Hrvatski
The guest exhibition "Craftsman Heritage: 15 stories from the Etar Museum" has been opened.
On Saturday, May 10, 2025 In the Museum "Staro selo" Kumrovec, the guest exhibition "Heritage of Craftsmen: 15 stories from the Museum Etar" was opened. The exhibition seeks to stimulate contemporary interest in craftsmanship. It invites the modern audience not only to appreciate and use handmade products, but also to acquire and master the skills needed to engage in crafts - and eventually turn them into a profession. 15 crafts and home occupations from the Bulgarian National Revival and the years immediately following are presented.
For more than six decades, the Etar Museum has been working tirelessly to preserve Bulgarian crafts, some of which are in serious danger of extinction. "Craftsmen's Heritage: 15 Stories from the Etar Museum" represents a significant continuation and expansion of this mission — to take the story of Bulgarian traditional crafts beyond the museum walls and into the wider world, to inspire new audiences with the urgent message of preservation, transmission and continuity.
Master Ivo Stoyanov, a prominent Bulgarian turner who began his work on a lathe for making wooden flasks at the Regional Ethnographic Open-Air Museum "Etar" Gabrovo in 2000, presented his traditional skills. In addition to the presentation of Bulgarian traditional crafts, museum visitors could also see demonstrations of crafts from the Krapina Zagorje County area, which have been presented at the "Staro Selo" Museum in Kumrovec since the 1990s.
The opening of the exhibition began with the song "Welcome, my friend" performed by the Zipka Ethno Association. Museum director Anita Paun Gadža welcomed everyone present, and the cooperation between the two open-air museums, which has lasted for more than 20 years, was presented by exhibition curator Tihana Kušenić.
Rosita Bineva, head of the department for traditional crafts at the Etar Museum and one of the co-authors of the exhibition, which was realized with the financial support of the National Fund for Culture - Bulgaria, told more about the exhibition and the project. She emphasized that multimedia elements are part of the exhibition: monitors and tablets display videos related to individual crafts. Visitors are also offered a virtual reality experience called "Woodturning, what could it be? Loom, come and see!". In addition, a special children's module allows young visitors to learn through games how traditional objects are made.
At the opening of the exhibition, the Vice President of the Chamber of Crafts of the County of KZŽ, Dragutin Ulama, addressed the audience, who in his speech highlighted the Chamber's dedicated commitment to preserving traditional crafts and skills that have shaped the cultural identity of this region for centuries. Ulama emphasized that such exhibitions and initiatives are key to raising awareness about the importance of preserving cultural heritage. At the end of his speech, Dragutin Ulama solemnly declared the exhibition open.