The Year 1848 in Croatia

Croatian History Museum, Matoševa 9, Zagreb, Croatia

tel. ++-385-1-43-10-65 or ++-385-1-42-86-72

Exhibition design:

Mario Beusan, M. A.

The exhibition is open every day from December 16^th 1998 to May 20^th 1999
(Mondays to Fridays 10 a. m. to 5 p. m., Saturdays and Sundays 10 a. m. to 1 p. m.)

About the exhibition:

Both idea and realization of the exhibition 1848 in Croatia stem from the fact that the Croatian History Museum has a very large collection of material which might be called “authentic witness” of a period that was a turbulent watershed in Croatian history. Much of it has never in recent times been seen by the public. One whole section, in conformity with museum and collection practice is militaria, it shows collections of weapons, flags, uniforms, military orders.

In this exhibition the Croatian History Museum is making its contribution to a whole gamut of cultural and historical exhibitions organized by European museums to mark the 150^th anniversary of the revolutionary change that took place in this part of Europe. More than three hundred exhibits are presented in seven groups the aim of which is to show the various streams that came together to form the 1848 movement in Croatia. It was a time which saw the (partial) ending of feudalism and the formation of the Croatian Sabor (parliament) as the voice of the Croatian middle class. The development of Civil Croatia is at the centre of interest in the exhibition, but events in other parts of what was then a partitioned Croatia are in no way neglected (the Croatia-Slavonia Military Border, Dalmatia) and the Monarchy (Southern Hungary, the Italian battlefields, the revolution in Vienna and war and revolution in Hungary) all of which directly influenced events in Croatia.

A special place in the exhibition is given to Josip Jelačić, Croatian ban and General of the Austrian Imperial Army. His career allows us to better understand the attempts to create an independent Croatian government and army. It illustrates Croatia’s position in the complex organization of the Hapsburg Monarchy, and its part in the Central European events 1848/9 which was also the beginning of the journey to a civil society. Due importance is given to social and political events and the role of individuals within that context, all at that time much involved with the activities of ban Jelačić.

The exhibiton is divided into seven sections:

1. Characteristics of the revolutionary events in the Habsburg Monarchy and Croatia at the beginning of 1848.
2. The Assembly - political demands to recall the assembly (Sabor) and nominate the Ban.
3. The Croatian Sabor of 1848 – and Croatian sovereignty.
4. The Banal Council, Croatia’s first independent government.
5. National Guard and the attempts to form a national army.
6. Josip Jelačić and the struggle for “Austria as an association free nationas”.
7. Conditions in Croatia from war to the Octroy constitution.

Besides “typical” museum exhibits there are also printed and manuscript documents from the museum’s collection supplemented by material from the Croatian State Archives, the archive collections of the Croatian Academy and the National and University Library. These are essential to a proper historiographic presentation of political events and social developments.