Matica Srpska gallery

Matica Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad is the richest artistic museum of the Serbian modern art. The Gallery of Matica Srpska was founded in 1847, but it works as independent institution since 1958. Its permanent exhibitions show chronologically about five thousand selected artworks significant for the new age of the Serbian history of art and the Serbian culture artworks in Vojvodina at the end of the 17th until the end of the 20th century. All artworks kept in the Matica Srpska Gallery were received from the Serbian Orthodox Church as present and from numerous donors and are treated with special care and used in related conditions. In terms of physical, artistic and cultural historical characteristics, Matica Srpska Gallery fund is divided into systematic collections of Serbian painting, graphic, drawing, sculpture and copies. All collections of the Matica Srpska Gallery are available to public and can be seen at the Permanent Exhibition and at periodical exhibitions.

By substantiates and complexity of collections in Matica Srpska Gallery the Serbian painting, graphic and drawing of the 18th and the 19th century attract special interest. They fully represent the complex processes of Europeanization of Serbian art in the period from the Great migration of Serbs in 1690 till the Unification in 1918. Matica Srpska Gallery Collection of the 20th century, besides the works of painters and sculptors from Vojvodina, contains arts of authors from wider Yugoslavian area. Final segment of the permanent exhibition which contains the greatest works of Serbian painting from the first half of the 20th century is opened for public from 1992. Expansion on the collection of the Serbian art from the second half of 20th century is achieved in 1997, so on the celebration of the 150 years anniversary of existence of Matica Srpska Gallery. Matica Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad organizes periodical exhibitions with mono graphic and thematic character and publishes catalogs and other special publications on the latest Serbian arts.

Military museum in Belgrade

                      The Military Museum is located inside the walls of the historic Belgrade Fortress, situated at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The Belgrade Fortress is located within a popular park known as the Kalemegdan Park, near the center of the city.

                 The Military Museum  in Belgrade was founded in 1878. The museum has over 3000 ancient and modern items. These include Roman swords and helmets,Greek helmets and daggers, Serbian heavy knight's armor, axes, shields, helmets, crossbows, armoured gloves, as well as Western medieval weapons. There are also more modernguns, firearms, and elements of soldier's uniforms and equipment. Dioramas, plaques, and displays illustrate the use and historical context of the museum's collection.It was founded by the Decree of Prince Milan Obrenović IV on August 22, 1878. The first permanent display was opened in 1904, coinciding with the 100th Anniversary of the Serbian Revolution.The Museum’s building was destroyed by Austro-Hungarian forces during the First World War, and countless priceless collections were destroyed or were seized.The Systematical collecting of objects started and numerous donors, former soldiers and their descendants responded. Their names were signed in a special "Golden Book". The book is still kept in the Military Museum.

                   

Inside the museum's main building, the exhibits are found in a single long hall progressing from ancient through medieval and then towards modern. All exhibits are labeled in the Serbian Language in both Cyrillic and Latin, as well as English. Outside the museum's main building, there are numerous tanks, howitzers, and armoured cars of many types. Some were acquired during World War II, when they were captured by the Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans from retreating Nazi and Axis forces (Belgrade Offensive). These decommissioned tanks and artillery pieces line the walls and paths leading into the Military Museum from two directions. Recent exhibits address NATO actions against Serbia in 1999, including the controversial use of cluster bombs, depleted uranium, and graphite bombs, some of which are claimed to be in violation of international law. A well-known exhibit features parts of a US F-117 stealth aircraft which was downed by a Serbian S-125 Neva/Pechora.

Memorial museum Knjaževac

Memorial Museum of Knjaževac is located in the house of the former radical party leader Aca Stanojević, who was the President of the Serbian Parliament at the beginning of the 20th century.  Exhibited objects and artifacts of the cultural and significant value are first of all personal belongings and objects of Stanojevic Family while part of items represent gifts from the old families of Knjazevac which used to have name of Gurgusovac and was regarded as one of the oldest settlements in Serbia. Numerous Memorial museum Knjazevac events such are literary and music evenings and various lectures are organized in the nicely arranged ground floor of the City Museum of Knjaževac, within the gallery space.

