The priority in our efforts every year, including 2024, has been the care of movable cultural assets stored in the collections of the National Museum Kraljevo. We have made every effort to enrich our collections through donations and, with the help of the Local Government of the City of Kraljevo and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, through purchases. During 2024, field research was also carried out in the country and the region in the fields of archaeology, art history, ethnology and history. As a confirmation of the dedication and commitment of Mirjana Savić, museum advisor at the National Museum Kraljevo and Ljubinka Škodrić,Phd, senior research associate at the Institute of Contemporary History in Belgrade, as the author team of the exhibition “Children in War: Serbian Refugee Homes in Mataruška Banja 1942-1944” in the National Museum Kraljevo, the “Mihailo Valtrović” award of the Serbian Museum Association was awarded in the category “to an individual or author team for exceptional results in 2023”.
The work of the National Museum Kraljevo in 2024 was marked by a series of exhibitions, prepared by the institution, as well as by guests. In addition to those dealing with important local topics such as the history of Vrnjačka Banja, the Allied bombing of Kraljevo in 1944, and the celebration of the anniversary of the Art School, we dedicated the end of the calendar year to the work of the artist Ksenija Divjak. In addition to the works from the Art Collection of the National Museum Kraljevo, works from five other museums and galleries were also exhibited. We also hosted exhibitions from museum institutions, which are among the most important in our country. These are two exhibitions from the National Museum of Serbia: “Femina Balcanica: Mater, Matrona, Augusta, Dea. Women in the Balkans in Antiquity” and “Cities: A Certain View. From the Collection of Graphics by Foreign Authors of the National Museum of Serbia”, as well as the exhibition of the Gallery of Matica Srpska “Inspired by Italy”. The exhibition “The Silent Crime: Atrocities of Albanian Quislings against Serbs and Jews in Kosovo and Metohija during World War II” of the Genocide Victims’ Museum, as well as the exhibition “In the Depths of the Province” of the National Museum Čačak, was also a guest. We are particularly proud of the international cooperation achieved with the Museum of National Liberation from Maribor, which presented itself in Kraljevo with the exhibition “The Exiles”.
The National Museum Kraljevo, together with its related institution, the Historical Archive Kraljevo, publishes the multidisciplinary journal “Our Past”. This year, a new issue of this publication has been prepared and is in print. In August 2024, the fourth scientific conference “Publications in the Development of Society and State” was held, with the support of the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade and the Institute for Political Studies in Belgrade. The main impetus for holding this and previous scientific meetings was the work of Slavoljub Maržik, MA, who directed his efforts to preserve the history of our city by collecting newspaper articles about Karanovac, i.e. Kraljevo, in Serbian newspapers. This year, 17 new works were presented in the fields of history, political science, law and philology. A Collection of Papers from this and previous scientific conference is also being prepared. During the year, numerous lectures, presentations of new scientific publications and film screenings were held in the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo.
This year, the National Museum Kraljevo also signed a contact with Gordana Gavrić and her daughter Sofija on the Legacy of Professor Zoran Gavrić, as a form of library of this distinguished historian and art theorist, which numbers over 620 books and which was presented to the public.
We have tried to offer programs adapted to kindergarten, primary and secondary school students from Kraljevo, thus trying to bring cultural heritage closer to them. We can certainly single out the traditional 49th May Children’s Art Salon, where the best works of eight-year school students were awarded, the exhibition and accompanying programs dedicated to marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Art School. Also, with the help of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, a program dedicated to science was organized and performed in the hall of the Army Hall, and we also brought the museum theatre closer to high school students. We have especially tried to awaken in our younger fellow citizens an interest in all the treasures that we keep within the collections of the National Museum Kraljevo, through the implementation of numerous workshops.
Realizing the need to keep up with the times and use modern means of communication, we are constantly improving the work of the Official website of the National Museum Kraljevo, thanks to the work of the Editorial and Technical Boards. Over time, with dedicated work, we have gained a truly large number of followers and aroused public interest. The “Discover” section is especially popular, revealing unknown facts related to the past of our city and its surroundings.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank, first of all, our fellow citizens for the trust they have shown us, to wish them a happy New Year and Christmas holidays, and to invite them to visit the National Museum Kraljevo in 2025.
Darko Gučanin
historian, archivist
director of the National Museum Kraljevo