Gone are the days when a museum meant only finely preserved works of art or antiques in glass cases, more and more often we hear about unusual settings that, instead of classic exhibits, have, at first glance, banal objects that represent customs and even emotions. That is why the recent information that the Sweet Museum will be opened in Kraljevo, in the House of the Cvetić family, was not surprising.
Sweet is, if someone doesn't know, a traditional Serbian delicacy. It is made by boiling fruits, some types of vegetables or flower petals in a highly concentrated sugar solution. Marina Lukić Cvetić, art historian and initiator of this project, presenting the museum's future collection at the "European Heritage Days" event, says that "sweets have always been served, before coffee, in Serbian cities for more than 200 years. It was the first serving to start the day, it was served with every coffee, it was taken when there was no cake in the house, but above all it was served to guests and was a sign of welcome and hospitality." The Cvetić family house was built at the beginning of the last century. It is intended that in the salon, where sweets are stored right next to quinces on a cupboard that is more than a hundred years old, a collection of crockery, trays, starched plates and everything related to sweets will be presented, which, of course, will be served to visitors in a sign of welcome. "Serving sweets in our house symbolizes the relationship to our neighbors, in a broader context the relationship to the entire environment, to the values of a healthy civil society and cultural assets," explained project coordinator Dr. Lidija Cvetić.
In Serbia, which has a shortage of museums, it could be said that unusual museums like this are not rare. Perhaps the most famous among them is the Museum of Bread. It is located in Pećinci in Srem, it is one of the first private museums in Serbia, and it was created ten years ago as the life work of the painter Slobodan Jeremic - Jeremija. The display includes more than 2000 exhibits that talk about bread and the way it was made in Serbia in the past, about its importance and symbolism, but also about people, customs, and the way of life in the past. The oldest exhibited tools for working the land come from the Roman era, and there are also exhibits that are still functional, so it is possible to see them in action. There are also archaic millstones for crushing wheat, sieves, pottery, containers for storing grain, oxen frames, amos, farm carts, winter sleighs, and about a hundred ceremonial loaves.
This May, the "Đorđe Weifert" Brewing Museum was opened in Pancevo on 9000 square meters of the old beer factory. The setting consists of the factory facilities, the Brewery Tower built by Weifert himself, the mill and installations that were considered secondary raw materials when the museum was opened. The Museum of Winemaking and Viticulture in Aleksandrovac was founded 16 years ago in the former wine cellar of the Agricultural School building, built at the beginning of the last century in the Provençal style, and is considered a mandatory toponym of this region. Among the most unusual among the unusual is the Museum of Childhood, a ten-year art project by Vladimir Perić whose exhibition consists of a set of exhibitions that present toys, photographs and everything else associated with childhood.
Around the world, such non-classical museums are not a rare phenomenon. In the Mustard Museum in the American state of Wisconsin, more than five thousand jars of this spice are exhibited, in addition to historical items related to it. The potato museum can be visited on at least two continents, and the museum exhibition in honor of vinegar in South Dakota is the life project of the self-proclaimed "Vinegar Man" who devoted his life to the search for objects related to this spice. In Yokohama, Japan, it is possible to explore what it is like Windows, a noodle soup of Chinese origin, has become Japan's national dish, while in South Korea there is a museum dedicated to educating visitors about the importance of kimchi, national dish, in traditional culture.
Apart from those that celebrate food, there are also museums that warn about its harmful effects. When American Len Foley accidentally found a Big Mac in his jacket bought the previous year and realized that the taste and smell remained unchanged, he decided to online expose similar examples and thus teach people what they should not consume. The London Food Museum, which actually no longer exists because it was only open for a few months, was exhaustively devoted to the history, art and sensory experience of food. In one of five rooms on two floors of the museum, with the assistance of massage chairs, pictures and detailed explanations, visitors could experience how food "feels" as it passes through the digestive system. Numerous works of art created as a result of dealing with food were a big attraction, and the most attention was attracted by the air-conditioned room with 250 live butterflies, which emphasized the importance of insects in the food chain.
There is a Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, which exhibits personal items - records, photographs, sweaters... - left by those who leave with those who stay. Each exhibit is accompanied by a short description of the subject, of a relationship that was once beautiful. Five years ago, this museum received the prestigious "Kenneth Hudson" Award as the most innovative museum in Europe. An exhibition from his collection was hosted in Belgrade a few years ago.
Final question: if a museum - regardless of what it collects, preserves, studies and displays - is always a museum, what is the difference between the classic and the unusual?
