The Konavle County Museum and the University of Dubrovnik hosted an international conservation and restoration project titled 4 Universities 4 Konavle – Implementing collection care project from 16 to 20 September 2019.
The project was organised by the University of Dubrovnik and three partner universities: University of Applied Arts Vienna (Austria), University of Technology, Arts, Sciences, CICS – Köln (Germany), Hungarian University of Fine Arts (Hungary), in cooperation with the Museums and Galleries of Konavle. The organisers from the University of Dubrovnik are the docent Danijela Jemo and the assistant Mateo Miguel Kodrič Kesovija. Under the supervision of experienced professionals, some of the students from the mentioned universities were applying protection, preservation, and presentation measures on our rich cultural heritage, while adhering to the principles of the conservation and restauration profession.
On Thursday, 19 September, from 10 AM to 12 AM, scientists, professionals, and students have invited the press to the Konavle County Museum so they can participate in group efforts to preserve our cultural heritage. The project has been divided into three different thematic units, attended by three action groups comprised of students and teachers from Croatia and abroad. Two of the groups were engaged in preserving the pieces and embroidery from the Jelka Miš Collection and the puppets in the Museum, headed by Katalin Orosz (Hungary) and Peters Laura (Germany). The third group, headed by Tanja Kimmel (Austria), resolved the problem of setting up the exhibition, with the emphasis on various methods of presenting two-dimensional and three-dimensional museum pieces.
The goal of this project was to call attention to the importance of including the local community, universities, and international institutions, for the common goal of preserving the heritage which represents the cultural identity of our area, and the values that must be preserved for future generations.
The project was created on the basis of very positive previous experience by the Erasmus programme for the exchange of professionals and students in the area of conservation and restoration of textiles, and as such, it is the first international project for the protection of textile art pieces in Croatia, started in cooperation among professionals from domestic and foreign universities. It is important to mention that the study programme of the Department of Art and Restoration at the University of Dubrovnik is unique in Croatia and the broader region, because it offers an education and specialisation programme for textile conservators-restorers.
With the goal of affirming the conservation-restoration profession more widely among the culture-minded public, the restoration project 4 Universities 4 Konavle – Implementing collection care project is an example of successfully implemented practice of inter-institutional cooperation in the preservation of heritage, through practical activities by students, with the goal of developing new knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as gaining a lot of experience in cooperation with foreign professionals and their colleagues in the field.
The Konavle County Museum, which operates as part of the institution Museums and Galleries of Konavle, is a unique museum in Croatia, which cares for the rich collection of authentic items from the Konavle region. The inheritance of the Embroidery Association Cavtat holds special value among them, the Association was active in Cavtat until the Second World War, under the leadership of Jelka Miš. The collection is comprised of many patterns of traditional embroidery on paper, from Croatia and the neighbouring countries, which Jelka Miš diligently collected and documented.
