View source for Museum of Roma Culture of Belgrade

{{Short description|Museum in Belgrade, Serbia}}
[[File:Roma Museum Belgrade 1.jpg|thumb|Museum of Roma Culture in Belgrade]]
The '''Museum of Roma Culture in Belgrade''' ({{Langx|sr|Музеј ромске културе у Београду|translit=Muzej romske kulture u Beogradu}}) is the first [[Romani people|Roma]] museum in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]], while otherwise the heritage of Roma culture is most often displayed as permanent exhibitions in museums with a different main focus.<ref name="Политика">{{Cite journal|last=Малиш|first=Б.|date=20 October 2009|title=Сутра се отвара Музеј ромске културе|url=http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/108529/Sutra-se-otvara-Muzej-romske-kulture|journal=Политика|access-date=26 February 2020}}</ref>
== History ==
The Museum of Roma Culture was opened on October 21, 2009, under the auspices of the City of Belgrade, on the ground floor of a building in Rooseveltova Street 41–43 in Belgrade,<ref name="Политика"/>  in an area of 72 m2 in total.<ref name="Grad Beograd">{{Cite web|url=http://www.beograd.rs/cir/muzej-romske-kulture-u-novom-prostoru-na-karaburmi/|title=Muzej romske kulture u novom prostoru na Karaburmi|website=Zvanična prezentacija|publisher=Grad Beograd|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>
The founder of the museum is the Roma Community Center "April 8".<ref name="eKapija">{{Cite news|url=https://www.ekapija.com/news/265703/prvi-muzej-romske-kulture-u-jugoistocnoj-evropi-od-21-oktobra-u-beogradu|title=Prvi Muzej romske kulture u Jugoistočnoj Evropi od 21. oktobra u Beogradu|date=17 October 2009|work=eKapija|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref> The museum began its work by opening the exhibition "Alav e Romengo" ("The Word of Roma"<ref name="SEECult">{{Cite journal|date=21 October 2011|title=Romski muzej na Karaburmi|url=http://www.seecult.org/vest/romski-muzej-na-karaburmi|journal=SEECult|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>), by Dragoljub Ackovic, where about 100,000 documents from Roma culture were available to visitors as well as copies of original books.<ref name="B92">{{Cite journal|date=21 October 2012|title=Muzej Romske kulture slavi rođendan|url=https://www.b92.net/kultura/vesti.php?nav_category=1087&yyyy=2012&mm=10&dd=21&nav_id=653699|journal=B92|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>
In 2011, the museum moved from Roosevelt to a larger space at 31a Husinske rudara Street on [[Karaburma]] (Belgrade's Palilula municipality). The new space is a donation from the Serbian Orthodox Slogan organization, and the city of Belgrade has also participated in the fitting out. It occupies an area of 180 m2, <ref name="Grad Beograd"/> and the former space became the Roma Art Galery.<ref name="B92"/>
The museum exhibits the material and spiritual culture of the Roma, and the Gallery exhibits works by Roma visual artists from Serbia and the world.<ref name="B92"/>
== Exhibitions ==
[[File:Roma Museum Belgrade 3.jpg|thumb|Historic photographs at the Museum of Roma Culture in Belgrade]]
[[File:Roma Museum Belgrade 2.jpg|thumb|Ethnographic objects at the Museum of Roma Culture in Belgrade]]
Visitors to the museum were presented with the permanent exhibition "Material Culture of Roma in Serbia"<ref name="SEECult"/> - written Roma culture, customs, history of [[Holocaust]] suffering and other facts from the history and culture of Roma.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamodaleko.info/casopis/kultura/muzeji/39-muzej-romske-kulture-beograd|title=Muzej romske kulture, Beograd|website=Tamo daleko|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>
=== Collections ===
The exhibits for the museum have been collected for decades and in recent years have been renewed. The collection includes ethnographic objects (such as costumes, tools, musical instruments), as well as historic photographs, documents, and art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Музеј ромске културе {{!}} Упознајмо се да би се боље разумели |url=http://muzejromskekulture.rs/ |access-date=2024-07-22 |language=sr-RS}}</ref> In addition to the permanent exhibit, about ten thousand documents of Roma culture are stored in ten computers, a prerequisite for the creation of a virtual museum, which would allow anyone who wants to learn about any element of that culture to do so from anywhere in the world.<ref name="Grad Beograd"/>
The museum exhibits, among other things:
* twenty Romani dictionaries from different countries of the world,
* a unique Serbian-Roma-German dictionary, authored by Svetozar Simic, and compiled in 1942 during the Second World War in a German concentration camp, as can be seen from the camp seals in several places,
* the first book on Roma from 1803, some of which were written in the Romani language and authored by Petar Aksibarković,
* the first Bible translated into Romany in Serbia in 1938,
* copies of the Romano lil newspaper, published in Belgrade in 1935,
* the first Romani text in the world, published in 1537 in England.
== Other activities to promote Roma culture ==
In addition to the exhibition, lectures in the field of romology are organized on the premises of the museum where interested people can become more familiar with Roma culture, history and language.<ref name="Политика"/> The museum also organizes evening events dedicated to Roma poetry and music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oпштинa Палилула |url=https://www.palilula.org.rs/cir/novosti/sjajno-ve-e-romske-kulture-u-okviru-dana-evropske-ba-tine-na-paliluli-3177 |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=www.palilula.org.rs |language=en}}</ref>
In 2019, at the initiative of the Museum of Roma Culture, the Roma holiday [[Bibi (Romani cult)|Tetkica Bibija]] was included in the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia.<ref name="НКН">{{Cite web|url=http://nkns.rs/cyr/popis-nkns/tetkica-bibija|title=Теткица Бибија|website=Нематеријално културно наслеђе Србије|publisher=Министарство културе и информисања РС и Етнографски музеј у Београду|access-date=27 February 2020}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[List of museums in Belgrade]]
* [[List of museums in Serbia]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}{{Romani topics}}{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Museums in Belgrade]]
[[Category:Palilula, Belgrade]]
[[Category:Romani museums]]
[[Category:Romani in Serbia]]