The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Institute for Monuments Protection opened the exhibition titled “Meeting the Night of Museums” with the aim of marking 18 May, the International Day of Museums and the European Night of Museums, and in honour of the world museum community.
The exhibition is set up in the Ministry displaying documentation, projects and photos from the rich Archives of the Institute for Monuments Protection. Namely, with this exhibition, experts from the Institute, who had been performing the post-war restoration of objects of cultural and historical heritage, wanted to present the stages of restoration of heavily damaged museum facilities.
At the official opening of the exhibition, Minister Sanja Vlaisavljević emphasised the importance of opening the Archives of the Institute for Monuments Protection to all interested parties: “I would like to greet my respected friends, associates, colleagues from ICOMOS who are with us today, as well as students of the Faculty of Architecture of Sarajevo and their professors and all of you who came today to our Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports. At the end of last year, we promised to open up our Ministry in the literal sense. This exhibition shows that the Archives of our Institute serves everyone, especially the students who are with us today. This is the second exhibition in our organisation, which is based on the treasures kept by the Institute, so I can freely say that it has the museum value. It is a treasure that should be open and accessible every day. We who have responsibility in this institution and in all museums in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina should open museums, bring them closer to the youngest and the oldest, and that what we cherish from oblivion should always be available to them. Much has been destroyed, but there are so many things that have been preserved, and it is up to us to continue preserving and nurturing them and make them available to everyone,” said the Minister.
The Director of the Institute for Monuments Protection, Robert Stergar, emphasised that the exhibition had a special importance for the Institute, because the beginnings of the Institute were linked with the National Museum:
“The Museum gave birth to the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which at the beginning had its offices in the National Museum. With this exhibition, we also want to provide support to museums, their workers, curators, archaeologists, who work dedicatedly to protect our identity”, said Stergar.
The Expert Advisor for Cultural and Archaeological Heritage at the Institute for Monuments Protection, Lamija Abdijević, stated on this occasion that the exhibition was created as a form of support to museums celebrating the International Museum Day:
“We have been cooperating with museums for years and worked on the restoration of the National Museum, which was being renovated for many years after the war, then Villa Mandić, that is, the Olympic Museum, the Šarić House in Stolac, the Despić House and the Hamam in Mostar,” said Abdijević.
The musical part of the program was performed by the students of the Sarajevo High School of Music, soprano Ema Durić, Merjem Mehanović on the flute and Naida Ljevaković on the piano, a trio from the class of professors Svjetlana Kosorić, Ana Pokrklić and Vedrane Mujkić.
