In ancient Greek, museums are the seat of the muse, but their role in the present day is not only to preserve the works inspired by the patrons of the spiritual activities of man, but also to heritage, promote and point to the cultural heritage and current creativity of a nation. These are some of the most important museums in the Republic of Srpska and those that preserve the tradition of the Serbian people in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Museum of Republic of Srpska
This institution was founded by the order of Ban Svetislav Tisa Milosavljević in Banja Luka on September 26, 1930, and was originally called the Vrbas Ban Museum. Along with ethnological, historical, archeological and natural history collections have been created over the first decade of existence. During the NDH, the director of the Museum and the Serbian painter Spiridon Špiro Bocarić was killed, and the museum itself received Croatian features and was renamed the Croatian National Museum. After its liberation in 1945, it was named the State Ethnographic Museum of the Bosnian Krajina. In 1953 it was united with the Museum of National Liberation (founded in 1947) and has since been called the National Museum. In 1962 it was renamed the Museum of the Bosnian Krajina. It has been at today’s address in the House of Solidarity (formerly the House of Workers’ Solidarity) since moving in 1982. It has existed under its present name since 1992.
Museum of Contemporary Art of Republic of Srpska
Founded in 1971 by a decision of the Municipal Assembly of Banja Luka, MSU RS originally bore the name of the Art Gallery in Banja Luka. The institution was created after the action of visual artists from the former Yugoslavia and other parts of the world, who had solidarity with Banja Luka affected by the catastrophic earthquake of October 1969. Since 1994, this institution has been called the Art Gallery of the Republic of Srpska, and ten years later it was renamed today. Today it is one of the most important and active cultural institutions in the Republic of Srpska.
Kozara Museum
The establishment of the Kozara Museum dates back to 1954 and is closely linked to the development of Prijedor, and the need of this city to collect and preserve the assets of the National Liberation War (NOB). It is for this reason and because of the specificity of the moment of its creation that most of the historical collection consists of exhibits and documents from this period. The history department includes three-dimensional objects and documents from the late Middle Ages, the Turkish and Austrian periods, followed by the period between the two World Wars, the NOB and the post-World War II period.
Museum of Kozara National Park
This museum is part of the memorial complex in Mrakovica, in Kozara National Park, which, in addition to this museum, includes a monument and a memorial wall. The museum was designed by sculptor Dušan Džamonja and opened in 1973 with the exhibition “Goat in the National Liberation War”, which features authentic photographs, written and printed documents, and archival artifacts from a four-year glass epopee. It was also the permanent display of the Museum until the 1990s when it was devastated significantly in the last war. Today, the setting has been renovated and arranged to be a kind of replica of the original setting and to commemorate the victims and heroes of Kozara.
Museum of Herzegovina
The idea of establishing a museum in Trebinje first originated when Serbian poet and diplomat of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Jovan Dučić intended to establish a museum in his hometown in the 1930s.
For this purpose, the poet collected collections, sculptures, paintings from various epochs in foreign countries where he served and brought them to Trebinje.
It was not until 1952 that the Trebinje Regional Museum was established.
Since 1957, the Museum has been operating on a true museological basis, and since 1988 it has been located in the old part of Trebinje. The museum contains five permanent exhibitions today.
Museum of Semberija
The Semberija Museum in Bijeljina is the central regional museum institution of Semberia and contains three permanent exhibitions with over 10,000 exhibits. The settings are archeological, ethnological and historical.
The institution originated from the Semberia Museum Collection, founded on October 28, 1970. The establishment of the museum collection was most advocated by Dimitrije Čolaković, an ethnologist and historian, a professor at the Teacher’s School, and later also the first administrator of this collection.
Old Orthodox Church Museum
Although not located in the Republic of Srpska but in the territory of the City of Sarajevo in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this museum preserves the heritage of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina of invaluable importance. The museum was created in 1889 from the treasury of the Old Orthodox Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Sarajevo, with more than 200 exhibits on display. Church tutor Jeftan Despić, a member of the famous Sarajevo Despić family, is specially credited with opening the Museum. By the wealth of objects stored here, the Museum of the Old Orthodox Church in Sarajevo is today among the five most important Orthodox museums in the world.
Source: Nezavisne novine
