The exhibition of folk costumes of minority peoples, entitled “Synergy of diversity”, organized by the National Museum and the Center for the Preservation and Development of the Culture of Minorities of Montenegro (CEKUM), will be opened on Friday, May 7, at 2 p.m., in Njegoševa Billiard in Cetinje. It was created as a result of the recently signed memorandum of cooperation between the National Museum and the Center for the Preservation and Development of Minority Culture of Montenegro (CEKUM).
The exhibition presented 21 sets of men’s and women’s, village and city, everyday and ceremonial national costumes of the minority peoples of Montenegro, as well as several individual clothing elements. The exhibited specimens are for the most part faithfully made replicas, created as a product of the Project “Creation of replicas of characteristic folk costumes from the territory of Montenegro”, implemented as part of the Program for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Property for 2019. The Niti od zlata and Šarenica workshops, as well as the qualified individuals Nexhmija Vucetoviq, Aljo Medunjanin and Draga Redona, are responsible for their production. For the past three years, the National Museum has received several national costumes of minority nations as a gift, which will also be exhibited. Nafija Liharević from Bar presented a women’s Krajina costume to the National Museum, Ljuljeta Avdiu Cura from Ulcinj a woman’s Anamal costume and Ava Vukić from Bar a woman’s costume from Mrkojević.
In the catalog of the exhibition, ethnologist Tatjana Rajković wrote that it was created with the desire to value and promote the richness and diversity of the traditional way of dressing of the minority peoples of Montenegro, i.e. with the aim of interpreting the creativity and complexity of different creative visions and sensibilities expressed through national costumes as the synergy of the intertwining of different cultures.
“The rich variety and numerous cultural peculiarities bear witness to the folk life and creativity that has accumulated over the centuries in the territory of today’s Montenegro, and precisely this abundance of diversity, created as a reflection of the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of all who inhabit these areas, represents the essential values that we possess, the wealth which, integrated into a single whole, constitutes an indispensable part of our overall cultural and historical heritage. the needs and creative powers of past generations, folk costumes had undoubtedly a great importance in the past. eras”, wrote Rajković and concluded that it is not possible to fully encompass and represent the overall richness and variety of traditional clothing of the minority peoples and ethnic groups that exist in these areas with the presented examples of costumes, but it is possible to experience and to some extent understand their aesthetic values and numerous artistic and symbolic meanings.
The exhibition presented faithfully made replicas and original examples of folk costumes owned by the Ethnographic Museum of the National Museum of Montenegro and folklore ensembles “Duga” from Beran, “Boka” from Tivat and “Rožaja” from Rožaj: female Bosniak/Muslim city costume from Pljevlja, male and female Bosniak/Muslim village costume from north-eastern Montenegro, male and female Bosniak/Muslim city costume from Rožaj, male Albanian costume from north-eastern Montenegro, female Albanian costume from around Rožaj, bridal Bosniak/Muslim costume from Plav, female Albanian costume from Plav, male and female costume from Malisor, costume of the Bokel navy, female costume from Dobrot, male Muslim/Bosniak beg costume from Bar, male Muslim/Bosnian city costume from the Bar-Ulcin area, women’s costume from Spičan, Anamal, Sestan and Bregasor, and women’s costumes from Mrkojević and Krajina.
Tatjana Rajković, ethnologist of the Ethnographic Museum of the Croatian National Museum, will talk about the exhibition, and academician Zuvdija Hodžić will open the exhibition. The authors of the exhibition are Tatjana Rajković and Eldar Lakota.
The opening of the exhibition will be organized in compliance with the current health measures to combat the corona virus pandemic and will be broadcast “online” via the official Facebook and Instagram pages of the National Museum.
The exhibition will last until June 7, 2021.