The Herald of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The Herald of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the oldest scientific journal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first issue was published on January 1, 1889, less than a year after the founding of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the beginning, the Herald was published four times a year, and the first editor, in the period from 1889 to 1906, was Kosta Herman (Hoermann). Within the so-called “old series” of the Herald (1889–1943) published 55 years of the magazine in 134 volumes. At the head of the editorial board, the big names of Bosnian science and museology of the time took turns, from the already mentioned Herman, through Ćira Truhelka (1906–1921), Vladislav Skarić (1921/22–1936), Mihovil Mandić (1936–1941), Joza Petrović (1941–1942), to Vejsil Ćurčić (1943).

The second chapter in the magazine’s history began after the Second World War, in 1946, when its “new series” began to be published. According to the scientific fields covered by the published articles and contributions, the Herald appears in the following volumes: Social Sciences (1946–1953), History and Ethnography (1954–1957), Archeology (1954 to the present), Ethnology (1958 to the present) and Natural Sciences (1945 to the present).

The concept of the magazine, outlined in the program published in the first issue, has remained until today. The task of the Herald of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina was and remains to bring original scientific and professional articles from all areas studied in the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to have both Museum employees and external collaborators participate in it with their contributions. Since 2010, the Herald has changed its appearance: it appears in a larger format, and the papers in the volumes of Archeology and Ethnology are published bilingually, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English, while the volume of Natural Sciences is in English.

In addition to its scientific and educational value, the Herald of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has another very important role. From the very first issue, it went out into the world through the exchange of publications with other museums and related institutions around the world. Today, publications are exchanged with 400 institutions around the world, and with 45 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.