Homeland War Museum Dubrovnik attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors

(Photo credit: Homeland War Museum Dubrovnik)

ZAGREB, 6 Dec (Hina) – The Homeland War Museum Dubrovnik in the Fort Imperial on the Srđ Hill has been visited by 800,000 visitors in its 15 years of existence, it was said on Monday at the opening of an exhibition which is part of the programme marking the Day of Dubrovnik Defenders.

Museum director Varina Jurica Turk said that the exhibition “Fifteen years of the memory custodian in the symbol of victory and freedom” featured a selection of materials gathered and presented in 60 exhibitions.

The collection includes more than 20,000 photographs and 7,000 objects and documents. Due to humidity, we could not exhibit paper or textile so we digitalised a lot of the collection. The high exhibition attendance, of both physical and online visitors, confirms that there is great interest in these topics. We hope for a reconstruction of the fort and a future permanent collection, said Jurica Turk.

(Photo credit: Homeland War Museum Dubrovnik)

She added that before the first exhibition at the fort “Dubrovnik in the Homeland War” on 5 August 2008, it was necessary to renovate the space, which was in very bad condition, while later the exhibition space spread to the eastern and western ground floors of the fort.

Senior curator and Dubrovnik veteran Mišo Đuraš recalled that the first idea for an ‘in situ’ museum came up at the end of December 1991, while the 163rd brigade’s command was located in the fortress, which was built by the French at the beginning of the 19th century.

(Photo credit: Homeland War Museum Dubrovnik)

“At that time I was the director of Dubrovnik museums. We talked about that during quiet moments of duty, because we sensed that the memory of Dubrovnik’s contribution to the Homeland War should be preserved. At the time, we didn’t know if we would survive, but we were sure that we would win,” said Đuraš.