Is anyone completely indifferent to non-working days of the year? Even on a personal level, not all days in the year are equally important to us. We have special days, important dates in our lives, when we celebrate birthdays, name days, and various anniversaries, when we celebrate or mark religious, national, and international holidays. Some days of the year evoke memories or direct our thoughts to a particular direction.
An important day in the history of the Zagreb City Museum is 15 May, as on this day in 1907, the City Council issued a decree entrusting the “Brethren of the Croatian Dragon” Society with the establishment of a City Museum and a City Library, as well as design of rooms in the tower above the Stone Gate. Another significant day is 7 December, when the city mayor, Milan Amruš, at 6 PM officially opened the City Library and City Museum on the same year.
The first anniversary celebration was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Zagreb City Museum. For this occasion, the Museum prepared a celebration, a publication, and an exhibition: alongside preparations for the celebration, the Museum published a collection of papers titled “From the Old and New Zagreb” and organised an exhibition “Pictures of Zagreb from the 16th to the 19th century”. The celebration took place on 1 October, 1957, under the patronage of Većeslav Holjevac, then President of the People’s Committee of the City of Zagreb. Speakers at the celebration included Većeslav Holjevac, Professor Maksimilijan Fisher, a member of the Museum Council, Lelja Dobronić, PhD, scientific associate, and Franjo Buntak, PhD, Museum Director. Zagreb Quartet, consisting of Klima, Šestak, Stranić, Kiefer, and harpist Rajka Dobronić, performed at the event.
The 50th anniversary of the Zagreb City Museum and a formal reception at Dverci were photographed by Nino Vranić, a 24-year-old photographer at the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Zagreb at the time, and later a renowned and recognised photographer. As a permanent memento of this event and the Museum’s 50th “birthday”, a photo album is stored at the Museum. The album was exhibited at the exhibition “The Centennial of Zagreb City Museum, 1907-2007 / 100 / sto / C / cent / cento / hundred /… – CENTENNIAL”, which opened on 7 December, 2007. If you missed the exhibition, you can now browse through this “birthday” album.
(D. B.)
Sources:
- Kolveshi, Željka. 2007. Stota obljetnica Muzeja Grada Zagreba: 1907. – 2007. ; 100/sto/C/cent/cento/hundred/ … – Stoljetnica ; Muzej Grada Zagreba, Zagreb
- Strukić, Kristian; Vojak, Danijel. 2007. Kronologija Muzeja grada Zagreba: Stoljeće Muzeja grada Zagreba, Muzej grada Zagreba, Zagreb
- Batinić, Dajana. 2010. Dokumentacija Muzeja grada Zagreba u utemeljiteljskoj fazi od 1907. do 1926. godine: Informatica museologica, 41 (1-4), 131-137. Downloaded from https://hrcak.srce.hr/134411
- Grković, Sanja. Nikola Nino Vranić – fotograf dokumentarist i poeta prostora. Downloaded from https://min-kulture.gov.hr/kulturna-bastina/dokumentacijske-zbirke/zbirka-fotografske-dokumentacije/galerija/nino-vranic/2204
