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The Collections of the Museum of Sarajevo

Amra Madžarević, Sarajevo/ Bosnien

The Museum of Sarajevo was founded in 1949 by decision ofthe City Council. The bases for the formation of theme- based collec-tions were gifts from the Republican and City authorities. I shall notspeak of the museum's history, but the historical context in which itcame into being after World War II, during the period of communistrule that left its mark on the formation of certain collections, par-ticularly those relating to the twentieth century. This century wasuntil recently represented by the Collections of the Labour Move-ment and the War of National Liberation and of Socialist Develop-ment, and there is the sense of a considerable vacuum in the muse-ological presentation of the history of our city during the century thathas just ended.

The Museum now has nine theme- based collections, a library,a photographic collection and four annexes. Almost all the Mu-seum's exhibits were saved from destruction during the recent war asa result of being moved to safer premises in the Jewish synagogue.Though the war has ended, the exhibits are still housed in the syna-gogue, given that the issue of ownership of the building in whichthey were previously housed remains unresolved. The Museum isstill without its own main premises, still lacks adequate storagespace, and still has no permanent exhibits. As a result the very exis-tence of the Museum and its central activities of acquisition, curationand presentation of its exhibits are in jeopardy. Since 1992, when theMuseum was moved out of the building it had occupied until then, itscollections have all been housed in one of its annexes, the JewishMuseum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sixteenth century synagogue,in other words a building that forms an integral space dedicated toworship. All the exhibits, regardless of their nature, are housed in thesame premises. Each collection has its own" corner", its own part ofthe building, and within its own spatially but not physically separatedarea, the various sub collections are housed in special cupboards,chests and boxes, depending on their nature. The synagogue has no