Scale-Model Dioramas

The permanent exhibition Scale-Model Dioramas, on the ground floor of the Ethnology Pavilion, presents different kinds of living and working environments in Bosnia and Herzegovina from times past. Every diorama reconstructs one type of building or site. 

The old water wheel-powered trip hammer smithy (samokov) is made of wood and is situated on the bank of a stream or river whose power is harnessed to drive the trip hammers.

The diorama of the tannery (tabhana) depicts a typical tanning and rawhide processing workshop.

Because wool and fulled felt were indispensable as raw materials for clothing in the past, a fulling mill is also presented.

The central diorama shows a village with an old mine (majdan). In addition to the mine and mining plant, the diorama reconstructs the rural split-level house with the ground floor below street level; it is a half-log house, with a typical steep shake roof with an opening (badža) for smoke, which rises freely from the open hearth.

The exhibition also includes a model of a stilt-house community from Donja Dolina near Bosanska Gradiška. This type of building was used in floodplains – to protect their houses from flooding, people built them on tall stilts or piles (sohas).