Museum of Modern Art and Banac Palace

Why is it significant?

Before you rises Banac Palace, an architectural tour de force erected in 1939 as the private mansion of wealthy shipping magnate Božo Banac.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Before you rises Banac Palace, an architectural tour de force erected in 1939 as the private mansion of wealthy shipping magnate Božo Banac. Designed by distinguished Croatian architects Harold Bilinić and Lavoslav Horvat, this monumental residence represents an exquisite synthesis of Venetian flamboyant Gothic and Dalmatian Renaissance traditions, constructed entirely from luminous white limestone quarried on the island of Brač.

Today the palace houses the prestigious Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik (MOMAD). Its permanent galleries preserve over three thousand masterpieces of modern and contemporary Croatian fine art spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present, featuring celebrated painters like Vlaho Bukovac, Mato Celestin Medović, and internationally renowned sculptor Ivan Meštrović.

In the late 1930s, as war clouds gathered across Europe, Božo Banac envisioned his clifftop residence as an enduring sanctuary for Mediterranean culture. The master stonemasons who carved its delicate bifora windows, ornate gargoyles, and crenellated loggias used traditional hand chisels, demonstrating that centuries-old Dalmatian stonemasonry remained vibrant in the modern era. The palace interior boasts an expansive central atrium featuring sweeping double staircases of hand-chiseled white stone, stained-glass heraldic panels, and arched loggias designed to capture refreshing sea drafts. Its architectural elegance seamlessly bridges the historic Gothic tradition of Ragusa with twentieth-century Mediterranean modernism, surrounded by lush gardens that cascade down toward the water, offering magnificent vistas across the glittering coastal waters where yachts cruise past during the long Mediterranean summer months.

Stepping onto the palace's grand sculpture terraces overlooking the open Adriatic, the dialogue between cutting-edge twentieth-century art and raw Mediterranean nature is breathtaking. Bronze and stone sculptures stand silhouetted against the cobalt sea and the pine-covered slopes of Lokrum Island, creating an open-air gallery of sublime artistic and natural harmony.

Walk eastward past coastal villas toward the lush pine park of Grand Villa Argentina.