After the splendid exhibitions of Croatian Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern art, which surprised both the Croatian and European public during the early years of Croatian indepedence, it is now time to show works from the earliest period of Croatian history, the first five centuries of Croatian art, which records one of the high points of the national culture and of European art. The exhibition includes original masterpieces of painting, sculpture and applied arts which will awake wide interest and can stand comparison with any of the great works of the Catholic art heritage. This valuable exhibition of seventy exhibits of the treasury of art will fill a void by opening the way for a true evaluation of our country and people in the world development of culture and art during the Middle Ages which, as we today know, were not either «dark» or «primitive», but concordant with the rest of the Mediterranean art centers and an inspiration for the artistic expression to come in later centuries in Croatia.

The magnificent successsion of precious artworks stretching from the 8th to the 13th century will include the Carolingian reliquary of St Anselm in Nin and the lovely reliquaries produced by a Zadar workshop, that of the Twelve Brothers in the Collection of Church Art in Zadar, the jewellery of a Croatian noblewoman from the Sinj necropolis, the exceptional stone reliefs on the plutei from the chancel screen in St Nediljica in Zadar and from the Baptistery of the Split Cathedral, which shows the Croatian King Petar Krešimir IV, the magnificent illuminated parchments in the evengeliaries from the Zagreb Metropolitan Collection and the anthiphonaries from the Zadar Franciscan Monastery, the ivory plenaries from the treasury of the Zagreb Cathedral, the dyptich from the Strossmayer Gallery, the architectural fragments from Rudine, Istrian painted crucifixions, and the greatly revered Split paintings of Our Lady of Sustipan and Our Lady of the Belfry. The autumn experience of the first five centuries of Croatian art willl be a unique opportunity and is at the same time an inescapable requirement. It will be a cultural and historical occasion for a new generation, from whom Klovićevi dvori are proud to present these brilliant works of past ages.