The manifestation the “Spring of Mostar 2025 – 27th Days of Matica Hrvatska Mostar” was opened at the Museum of Modern Art of the University of Mostar with the exhibition “The Art Collection of Matica Hrvatska” that had been kept unpresented for 150 years.
After welcoming speeches, the attendees were addressed by the President of Matica Hrvatska Mostar, the academician Ljerka Ostojić, the President of Matica Hrvatska, academician Miro Gavran, and the Director of the Museum of Modern Art of the University of Mostar, Marin Ivanović.
The event was officially opened by the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports Sanja Vlaisavljević, who was also the high patron of this year’s manifestation.
In her speech, remembering the founder of the Mostar Spring, Josip Muselimović, minister Vlaisavljević said:
“I am very well acquainted with this distorted relationship between the cultures here. You cannot proclaim culture without declaring it! Culture needs to be shown. That is the meaning and goal of the Festival. That is exactly it: to show to others that if a nation is not big in numbers, that is certainly not a criterion for the greatness of its cultural heritage. People, through our perseverance and goodwill, have recognized that. So, our Festival is a showcase of Croatian cultural achievements, but the point is not that we, the Croats, inform each other about it, because the strength of our culture is visible only when others understand it that way.”
This event with a long tradition was attended by representatives of the cultural, diplomatic and economic life of the City of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.