The temporary exhibition of the Memorial Museum Knjazevac, from the prehistoric times until nowadays is exposed in the building in Karadjordjeva street 15, in the very center of Knjazevac. This is the cultural monument itself, built in 1906, and a type of cultural public property of civil architecture with stylish characteristics significant for the beginning of the 20th century. The Memorial Museum Knjazevac exhibition includes chronologically and thematically displayed original objects and artifacts, or exceptionally, the copies of the objects from Knjazevac and Timok region representing the nature and people. Unique Ethnographic collection of remarkable number of about 1000 examples of outstanding two-sided hand-pinned wool socks of Timok Region from the 18th until the 20th century is the part of the Memorial Museum Exhibits. 

Naše ruke Association Serbia

           The National Association for old crafts and artistic skills and handwork of “Naše ruke” has been established in 2007. Initiative for foundation of such organization came from the need of local citizens to maintain well-preserved traditions, natural and cultural heritage of Serbia, which contribute to development of tourism and improvement of life quality of local population. The visit to the Center for old crafts and souvenir manufacture with interactive workshops, that belong to the Naše ruke Association is extremely interesting, as it provides exciting insight into almost forgotten crafts and customs of Serbia, monitored by experienced local artisans who are proud to express their talents and artisan skills, and make visitors enriched with unique impressions and unforgettable experiences – manufacture of opanci and other leather products, pottery manufacture, embroidery, weaving, sewing and tailoring, blacksmith, glass painting, basket manufacture, woodcarving, jewelry manufacture, making bread and various pies and baking in old-fashioned furnace, preparation of jams, marmalade and pickled salads, roasting and grinding coffee which provides a full insight into the art of the black “Turkish” coffee. Here is the Opanci Museum which contains an unique collection of 70 pairs of opanci (traditional Serbian leather shoes) from all parts of Serbia, from the most simple to the examples of opanci that are rather complex and were prized in various international fairs and events. The Opanci Museum also perform on site the skills and techniques of making opanci in traditional way, that truly excite visitors, especially those who take part in this craft (conducted by experiences local artisans).

            Along with those handwork and old crafts workshops it is also possible to participate in the Serbian Wedding and the Serbian Slava events, including authentic customs representation and enjoyment in original wedding or finest traditional slava food, so all interested groups of visitors are welcome to apply and make preparations for those outstandingly interesting programs.

             

It is a concept where visitors enjoy a place for what it inherently has to offer, rather than something that is replicated from elsewhere. The guests therefore visiting the Nase ruke Center for crafts in Rakovica village get to interact with the local people and socialize and meet and observe their life-styles, appreciate a culture, customs and environment, different from their own.

Old Vlach village Štitkovo

The village of Štitkovo in south-western Serbia, on the slopes of the Zlatar Mountain, near Nova Varos, one of the most beautiful regions of Serbia, stands on the picturesque site of the former monastery built in 1655 near the clear Vrelo spring and just below the gigantic cliff and endless pastures of beautiful Javor Mountain. Stitkovo village is unique open-air museum and historical landmark that preserves rich highlanders traditions and cultural heritage of Serbia.

Štitkovo village is the authentic old Vlach settlement and has retained the ancient vernacular wooden architecture of highlanders Dinaric houses. Timbers for construction of those Stitkovo houses were 15 meters long and was incorporated with stone in building. The Stitkovo village authentic architecture – positioning of the houses, like city core dating from the late 19-th and early 20-th century in Serbia is an unique cultural phenomenon and historical nucleus which is still unexplored.

