Croatia Travel Blog

Jannet Duroc wrote...
Mestrovic's statue of Grgur NInski. The legend says it that you have to touch the buffed big toe of his left foot if you want good luck and if you want your wishes to come true. Ivan Mestrovic did not create the legend of the toe polishing trick, nor choose the present location. The statue was supposed to be in the middle of the Peristyle, but the Italians 1941 removed it ( just just dismantled it, thanks God, did not destroy it . Later it was put where you see it now. Ivan Mestrovic (1883–1962) is internationally renowned Croatian and American artist .He is possibly the greatest sculptor since the Renaissance , especially in religious art and the first person to have a one man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 1954, he became a citizen of the USA at a ceremony conducted by President Eisenhower at the White House. He has four museums in Croatia and two in the USA, at Notre Dame, Indiana and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (LASM).There is a large collection of his art at Syracuse University as well monuments in Chicago , Washington DC, New York ,The Mayo Clinic,Minnesota , St.Augustine and Miami , Florida, Buffalo, N.Y. , Hawaii etc. Mestrovic's works in bronze, stone, and wood can be found in galleries, museums and private collections in Croatia,Serbia , Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Italy , Montenegro, Canada, France, Russia,Germany, Argentina, Austria, Vatican, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Romania, Chile, Uruguay, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Macedonia etc www.flickr.com/photos/93051314@N00/sets/72157594148443846/