Ethnology Department of the National Museum Čačak includes more than 4000 objects classified into several collections representing the material and spiritual culture of the Serbs. The Museum acquired the objects either through purchase, as a gift, or in the field investigations undertaken by the Museum curators.

In 1972 the Museum began detailed processing of the collections, conservation of the objects, and recognition of Čačak, Gornji Milanovac, Dragačevo and Ivanjica region. The department houses a great many collections, among which the most numerous are traditional ethnic garment, furniture, dishes and crafts collection.

The research results obtained by the Museum ethnologists have been regularly published in the National Museum Journal or in other specialized magazines in Serbia.

The Ethnology Department, independently or in cooperation with other museums of Serbia, organized and exposed more than thirty temporary exhibitions, which were also hosted by the museums of Serbia, as well as five permanent exhibitions hosted in Čačak and its surroundings. The following exhibitions were highly significant: Ornamentation on tombstones in 1995, Socks and nipple socks in 1996, and Fashion mirrored by sixties in 2007.

The Museum ethnologists have participated in the numerous scientific projects and organized conferences. In 2011, the Ethnology Department undertook the research, titled Childhood and Serbian cultural code, which also engaged many ethnologists from Serbia. This research project was financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. The research is to be a basis for the creation of the future permanent exhibition Museum of Childhood, which is also financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

The Ethnology Department was an organiser and a host of the several significant conferences. In 2006, organized by the Museum Society of the Republic of Serbia and Ethnology Department of the National Museum Čačak, a conference was held on a topic Museum ethnological documentation, actual state and its perspectives. The cooperation between the Ethnological and Anthropological society of Serbia and the Ethnological Department of the National Museum Čačak resulted in the scientific meeting focussed on the topic Tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Serbia: local customs in the process of long-term transition, held in 2010.

In addition to this, more than 20 ethnological films which offer an insight into a wide range of themes on Čačak material and spiritual culture have been shot. At the International festival of Ethnological film, held in 2008 in Kučevo, the Ethnological Department of the National Museum Čačak was awarded the first prize for the film titled Tomorrow is Holy Jerremiah.

The Ethnology Department initiated the event – Epiphany swimming for the Holy Cross in 2005, and ever since has been one of the organizers. Since 2006, Children Summer Workshop Ethno School has taken place within the Summer Culture Days in Čačak.

Staff:

Snežana Šaponjić-Ašanin
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Ivana Ćirjaković
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