On the occasion of the 131st birthday of the National Museum, the exhibition “Three Lives of Sarajevo Haggadah” will be opened today, with the support of UNESCO and the US Embassy.
The exhibition will be opened at 15:00 o’clock, and the new edition of the Sarajevo Haggadah will be revealed on the same day at 19:00 o’clock.
The exhibition illuminates and monitors the path of the Sarajevo Haggadah from the medieval kingdom of Aragon, through Italy to Sarajevo where the manuscript was purchased by the National Museum at the end of the 19th century.
The selected sites of the Sarajevo Haggadah as well as comparative materials that make archival material, pages of other medieval manuscripts and objects from the archaeological and herbarium collection provide an insight into the circumstances and reasons for the creation of this enigmatic Jewish manuscript.
The exhibition is complemented with minerals from which the colors used for the painting of medieval manuscripts are made, as well as documents on the journey of Sarajevo Haggadah to Vienna, where for the first time its expert analysis was carried out.
A restored room where the Sarajevo Haggadah (Jewish manuscript codex that was created in the second half of the 14th century in the northern part of Spain) is exhibited, was officially opened in the National Museum of BiH in February last year.
“We introduced a permanent terms and visitors will now be able to take a look at Haggadah twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as every first Saturday in the month, in the period from 12 PM to 1 PM,” said the director of the National Museum of BiH, Mirsad Sijaric.
He noted that a large progress has been made and that the level of protection of Haggadah from light, temperature change and humidity was increased, as well as fire or theft. Moreover, the new system of book presentation will decrease the need for frequent manual manipulation, which further contributes to its protection.
“The Sarajevo Haggadah was declared as a mobile national monument of BiH back in 2003, and it was enrolled in the UNESCO World Heritage List last year, which is dedicated to the mobile cultural heritage of the world. All of this contributes to modernization and better working conditions of the National Museum of BiH,” stated Osmanovic.
France, UNESCO and the National Museum of BiH have improved the presentation of the content of Haggadah as well.
A copy of Haggadah will be made together with a new study that will reveal all the unknown details, and a large screen setting will allow visitors to take a look at Haggadah’s pages virtually, thanks to the UNESCO funds.
