The palace is severely damaged in the earthquake that hit Zagreb in 1880 , and the Vojkffy -Paravić family moved out . When in 1882 the Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Provincial Government sold its unprofitable property in Kutjevo, it used part of the money it received for it to buy a building at Opatička 10 and place the Department of Worship and Teaching there . Soon (1891) the Department was headed by Iso Kršnjavi and establishes the Construction Administration for the reconstruction of the building with Herman Bollé as the leader. Thus began the complete reconstruction of the building, according to Kršnjavi’s ideas and Bollé’s designs, which ended with the ceremonial opening in May 1895 with the performance of the hymn to Delphic Apollo (which had been found in Athens not long before, and it should be noted that this was the fourth performance in Europe).

First, the courtyard on the street side, facing today’s Opatička Street, was adapted: the high wall that blocked the view of the courtyard was replaced with an artistically crafted fence made of wrought iron and tin sheets, and the well was replaced with a fountain in which, according to Kršnjavi’s ideas, Perseus’s statue was to be placed. statue. Most of the changes, however, concerned the interior, which had to be adapted to the new function and made as representative as possible. The halls were renovated, the central hall was given a new wooden mirrored vault, the balcony on the eastern facade was removed, and communication between the floors was improved. The most important artists of the time were engaged in the work of decorating the palace. White C sikos Se s sija, Celestin Mato Medovic, Vlaho Bukovac, Oton Ivekovic, Ferdo Kovacevic, Ivan Tisov, Robert Frangeš and Rudolf Valdec. By integrating architecture, sculpture and painting into a historicist synthesis, the building represents a true Gesamtkunstwerk 19th century. With this project, Kršnjavi marked both the peak and the end of historicism in Croatia. The next major intervention on the palace was the addition of the second floor in 1913/14 and the expansion of the side wings. That was when the ceiling collapsed in Pompeian Hall and was repainted by Csikos’s students Marijana Belošević and Anka Martinić.

In the new circumstances, after Croatia joined the new South Slavic state community, the former Department for Religious Worship and Education continued its activities . In November 1919 , the Department was renamed the Commission for Education and Religions. NThe name and territorial jurisdiction of this Department changed in the following years, but until the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia in 1939, it was only a branch office of the central ministry in Belgrade. With the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia , the The Department of Education, which took over the affairs of the former Belgrade Ministry in the area of ​​the new banovina. This department did not last long, because with the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941, the new government also established a corresponding ministry, which was initially called the Ministry of Education and was headed by Minister Mile Budak. It was later renamed the Ministry of Public Education, whose jurisdiction was extended to other fields (for example, propaganda). After the Ministry of Public Education, another public cultural institution found its place in the building – the Republic Conservation Institute, and immediately before the arrival of our Institute, the premises in the building were shared by the Archive for the History of the Workers’ Movement and SUBNOR .

In 1962, our Institute moved into Opatička 10 and has been operating in this building continuously ever since, just under different names ( see History of the Institute). ANDDuring the 1970s and 1980s, the institute often had to share the building with other users: with the editorial offices of several newspapers, the Center for Social Activities of the Croatian Socialist Youth Association, and the Self-Governing Science Interest Community of the Slovak Republic of Croatia. At the time of the Institute’s entry into these premises, the building required urgent adaptation. In the first years of his mandate, Tuđman managed to secure considerable financial resources for the work of the Institute, so in the early 1960s, the most necessary installations were carried out, necessary for the functionality of the building (central heating, improvement of the low-voltage network, etc.). Tuđman’s fall out of favor with the party leadership was also reflected in the difficult financing of the Institute. Due to financial and later war (un)opportunities, work on the thorough renovation of the building began only in 1996, during the time of director Mirko Valentić. After long-term and often painstaking restoration-conservation works, complete rehabilitation The building, under the expert guidance of the Croatian Restoration Institute team and based on a project by the Croatian Civil Engineering Institute, was finally completed in 1999. The landscaping of the garden and the opening of the entrance to Radićeva Street had to wait another ten years and were only recently completed (the work lasted from 2007 to 2009). All that remains is to wait for the perfect conditions to open the building to the general public so that the palace with its three beautiful halls and the gallery of paintings in them can become accessible to all interested parties. .

The palace is currently (as of 2022) undergoing a constructive and comprehensive renovation following the earthquakes that hit Zagreb in March and December 2020.

* The text about the history of the Palace is mostly taken from: Half a Century of the Past. Croatian Institute of History (1961-2011), edited by Zdenko Radelić and Jasna Turkalj, (Zagreb: Croatian Institute of History, 2011), 187-189.