The exhibition “Travelers” traces the journeys of people and objects from colonial times to the present day and questions the circumstances under which the Collection of Non-European Cultures was created.

In the exhibition’s introductory section, we highlight the connection between colonialism and the creation of national museums, collections of objects from non-European cultures, and the beginnings of ethnology and cultural anthropology as sciences. The central section features individual donors of the Collection, illustrating the historical contexts in which they operated and built their collections. Visitors can, among other things, learn about Dragutin Lerman’s connection to the colonial project of Belgium’s King Leopold II; what Tibor Sekelj did in Australia and on Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America; what Joža and Renata Horvat brought from Papua New Guinea on their sailing ship Besa; what connects Milka Trnina and the American collector William Bigelow.

Finally, and as a counterpoint to the research on non-European cultures, the exhibition presents contemporary ethnographic research from the scientific project ERIM – The European Irregularized Migration Regime at the Periphery of the EU: from Ethnography to Keywords, financed by the Croatian Science Foundation at the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research.

The exhibition is open until November 28, 2027.

Exhibition author:
Marija Živković, museum advisor