Museum started Work on the Largest Collection from Prehistoric Times

The largest permanent exhibition “Bosnia and Herzegovina in prehistoric times” at the Department of Archaeology of the National Museum after the war has never been rebuilt nor available to the public for more than 20 years, and the curators of these institutions started the work on its reconstruction. It is planned for this exhibition to be opened in 2018, and with this setting, which is extremely important for the study of cultural development on European soil, the museum offer will be completed.

This was confirmed by the Head of the Department of Archaeology Andrijana Pravidur, who emphasized that this collection contains a little more than 100,000 units of archaeological material, which makes it one of the richest and most diverse prehistoric collections in Southeast Europe.

Most of the exhibits are the result of research and excavations in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, but the fond was never fully presented to the public, but only around 3,000 units that were rated as the most exclusive. This time, the permanent exhibition will be refreshed with archaeological specimens that were kept in the museum depot.

The exhibition will be based on material from all periods of prehistoric times in BiH – the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze and Iron Ages. It will include all the localities important for the study of the history of BiH, and which are unavoidable in understanding of cultural development of prehistoric Europe. This primarily refers to the Butmir culture, which is well known in the study of Neolithic. These excavations from the late 19^th and early 20^th century “echoed” throughout the archaeological Europe.

“The archaeological exhibits that we are keeping in the museum are diverse and represent all traces of daily life of prehistoric man. Since at that time they did not know the letter, their life can be reconstructed from these items and that is why they are very important. So from a variety of archaeological findings, we can learn how houses were built, the dishes were made and decorated, how jewelry was made and worn, and how they were burying their dead,” she said.

Although specific date, might seem a long way ‘at first’, she explained that these are extremely complex tasks that require great precision and expertise. She reminded that this is a setting which will have several thousand exhibits presented on two floors. On the museologic exhibitions, she stated, we are working for several years and it is necessary to examine each item professionally and, if necessary, forward it to the processing through conservation and restoration, as well as protection at the end. Everything will be done in the recently opened Center for Conservation and Restoration of the National Museum.

(Source: klix.ba)