Serbian Heritage at Ethnographic Museum

Belgrade, Dec.2, 2009 (Serbia Today) - The name ‘zubun’ is widely used for a garment that was part of the Serbian ethnic dress throughout the areas of the Balkans populated by Southern Slavs in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. It refers to an upper-body garment of the long vest type that was most commonly sleeveless, open at the front, and of various lengths. It was made from homemade woolen cloth, usually of white color. Even though it is also part of the men’s assortment of clothes, the zubun is predominantly a garment worn by women. In the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, it was made both by women at home and by village and town artisans. The zubun is also one of the oldest garments in the parts of the Balkans populated by Southern Slavs and one of the fundamental, most important and basic garments of the Serbian ethnic dress, especially regarding the structure of the women’s clothing pattern. It was worn in both summer and winter and was indisputably practical, but one of its other features attracted the attention of researchers at the end of the nineteenth and in the twentieth century: by the visual and aesthetic impression it makes it is one of the most exemplary garments of the Serbian ethnic dress.
In museum collections, the zubun features as the most represented item. According to the data in the Ethnographic Museum’s central database, this institution’s collection contains 622 of them. In the course of the preparations for the exhibition and the making of the catalog, 574 items in the collections of ethnic dress from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia of the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade were taken into consideration.
The goal of the exhibition is to display the Collection, which is truly special both by the number of items preserved and its formal, functional and stylistic features. It is also the best-preserved such collection from the nineteenth century containing items from the areas of the Balkans populated by Southern Slavs. This first display of such great proportions will provide visitors with an opportunity to learn new facts about both the cultural history of the Serbian people and the style of dress prevalent in the greater Balkan area. Another goal is to highlight the dynamic relations between the past and the present and provide a new view of a recognizable part of the Serbian cultural identity. With this exhibition, the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade also wishes to promote another approach to work, both within the institution itself and with the public. The purpose of the transformation of the display area and the multimedia presentations of exhibitions is to arouse interest and attract as wide a circle of visitors as possible and make the Museum’s rich and inexhaustible fund accessible by displaying a selected number of original items.