Housed in a neo-Renaissance former school building (1883), the Museum Mimara displays a diverse collection showing the loving hand of Ante Topić Mimara, a private collector who donated over 3750 priceless objects to his native Zagreb, even though he spent much of his life in Salzburg, Austria.

The collection spans a wide range of periods and regions. There is an archaeological collection with 200 items from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, Rome and early-medieval Europe; exhibits of ancient Far Eastern artworks; a glass, textile and furniture collection that spans centuries; and 1000 European art objects.

In painting, Italian artists Raphael, Veronese, Caravaggio and Canaletto are represented. Dutch artists Rembrandt and Ruisdael are also present, and there are Flemish paintings from Bosch, Rubens and Van Dyck. Spanish painters Velāzquez, Murillo and Goya; German and English painters; and French masters de la Tour, Boucher, Delacroix, Corot, Manet, Renoir and Degas are also in the collection.