Stables and other economic structures of Stitkovo village are located on the other side of the stream while houses are entirely incredible in comparison with the modern way of life: down are storage structures /magaza/, and on the upper floor are kitchen and bedrooms. In the center of the Stitkovo village there is the Cultural Center that cherishes traditional customs and where folklore performances are held. Beside it is the White Church dedicated to Annunciation, a gem of the cultural heritage from 1867, built on the spot of the former Monastery founded by Patriarch Gavrilo Rašković of the famous Rašković Family in 1655 which was destroyed by Turks in 1813. Stitkovo Village used to be the settlement of famous Rašković Dukes, Serbian aristocracy before the Kosovo battle, who were manufacturing shields for the army (that is how the village of Stitkovo got its name)

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Bread museum Pećinci

            The Museum dedicated to the glory of bread, in the Pećinci village of Srem county in Vojvodina Province, has been established in 1995 and was named Jeremija, after Slobodan Jeremić Jeremija – Jeremy, whose life idea led to the creation of such Museum collection. Bread Museum in Pećinci village is result of numerous years of research and collecting of painter Jeremija, who had dedicated pretty long part of his life to the principle and the role of the Eucharistic bread. The Bread Museum collection consists of 2000 exhibits and artifacts, divided into the ethnographic, archaeologic and the artistic parts. Besides the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany, the Bread Museum in Pećinci village distinguishes itself by the rich archive of the feast breads in the Serb culture, from the neolithic period up to the present days, and provides its visitors great opportunity to explore and discover various ancient tools and objects and methods of how the land used to be cultivated by the Serbs. In the Bread Museum in Pećinci village are exposed various tools for cultivating land, original objects for wheat and corn processing, tools and objects for bread making, the ancient furnaces and the hearth, around which the whole family used to gather, collection of breads prepared for feasts and festivities.

    

Additional offer within the Bread Museum Pecinci are the paintings exhibition, the Refectory of Saint Nicholas, the Belfry dedicated to Saint Nicholas, painted depictions of the Serbian Medieval rulers, beautiful gardens full of greenery and flowers. Cordial hosts, who engage the whole family are always at service to provide lots of information of the exhibited authentic items, but also to serve uniquely rich and memorable fantastic „Bread buffet” to the announced groups. The Bread Museum in Pećinci village is frequented during year by large number of visitors – scholars, ethnologists, historians, art historians, researchers, church dignitaries and school students and various visitors from all parts of the world, keen to get new experiences, since exploration of the rich collections and authentic bread-culture items of the Bread Museum provides unique experiences.

Sava Šumanović gallery

                 Sava Šumanović, the most important Serbian painter of the first half of the 20th century, spent his youth and last days of life in Šid, where his hometown gallery is located nowadays. Gallery of Sava Šumanović was established in 1952 as a gift from Persida Šumanović, the painter’s mother, with the aim to present the town of Sid with 417 of her son’s paintings, as well as the house in which they are exhibited. Vesna Burojević, art historian and director of the Gallery proudly stresses that Gallery of Sava Šumanović possesses majority of the famous painter’ s works.

             Sava Šumanovic was born in 1896 in a wealthy and respected bourgeois family, in the town of Vinkovci. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Šid. The most important event in his career was certainly going to Paris at the end of the 1920s. The half year spent in the studio of the famous art professor Andre Lhot, who considered Sava Sumanovic as his most talented student and whose artistic direction was post-cubism, forever changed the life of the young artist. He became the Serbian painter who worked in a special kind of late Constructivism, much like Andre Lhot – in the reflection of Cubism. All of that made Sava Šumanovic a pioneer of modern trends in Serbian painting, which became modern largely due to Šumanovic’s ability to accept and understand changes in art. Full of enthusiasm and new revelations, he experienced disappointment in 1921 at his first exhibition in Zagreb, after his return from Paris. The provincial and conservative audience in Zagreb did not understand modern art. After return from Paris Sava Šumanović painted nudes and the nearby landscapes of Šid which remained dominant for the rest of the painters life. War came to the small town of Sid which became a part of the Independent State of Croatia. Cyrillic alphabet was forbidden and Sava Šumanović, out of protest refused to sign himself and marked his paintings only by the year of their origin. On Assumption, 28 August 1942 Sava Šumanović was arrested and taken to Sremska Mitrovica along with 120 locals where they were executed by pro-fascist collaborators. 

             

The most famous paintings of Sava Šumanovic belong to the peak of the modern Serbian art, “Breakfast on Grass”, “Bathers” and “Drunken Boat”.