100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ZAGREB CITY MUSEUM

Motif: A painted window - detail of the illusionist wall painting at the Museum street facade, 17th century The Zagreb City Museum is the largest city museum in the Republic of Croatia. Founded in 1907, it is celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its existence. Since the year 1947 the Museum is situated in the cultural-historical nucleus of the Upper Town – on the northern access to the old centre of Zagreb – the monumental complex of the former nunnery of the Poor Clare Sisters from the 17th century. It stands in the street appropriately called Opatička ulica which means the Nuns’ Street. The passers-by get a fine view from the street at the Museum’s façade decorated by illusionist mural paintings – mock windows – as signs of the isolation of the nuns, the Poor Clare Sisters owing to the strict enclosure rules. At the same time, it represents a historical sign of the original purpose of the building. The historically stratified architectonical complex of the Museum includes, together with the nunnery building, the medieval tower from the 13th century, the granary of the kingdom from the 17th century and the elementary school from the first half of the 19th century. It was restored in its entirety and now spreads over 6,000 square metres. The rebuilding works on the restoration of this complex unit (1993 – 1998) have made the first systematic long-term archaeological investigation of the terrain within the historical centre of Zagreb possible. The finds have revealed pre-historic and early medieval settlements and proved the continuity of life in the city. These finds have been presented in situ, which means in the Museum building itself, as the beginning of the chronological sequence of the museum display, as well as in the Museum’s surroundings, the Museum garden that, at the same time, with its greenery makes a fine resting place for the visitors. The new permanent display with its modern concept in the restored Museum building was opened in the year 1998. In the arrangement of various contents – sequences from Zagreb – there are permanently present many persons who have, by their activities, been the veritable initiators of the changes that have gradually given Zagreb the shape that we know nowadays. The Museum keeps transferring messages to the Zagreb citizens by presenting city portraits that relate to the city heritage - actually part of their own personal histories. On the other hand, the foreigners are offered an experience of being introduced to and learning about Zagreb’s history and culture. A visit to the Zagreb City Museum is a veritable experience which makes it possible to learn much about the identity and cultural heritage of the city; it is a story about the city and its citizens through history, from pre-history to the present times. Various aspects of life in the city are interpreted by the chronological and thematic units linked by their atmosphere. The town-planning and constructional growth of the city is not presented detached from its social history and the citizens’ everyday life but the former is supplemented by the latter. Traditionally different worlds of displaying “ordinary” and artistic exhibits have been reconciled, and even with the latter the emphasis has not been set on their artistic quality. The exhibition of collections according to the types of objects has been completely eliminated, and the permanent display follows chronological-thematic contents gathered round 45 themes. As a separate entity those collections that had been presented to the City of Zagreb as gifts have been set apart. In order to make the experience of different topics even more complete, the display has been enriched by appropriate piped-in sound effects. Exhibition halls with themes relating to the 20th century include original audio, film and TV records. The Museum presents to its visitors the story of Zagreb. The Zagreb City Museum has shown respect to the city and its political, economic, cultural and, above all, its social history. More than to the features mentioned above, the Museum has been showing their respect to all the generations of its citizens: the course of their destinies reflects the unique and specific spirit of Zagreb. The Museum expresses its care for the visitors by the dynamic of attractive programmes of their own and guest exhibition programmes, their publishing activities, their openness to the cooperation with citizens, their already traditional events “Live pictures” that accompany Shrove Tuesday and other carnival events – when characters from the history of Zagreb, clad in appropriate costumes, take over the Museum. An exceptionally important part of the Museum’s activities is in progress through the permanent educational programmes of museological-pedagogical workshops intended for children of different ages. The Museum pays particular attention to visitors with special needs. There is special access made possible for invalids in wheelchairs, partially-sighted and deaf-blind persons who are being helped to look around the museum by mobile telephones and catalogues printed in the Braille script. In 1997 the Zagreb City Museum received the City of Zagreb Award for the restoration of the museum. Architect Željko Kovačić was awarded the prize of the Society of Architects “Bernardo Bernardi” for the arrangement of the Museum’s permanent display. In the year 2000 the Zagreb City Museum was nominated for the European Museum of the year Prize, the most eminent museum prize that is awarded by the European Museum Forum. The Museum lives and performs its activities in permanent cohabitation with the citizens of Zagreb. This is best proved by the remarks and notes that describe the visitors’ impressions; among these you can find those notes where many citizens of Zagreb declared that they were proud to have lived and live in this city and that they have such a museum. Foreigners, on the other hand, emphasized that after having visited the Museum they looked upon the City of Zagreb with different eyes.