Published: 2011-09-30
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
The history of national museums in Croatia is marked by disruptions due to changes in the configuration of supra-nations that have ruled the country at various periods in its history. In 1846; the Illyrian movement; a Croatian national revival movement who were inspired by the Enlightenment; founded the first museum to express national ambitions in Zagreb. The discontinuous history and idea behind this national museum is the focus of this report; culminating with an examination of its successor; the Croatian History Museum. This case study demonstrates how a museum; with nation building as a central part of its mission; can maintain the continuity of a nation through the historical continuity of the institution. A key element of this ‘national’ idea is the age of the nation and its heritage; museums are well suited to display these elements. This case study also examines institutional changes to the interpretation of the national narrative during this period.
The creation of the Museum of the Revolution of the Croatian people during the Yugoslavian period demonstrates that the interpretation of ‘national history’ served as a nation-building influence in Yugoslavia. The decommissioning and closure of the museum and its reintegration into the Croatian National History Museum are good examples of this reinterpretation. Croatian nation building has moved in this direction by appropriating the adjacent public space following the country’s independence after the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. This recent period is most representative of the connection between real nation building that transcends all spheres of society and those representative institutions of national culture - museums. The passage of the multinational state of the Yugoslav federation into a nation-state has had a profound impact on Croatian museums.
The construction of new museums in the last decade shows that the important projects of national museums in Croatia are in the art or archeology museums more so than the history museum. In spite of this period that was characterized by nation building after the independence of the country; a national history museum was not responsible for launching major projects. Finally; the creation of a new National History Museum in Zagreb is in progress; which will present the grand narrative of the new nation-state.
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