Venue and date: Large Hall of the State Archives in Pazin, 4 December 2014
Opening the Permanent Exhibition of the State Archives in Pazin The 55th anniversary of this important institution, which preserves valuable historical material from the whole of Istria, was celebrated. “Arhivistica Biserka Budicin, with the support of the director and colleagues, has done a great job by setting up an exhibition that in this great anniversary generates from the rich holdings of the State Archives in Pazin”, said Vesna Jurić Bulatović, Assistant Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, opening the exhibition, adding that archival material has the status of protected cultural heritage.
Therefore, we can be proud that our 18 state archives and the central State Archives in Zagreb inherit immensely rich treasures and that their activities represent to the communities in which they operate, but also to the general public, all layers of Croatian history that can be read through the rich heritage material stored in the archives. Thanks to this, each of our small towns is an interesting cultural destination. Therefore, it is the task of all our archivists and musealians to present this rich history that has been preserved in the archives through permanent and occasional exhibitions and to show this link with European culture.
Congratulations to all who helped to make this great work, to allow the parties who come to the archives a more cultivated stay in the premises of the archives, but also to present to the general public a segment of the rich material stored in this archive. This is one of the first permanent exhibitions in Croatian archives, and although permanent exhibitions are immanent to museums and archives in this way, with their rich activity they turn to the community and users, emphasized Jurić Bulatović.
Presenting the exhibition, author Biserka Budicin said that the exhibits show only a few branches of science and profession for which the sources of research can be found in the Pazin Archives. In addition, the works of persons who have entrusted Istria with their work are shown.
The criterion for the permanent exhibition was to show the most important, the most valuable and the most attractive material, and the choice was not easy because, added Budicin, the State Archives in Pazin cares about 4.5 kilometers of material mostly worth showing to the public, but due to the limited space the author decided on 45 posters placed on the corridors and next to the staircase towards the reading room. The old documents can be seen on them, and among them the documents from the 1200s, also the oldest document in the Archives in Pazin. The exhibits include the urbar of the Pazin principality, individual notebooks, statutes, documents of the district captainate, works from the legacy of Slavko Zlatić and Nello Milotti, and other valuable documents that testify to various periods of the Istrian past.
Introducing the program, DAPA Director Dr Elvis Orbanić said that this marks the high 55th anniversary of the founding of the Archive, but also the 40th anniversary of the Department for Archival Protection, Restoration, Conservation and Microfilming. Orbanić recalled that the State Archives in Pazin was founded on October 20, 1958 under the name Istrian Archives Pazin, he received his first employee only two years later, and that was the director Ljubomir Petrović. Unfortunately, he passed away this year, but at the ceremony in the DAPA Grand Hall, along with numerous guests, were the former directors of DAPA Dražen Vlahov and Jakov Jelinčić, the director of the Croatian Archives Vlasta Lemić, the current directors of the State Archives in Osijek and Vukovar Siniša Bjedov and Stjepan Prutki, and the Pazin mayor Renato Krulčić and the county head for culture Vladimir Torbica.
The programme was opened by the singer-songwriter Bruno Krajcar, who sang the song ‘Koza’, which he composed on the lyrics of Mijo Mirković-Mate Balote, in the youth of the students of the Pazin Gymnasium, which operated in today’s DAPA building. The Mayor of Pazin Renato Krulčić pointed out that the City with DAPA nurtures good cooperation, and that this institution is a witness of culture and our identity in this region and represents much more than the guardian of archival material. The town of Pazin together with the Association of Archivists of Istria collects material about the Austrian period in Istria and after that intends to adequately present it. In this way, culture, in the tourist sense, can also become an economic factor, Krulčić said.
Vladimir Torbica, head of the county's Administrative Department for Culture, congratulated the archive on its modernity and modernity because, in addition to preserving the heritage, he also presents the community through numerous printed editions so far. Therefore, he thanked the current and former directors, as well as all the employees of the Archive for all this. Vlatka Lemić, director of HDA in Zagreb, spoke about the importance and cooperation of Croatian archives, and Elena Uljančić Vekić shared her experiences as a user and researcher with those present.
Forty years ago, in 1974, a laboratory for conservation, restoration and microfilming began operating in the Pazin Archives, said Aldo Prenc, Head of the Department for Archival Protection, Restoration, Conservation and Microfilming. The Laboratory was founded by Marija Milićević, who was joined by Mirjana Gržetić in 1975 for microfilming. Initially, the laboratory used the services of various related laboratories, but in recent years almost all conservation and restoration works are carried out independently.
Over the past four decades, 142,961 heritage leaves written on paper or leather substrate have been preserved and restored in DAPA. These are, he added, mostly manuscript books, documents, cadastral maps, maps and similar documents. During the same period, two million recordings of material were microfilmed and 954 books of various bindings, folders or protective boxes were imported, Prenc recalled. (Source: Glas Istre, Mirjan RIMANIĆ, http://www.glasistre.hr/vijesti/pula_istra/drzavni-arhiv-u-pazinu-obiljezio-55-godina-djelovanja-483996, 08.12.2014.)
