In 2011, The National Museum Zadar with the help of the Town of Zadar and Zadar Conservation Department launched a campaign for the temporary adaptation of several halls for exhibition purposes. An architectural installation by Zadar architects Iva Letilović and Igor Pedišić was set up which looks like »cages« that build space inside suitable exhibition space. Exhibition pontoons were interconnected by wooden bridges and tunnels, and also apart from the exhibition halls, a room where the Maritime collection is located was also set up. In May 2011, a part of the renovated space of several halls in the Rector’s Palace was opened and used for temporary exhibitions of the National Museum Zadar. 

Shortly after opening, the Rector’s Palace was recognized as one of the most attractive city locations and has been the host of exhibitions, special exhibitions for significant anniversaries, concerts, plays, an international film festival as well as a location for diplomatic and city receptions.

The Concept of the project "Cages"

Times of recession have pushed the expected realization time of the Heritage Museum, museum curators have lost their exhibition spaces, and the Rector’s Palace remained deserted like a frozen construction site. The project of the temporary exhibition halls was actually just a „big clean up“ of the construction site: tubular stagings, capes, boards and protection nets taking up new spaces and creating new forms. An enfilade of exhibition "cages" arose inside the enfilade of the Rector’s Palace hall. A series of exhibition pontoons, pile dwellings which are dilated from the walls, ceilings and also the floors forming volumes inside volumes of the palace halls. Wooden bridges and tunnels interconnect the exhibition pontoons.

The project was realized solely through donations, and each '"cage" was built by a Zadar architectural firm, using mainly recycled construction materials. When the time for the realization of the Heritage Museum comes, each contractor will be able to dismantle his or her own „cage“ and use the material possibly at the same construction site.