The exhibition “Zmiijanje Embroidery – World Intangible Heritage,” drawn from the collections of the Museum of Republika Srpska and the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, authored by Danijela Đukanović, museum advisor and ethnologist from the Museum of Republika Srpska, and Mirjana Kraguljac Ilić, senior curator and ethnologist from the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, represents a joint project of two central institutions from the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska dedicated to the preservation of tangible and intangible Serbian cultural heritage. Through this project, both cultural institutions aim to present to the professional and wider public in Paris and the French Republic the importance of preserving Serbian intangible heritage – Zmiijanje embroidery, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014.
Visitors will be introduced to objects dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which have been preserved for decades in both cultural institutions. The exhibition will feature 24 museum objects from the Museum of Republika Srpska and 28 museum objects from the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade.
In addition to exhibits held in the collections of both museums, visitors will also have the opportunity to see 22 items created by associations and individuals who continue to practice Zmiijanje embroidery today. These objects demonstrate how people today recognize Zmiijanje embroidery as part of their tradition, cultural and national identity, and continue to apply it in a contemporary context while preserving the authentic motifs that led to its inscription on the UNESCO list in 2014.
Visitors will also be able to view photographs of traditional Zmiijanje costumes (an ethno-geographical Dinaric region inhabited by the Orthodox population in the northwestern part of the Republic of Srpska) from the photographic archives of both museums, taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as photographs of contemporary applications, preservation, and presentation of Zmiijanje embroidery, including workshops and educational programs.
Accompanying text panels will present the history of the collections, the history of the Zmiijanje region, and the work of the associations whose objects are included in the exhibition. As part of the exhibition’s accompanying program, an interactive Zmiijanje embroidery workshop will be held at the opening, led by Svetlana Marković, associate of the Museum of Republika Srpska. The exhibition will also include two documentary films on Zmiijanje embroidery – produced by the Museum of Republika Srpska and the humanitarian women’s association “Duga,” organizations that are today the bearers of this tradition.
