engleski

Preserving Heraldic Heritage: Experiences from the Croatian History Museum

During the last decades of the 20th century, museums have become places of improved process of collecting, protection and research on heraldic heritage in Croatia. The simple explanation of this situation starts from the fact that essential attributes of heraldic artefacts (illustrative and communicative) are stimulating two major aspects of museum activity: development of museological theory and promotion of museum practice. That was the primary reason why the most valuable museum Collection of Heraldry and Genealogy was developed during the late 1970’ s in the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb, Croatia. This Collection is the main topic of the article – its history, evolution, content and Programme of care for Croatian heraldic heritage in the near future. According to that, presented are the basics of the size and value, but also the principles of museological evaluation of the Heraldry collection as a part of overall museum resources. Some problems connected with the material protection of Croatian heraldic tradition, as well as the influences of intangible qualities of heraldic objects for the process of preservation of national and cultural heritage in general is also discussed. The most important aspects considering various possibilities of applying the existing heraldic heritage in interpreting national identity and in the creation of optimal schemes of cultural tourism where heraldic items were in the centre of interest is indicated too. Finally, in order to locate the most common characteristics of the Croatian heraldic art in the past, typical samples of grants of arms, coats of arms and genealogies from the Museum are illustrated together with examples of heraldic artefacts located in various Croatian places and regions.

Croatian History Museum; heraldic heritage; national identity

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