Our Story

For years I had been passing by the neglected little church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel witnessing its gradual decay. One morning, after leaving my atelier and while watching the church’s dilapidated walls, I started to wonder what I could do in order to bring this building, built with love, back to life. And it was at that precise moment that everything began to unfold! Many people thought the idea was crazy and that it could not be realised, but I never had any doubt. I knew that soon this place of worship was going to become a temple of art and that it would soon start to shine anew!

The restoration started in 1991 with a lot of uncertainty, but no doubt concerning the purposefulness of the project. After the completion of the complex restoration works, it was on a solemn occasion, on 16 July 1993, that Alvona Gallery was inaugurated as one of the most beautiful small and solemn exhibition venues in Croatia.

If you asked me if I would do it all over again, the answer would be “Yes, with pleasure”! And I would enjoy every minute of it! Because, just like I am grateful when somebody ensures my exhibition are well organised and promoted in the best way, I want to give the same treatment to - others. I do it in an attempt to turn the exhibition into a stimulus for the future work of my fellow artists. This is what makes me feel satisfied, this is what gives me strength, this is what inspires me to persevere with my own artistic practice.

Vinko Šaina