Meštrović’s Crikvine - Kaštilac is a religious and artistic complex on a fortified farm estate with the remains of 16th-century buildings of the Capogrosso family, which Ivan and his brother Petar bought in 1939. Its chapel of the Holy Cross holds a wooden Crucifixion of 1916 and 28 carved reliefs of the life of Christ made between 1917 and 1950 (Meštrović Museums).
The chapel of the Holy Cross at the Kaštilac. Photo: SchiDD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Meštrović first saw the restored complex in 1959, on his first and last visit to Croatia after leaving in 1942. He did not like the name Kaštelet, because he had not built it as a castle for himself, and preferred Crikvine, an old Croatian word for the remains of churches. It is a different place from the islet of Kastilac in Kaštela, which stood in for Braavos in Game of Thrones.
Meštrović elsewhere in Split
The Meštrović Museums’ biography says the sculptor was born in Vrpolje on 15 August 1883 and died in South Bend, Indiana, on 16 January 1962, and was buried in the family tomb, the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer at Otavice (biography, in Croatian). Two of his works are in the old town:
- Gregory of Nin: a monument unveiled on the Peristyle in 1929, removed by the Italian authorities during the Second World War, and set up by the Golden Gate in 1954. Touching the big toe is said to make wishes come true (Split Tourist Board). See the palace guide.
- St John the Baptist: a bronze that stands in the baptistery in the former Temple of Jupiter. See the baptistery page.
What to see next
- Marjan hill: the pine-covered hill above the gallery, with a watchtower and beaches.
- Temple of Jupiter and baptistery: Meštrović’s statue of St John the Baptist.
- Diocletian’s Palace guide: his Gregory of Nin statue outside the Golden Gate.
- Riva promenade walk: the starting point in the old town.
- Getting around Split: the city buses.
- Archaeological Museum: the other main museum in the city.
Common questions
How much are tickets to the Ivan Meštrović Gallery?
€12 for adults, €8 for children, pupils, students, pensioners (with a document issued in Croatia) and Tourist Card holders, and €20 for a family of parents with children under 15. The ticket covers both the Gallery and the Crikvine-Kaštilac (Meštrović Museums price list).
When is the gallery open?
Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00, with last entrance half an hour before closing. It is closed on Mondays and public holidays. The Crikvine-Kaštilac has the same hours.
Are there guided tours?
A docent (informer) tour of 45 minutes is €50 per group, and a curator tour of 45 minutes is €120. A costumed storytelling tour with the character Olga is also €120. The museums ask for two days' notice.
How do you get to the gallery?
The museum lists Promet Split buses 7, 8, 12 and 21 for public transport to Šetalište Ivana Meštrovića 46.
What is the Kaštilac?
Meštrović's Crikvine - Kaštilac is a religious and artistic complex in Meje, near the gallery, built on the ruins of a 16th-century Capogrosso family estate. Meštrović preferred the name Crikvine, meaning the remains of old churches. Its chapel of the Holy Cross holds 28 carved wooden reliefs of the life of Christ.
Can I take photos?
Photography without flash is allowed for private use. Professional photography and filming needs permission from the museum.
