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Monograph "Between two empires" now available at National Museum's web shop
Bosnia and Herzegovina photographed by František Topič 1885 – 1919
Since the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded, as well as carrying out its basic functions of museum studies and research in the fields of archaeology, ethnology and the natural sciences, it has been systematically collecting, cataloguing and archiving photographs, negatives and films, forming the indispensable basis and starting point for any serious study of the history of photography in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the most important parts of this vast database, which is growing day by day thanks to digital and other technological advances, is a rare collection of more than 6,000 negatives on glass plates, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Especially valuable collections of this kind are fragile and vulnerable, and take priority as the careful process of restoration, conservation and digitisation is carried out. The greater part of this component of the collection consists of about 5,000 negatives by one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most prominent pioneering photographers, František Topič, a Czech who spent much of his working life in the then Provincial Museum of BiH, first as an archivist and then as librarian, secretary and photographer.
The monograph Between Two Empires: Bosnia and Herzegovina photographed by František Topič 1885-1919 presents a selection of most interesting, mostly unpublished, Topič’s photographs. It is also the most important publishing project the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has realized over the recent years.
The book gives more qualitative and comprehensive view of the creative opus of the author whose work makes a first-grade source for researching intimate history and geography of Bosnian-Herzegovinian society at the dawn of First World War – one of the biggest human and civilizational tragedies ever.
Purchasing the monograph Between Two Empires: Bosnia and Herzegovina photographed by František Topič 1885-1919 will help functioning of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as protection of cultural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina.