Nikola Tesla statue may leave Zagreb centre after 20 years

Nikola Tesla’s statue in central Zagreb (Photo credit: Bernard Gagnon/CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Paulo Simić

Zagreb, 19 January 2026 (Hina) – The future of Nikola Tesla’s statue in central Zagreb has once again become the subject of public debate, following renewed discussion about returning the monument to the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB), where it was originally intended to stand.

The bronze statue of Nikola Tesla, created by renowned Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, has stood at the intersection of Teslina and Masarykova streets in downtown Zagreb for nearly two decades.

Its possible relocation back to the IRB campus, near Mirogoj Cemetery, has raised concerns about whether one of the world’s most famous scientists would lose a prominent presence in the city centre.

The discussion resurfaced last week during commemorations marking the 83rd anniversary of Tesla’s death. At the ceremony, wreaths were laid at the statue, and Karolj Skala, representing the management of the Ruđer Bošković Institute, stated that an agreement had been reached with the City of Zagreb to return the statue to the Institute, possibly within the year.

However, the Institute later clarified that this statement was premature. While IRB has formally submitted a request to the City Office for Construction, Spatial Planning and Reconstruction, no final decision has yet been made.

A monument with a deeper concept

The Tesla statue is part of a broader artistic and symbolic vision by Ivan Meštrović. Before creating the Tesla monument, Meštrović designed a statue of the physicist and philosopher Ruđer Bošković, which was placed within the grounds of the then Institute of Nuclear Physics, today’s Ruđer Bošković Institute.

In 1956, Meštrović proposed creating a companion statue of Nikola Tesla to form a unique monument pair linking natural and technical sciences through two towering figures of Croatian intellectual history.

According to IRB, this pairing was conceived as a gift to the Institute and intended to function as a unified sculptural whole.

That concept remained intact until 2006, when, to mark the 150th anniversary of Tesla’s birth, the City of Zagreb decided to move the statue into the city centre, to the street bearing Tesla’s name.

The move was controversial from the outset. Heritage experts warned that the statue’s dimensions were unsuitable for the narrow urban setting and that relocating it disrupted Meštrović’s carefully designed conceptual pair.

The potential return of the statue to IRB has reopened a key question: would Tesla effectively disappear from everyday public life in Zagreb? The Institute is located in a quieter area with far fewer passers-by than the bustling Lower Town, where the statue currently attracts both residents and tourists.

(Photo: Silverije/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dragica Mihajlović, president of the association Nikola Tesla – Genius for the Future, believes a compromise is needed. She suggests either placing a different monument to Tesla in the city centre or commissioning a new work, with the consent of the Meštrović family.

However, IRB has pointed to a 2006 agreement signed with the City of Zagreb, under which the Institute retained ownership of the statue while allowing its placement in the city centre.

The agreement also obliged the City to obtain permission from Meštrović’s legal heirs to create a second cast for the Institute’s park. That permission was never granted.

Meštrović’s clear stance on replicas

The Museums of Ivan Meštrović have stressed that the sculptor was firmly opposed to replicating or relocating his public monuments. They cite a 1958 letter in which Meštrović explicitly stated that a single bronze casting in a public location was sufficient and that he wished to avoid requests for replicas elsewhere.

He expressed the same view earlier regarding the Bošković statue, proposing the destruction of the plaster model after casting to ensure the work existed only as a single, permanent public monument. As a result, creating a replica of the Tesla statue is not considered an option, though a completely new monument could be.

New ideas for the city centre

Markita Franulić, director of the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, believes that if the Meštrović statue is returned to IRB, Zagreb should launch a public urban and artistic competition to design a new Tesla monument for the current location.

She also noted the existence of a lesser-known statue of Tesla by sculptor Velibor Mačukatin, created in 1954, which once stood at the Radio Industry Zagreb factory. Its current whereabouts are unclear, but it could represent a more proportionate option for the site.

The Lower Town District Council has expressed openness to such an approach. Its president, Marija Krnić, emphasised the need for public consultation and professional input, rather than ad hoc decisions.

She described the original placement of the Meštrović statue in Teslina Street as an example of poor public space management.

Both IRB and the Museums of Ivan Meštrović argue that returning the statue would not remove it from public life, but rather restore it to its original conceptual and architectural context.

They maintain that the current location fails to meet the sculpture’s spatial and artistic requirements and undermines its intended relationship with the Bošković monument.

For Mihajlović, the key issue remains public interest. She argues that citizens have the right to accessible cultural heritage and public spaces that reflect shared values such as knowledge, creativity, humanism and peace.

As Zagreb awaits a final decision, the debate highlights a broader challenge: how to balance artistic integrity, historical context and public visibility when managing cultural heritage in a modern European capital.