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Collections of the Department of Ethnology in the NationalMuseum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Marica Popič- Filipovič, Sarajevo/ Bosnien
The author would like to introduce to you the collection of ob-jects found in the department for ethnology at the National Museum,to explain the contents of the collection and the way the objects werepurchased. During the rule of the Austro- Hungarian Empire, theobjects were purchased from the whole Balkan Peninsula, becausethe first thought was that the National Museum should be the Heador the Main Institution for this area. After the Second World War thecollecting of objects was territorially limited in the areas of Bosniaand Herzegovina, and also to the XIX. and at the beginning of theXX. century. The mandatory criteria for collectible objects priorSecond World War were their beauty and the exotic Glossar ::: zum Glossareintrag exotic appearance ofthe objects. Just after 1950, by the arrival of schooled ethnologists tothe National Museum, a systematic purchase of pieces began. Thesecollectibles were traditional ones from the culture of all ethnicalgroups or of all people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Foundation of the National Museum BIH, in 1888, as acomplex scientific and cultural facility, only ten years after the occu-pation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austro- Hungarian Empire,was the result of many years of hard work by a minority of educatedand progressive individuals from that time. The followers of theideas about the foundation of the Museum in Bosnia, published bythe author and journalist Ivan Franjo Jukic in the magazine" BosnianFriend" many years ago in 1850, were joined in a" Museum Society".The society's statute said( among other) that the Museum founded bythis society had to find traditional national dresses from the country,home appliances, tools, dishes, weapons and trade goods etc."( Culic,1988: 164)
During the period of capitalization by the Austro- HungarianEmpire in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country where 97% of thepopulation were illiterate, very important changes took place in soci-ety and economy. By providing the conditions for the development