SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ETHNOLOGICAL MATERIAL DISPLAZ AT THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION IN THE SUBOTICA CITY MUSEUM

Abstract

The first permanent exhibition in the City Museum of Subotica, conceived by Imre Šulman, was opened to public on 29th November 1948. Ethnological material was displayed as it is classified in museum’s various collections: textile, costumes, household furnishing, agriculture, and crafts, although a more adequate way of presentation would be according to ethnic affiliations. The main characteristic of the ethnographic collection is that it is comprised of local cultural products dating mostly from the 19th century.

            The second permanent exhibition was opened on 29th November 1969. This time, its author was Milka Mikuška. Again, the material was presented through representative samples taken from the existing collections: agriculture, craftsmenship, furnishing and textiles. In the author’s opinion the future exhibition should represent folk life in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, but the cultural products should not be displeyed classified according to the material they are made of, or their function, but according to the ethnic affilation of their makers and users: the Hungarians, the Croats (Bunjevci ethnic group), the Serbs (both indigenes and colonists settled after the first and the second world wars), the Slovaks, and the Jewish, Gypsy and German peoples. Their life could be represented by displaying material concerning ther economies, which are the bases of both their subsistence and construction of the superstructure. Objects used in gathering, livestock breeding, agriculture, viticulture, crafts and trade should find their place et the exhibition. The aim of the exhibition would be to revive the atmosphere with the help of models of the former interiors and exteriors.