Dušan Džamonja Sculpture Park

The Dušan Džamonja Sculpture Park lies in the countryside outside Vrsar, the small coastal town in western Istria, in Croatia, and it is an open-air gallery created by one of the leading sculptors of former Yugoslavia and one of Croatia’s best-known modern artists. Instead of a conventional museum, it is a landscape of large abstract works set among olive trees, pines and grass, with a studio and gallery at its centre, and it gives a rare chance to see a sculptor’s work in the place where he lived and made it.

Džamonja was born in Strumica, in what is now North Macedonia, in 1928, and he studied and worked in Zagreb, where he became prominent in the post-war generation of artists. He was known for working with unusual materials and in a bold, often monumental scale. Rather than carving traditional marble, he welded, cast and assembled metal, and he combined it with concrete, stone and wood to make abstract forms that suggest both industrial structures and living organisms. Many of his works have a rough, textured, almost charred surface, and they seem to grow from the ground. In the 1960s he began to build a summer residence, studio and gallery near Vrsar, and over the decades this became a park of sculptures, and a place for living and creating in the Istrian landscape.

The estate covers about thirty thousand square metres, and the core of it is a sculpture garden of around twenty-four thousand square metres where works rise from the landscape. Paths wind between the pieces, and each work is set so that it interacts with light, trees and sky. Some are tall and vertical, others low and spreading, and they change in appearance with the weather and time of day. The experience is contemplative, and there is plenty of space to sit, look and photograph. The setting, with the sea not far away and the smell of Mediterranean plants, adds to the pleasure.

Visitors can also learn about Džamonja’s life and work through displays in the studio and gallery, and occasionally the park hosts workshops and exhibitions. The park is open throughout the year, with longer hours in the summer, and there is no admission charge, although it is wise to check the times before you go. It is sometimes known by a German name, Skulpturenpark Vrsar, reflecting the many visitors from German-speaking countries.

The park is close to the centre of Vrsar. The Main City Gate, the Bell Tower and the harbour are within reach, and the town makes a good half-day with the park. It suits art lovers, photographers and families who like open spaces, and it is best in the morning or late afternoon, when the light is soft and the park is quiet.