175 Years of the Founding of The Gallery of Matica Srpska
The Gallery of Matica Srpska, as the oldest national art museum, is, as it were, a mirror of the state, a sort of stain glass window depicting historic events, showcasing artistic preferences and aspirations of Serbian artists. Likewise, the Gallery protects the memory of its funding members, directors, art collectors, researchers, artists, and particularly that of its benefactors who have inscribed their names in the history-book of the Gallery and Serbian culture in general.
As it was created during the past 175 years, the history of the collection of the Gallery of Matica Srpska is the history of the Serbian people, art, and culture, which reflects all socio-historical, cultural, and artistic changes that Serbian society underwent in a wider geographical area – from the former Austrian and Ottoman Empires, through various forms of state organization of the former Yugoslavia, to the present Republic of Serbia. The collection, primarily oriented towards painting, numbers 10,000 works of art. It is divided into 16 collections and includes outstanding examples of graphics, sculpture, drawings, applied art which highlight the origin, development and achievements of Serbian art and indicate the origins, position and the place of Serbian culture and art in European context.
Our contribution to the culture of remembrance is manifested in our professional approach to the care for the protection of artworks, as well as in the realization of numerous exhibitions and programmes for the audience, especially educational projects for children and young people.
The Gallery of Matica Srpska strives to be the place that acts in the contemporary moment while the sense of belonging to the nation is enhanced by the feelings of respect and pride.
175 Years of the Founding of the Museum of Vojvodina
The roots of the Museum of Vojvodina reach back to 1847, when Matica srpska, then located in Pest, decided to establish the Serbian National Collection or Museum. The first museum collection was created from the legacy of Sava Tekelija, and was presented only after the opening of the Museum of Matica Srpska in 1933. After the Second World War, part of the material was separated from here and by the decision of the provincial authorities on May 30, 1947, the Vojvodina Museum was established as a museum of a complex type, the largest of its kind in Serbia, with collections ranging from archaeology, ethnology, history, art history to zoology, botany, geology, palaeontology and mineralogy.
From the funds of the Vojvodina Museum, many institutions in the sphere of cultural and nature protection branched out: Museum of the Labour Movement and National Revolution of Vojvodina, the Museum of the City of Novi Sad, the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and the Institute for Nature Protection. The Historical Museum of Vojvodina, founded in 1956 under the name of the Museum of the Labour Movement and National Revolution, merged with the Vojvodina Museum in 1992 to form an institution called the Museum of Vojvodina.
Today, it is a modern institution with a rich collection of around 200,000 items and a specialized library, which has regularly published the annual publication “Work of the Museum of Vojvodina” since 1952. It has five permanent exhibitions and five depandans, among which are ethno park “Brvnara” in Bački Jark, Museum Complex in Kulpin and Medical Museum Collection - Pasteur Institute. The main activity of the Museum of Vojvodina is the collection, processing, protection, documentation, presentation and publication of movable cultural assets, as well as supervision of the professional work of 16 museums, galleries and museum collections in the area of Vojvodina.
75 years since the founding of the Institute of Archaeology
The Institute of Archaeology was founded in 1947 in Belgrade with Professor Vladimir Petkovic appointed as its first Administrator. One of the goals that was set after its formation was the definition of work plans in which the focus was placed on the study of the development process of human civilization based on archaeological material in the territory of Serbia and in its surroundings. From its foundation until today, the institution has carried out a series of large-scale researches of archaeological sites of various forms and scopes, as well as performed the protection of material cultural assets. Numerous localities that are chronologically defined from prehistory, antiquity and the Middle Ages, up to the Turkish period were the subject of systematic field work by the Institute´s scientific associates. One of the primary missions of the Institute of Archaeology is the development of social sciences and humanities, with the main focus on defining the past, publishing scientific results, and popularizing cultural heritage.
The work of the Institute in recent times is particularly characterized by fruitful cooperation with institutions and colleagues from the country and abroad, which is reflected through the introduction and application of modern scientific methods in research practice. By studying the material remains with the implementation of modern scientific approaches, results are obtained that allow us to more clearly reconstruct the way of life, culture, art and the scope of human mind in Serbia over the centuries, which today represents the most important scientific activity of the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade.
