The permanent museum exhibition entitled “100 Years of Ibar Coal Mines 1924-2024” was opened in the administrative building of HCM “Ibar Mines” in Baljevac, on Friday, October 4, 2024, starting at 10 a.m., as part of the main ceremony marking the great jubilee of the mine. The museum exhibit, accompanied by the catalogue and film of the same name, was realized by the National Museum Kraljevo, which joined the celebration of the jubilee as the territorially competent museum for the municipality of Raška, recognizing the industrial heritage within this complex system as a resource that deserves research, presentation and protection.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the mining anthem was broadcast, and then the dignitaries and guests were addressed by Vladan Cvetković, director of HCM “Ibar Mines” and Slobodan Mitić, executive director for technical affairs of PE UCE “Resavica”, in which “Ibars Mines” operates. After that, Tatjana Mihailović, PhD, museum advisor of the National Museum Kraljevo, as the project manager, addressed the audience and pointed out that the interdisciplinary team of the National Museum Kraljevo undertook research in the Ibar mines in several stages during 2023-2024, after which a decision was made to create a museum exhibition on the occasion of the jubilee. On that occasion, special cooperation was achieved with the Museum of Coal Mining Senjski Rudnik, in designing the exhibition and processing the collected items. She emphasized the roles of all participants in the project and the complexity of the work performed.
Nenad Anžel, historian and director of the Museum of Coal Mining Senjski Rudnik, as one of the authors of the exhibition, in his speech congratulated those present on the jubilee and emphasized the importance of preserving the cultural heritage related to mining, as one of the economic branches that played an important role in the development of this area throughout history. After him, Nemanja Trifunović, curator of the National Museum Kraljevo and one of the authors of the exhibit, presented a brief history of a century of Ibar Mines, starting with the discovery of coal in this area at the end of the 19th century, through intensive exploitation that began in 1924 with the company “Milan Savić and Sons”, to the post-war development in socialism and the state of mines in the 21st century. At the end, Milanko Jemuović, a collector from Kraljevo, a native of Jarandol, gave a short address to the audience, an important collaborator on the project, who gave many of his photographs, which are extremely valuable for history, for publication.
At the end of the ceremony, the film “100 Years of Ibar Coal Mines” by author and director Radoslav Živković, produced by the National Museum Kraljevo and Photo Art Studio Kraljevo, was premiered. After that, a permanent museum exhibition was opened in the administrative building of the HCM “Ibar Mines”.