A new museum coming to Croatia?
One of the most visited museums in Washington is Newseum, a museum dedicated to the history of the media. It has seven floors, a series of galleries, a television studio, numerous interactive exhibits and various collections of newspapers, television and radio recordings. It was opened in 1997, and in the first five years it was visited by 2.2 million visitors. In 2008, it moved to a new, 450-million-dollar building. It has been selected as one of the top 25 museums in the United States, reports Poslovni.hr on December 31, 2015.
It is possible that Zagreb could soon get a somewhat more modest museum dedicated to Croatian media? “I have noticed that my students have never seen a copy of Feral Tribune or Vjesnik, because there is no place where they could see them. This two very important newspapers for Croatian history do not exist even on the internet”, said Nada Zgrabljić Rotar, a professor of communication studies and the initiator of the idea for the museum. It is expected that the future museum would include exhibits from various institutions and private collections.
“It would be a place where you could follow the development of Croatian media from the very first newspapers, preferably with interactive content and digitized exhibits. Former director of Večernji List Branko Lovrić has in his collection covers of the first issues of almost all newspapers which have ever been published in Croatia, and they could be exhibited in the museum”, Zgrabljić Rotar says. Of course, the museum would include the more modern media as well – radio, television and the internet. For example, visitors could hear the voice of legendary TV announcer Gordana Bonetti and radio journalist Ivan Tomić, or could watch and listen to archive programs and gain insight into how topics and manner of reporting changed through the years.
The museum would also include various machines and equipment which has been used in media. Some potential donors of old equipment have already expressed their interest to get involved. In Zagreb, there are several suitable locations for the new museum, but the key issue is financing. “Some museums have now become very profitable, and since the new law on museums allows the establishment of private museums, I believe that some entrepreneur could find it profitable”, Zgrabljić Rotar says.
“There are many artefacts and documents about the history of Croatian media – from Croatian Radio-Television to Croatian Journalists’ Association, private collections and the National Archives”, says Saša Leković, president of Croatian Journalists’ Association, who believes that the new museum should be located within one of the existing museums in Zagreb. “We have already received support from directors of several museums. The opening of the Media Museum will certainly be a long process, but we hope that in the next few years we will start to work more seriously on this idea using the EU funds”, Leković concludes.
