Activities concerning the protection of immovable cultural properties are carried out by institutes, including the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia (central body) and 11 Regional Institutes with territorial jurisdiction over funds for monuments located in their own territory. With the exception of Kosovo, where 3 institutes used to work, this network of institutes covers the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia. Currently, the above institutes for protection of cultural monuments employ 348 people, out of which 207 are qualified with bachelor or other higher educational degrees.
Since 1947, these institutes have conducted research on 194 archaeological heritage-sites, 37 monumental heritage items and 2 cultural-historical areas. In the same period, 1 214 research projects on archaeological heritage-sites were conducted by museums and 117 research projects by scientific institutions (e.g. the Faculty of Philosophy-Archaeology, the Archaeological Institute of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts). In 2005, 90 restoration projects in the fields of cultural heritage and museums were implemented. The majority of the projects have been carried out on monasteries, castles, museums, archives and six archaeological sites.
The protection and preservation of movable heritage (museum objects, archives, film and literary material) are carried out by museums, archives and libraries. There are 124 museums (43 regional museums and 81 museum branch offices, museum legacies and homeland collections), out of which there are: 3 natural museums, 13 economic-technical museums, 28 social-historical museums, 49 complex museums and 31 artistic museums. The National Museum in Belgrade is the central body in the Serbian museum network. There are also 5 museums with specific competencies: the Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Museum of Science and Technology, the Natural Museum and the Museum of Ethnology.
There are 36 archives, with 17 636 archive funds. There are two types of archives: general archives and special archives. General archives deal with archive material from all social activity areas, while special archives deal with a defined archive material or some particular activity branch. Most Serbian archives are organised as general archives.
The public library network consists of 159 public libraries, out of which 40 libraries have homeland collections. In 2004, these public libraries employed 1 547 people, out of which 549 were qualified with bachelor or higher educational degrees. The Serbian National Library in Belgrade, the Library of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad, Belgrade City Library, as well as 24 district public libraries are the leading experts in the library network.
On the whole, the past decade represents a period of stagnation in the work of these institutes. This stagnation was caused not by the existing organisation, institutional network, or human resource potential, but rather by circumstances and problems of an economic, political and administrative character, by a concentration of power and funding in few hands, as well as by different kinds of pressures which hindered a professional approach, influenced results, and decreased efficiency.
During the past year, notable efforts have been made to correct omissions and shortcomings resulting from the preceding period, to provide minimum working conditions and to lead the Institute's work into the mainstream of modern conservation. Some changes can be seen, such as efforts aimed at defining a development strategy and conservation policy, which would favour conservation planning. However, insufficient funding still hinders or makes the realisation of most of the planned conservation activities impossible to achieve. Under such circumstances, professional work, as well as timely expert, preventive and operational engagement in the protection and preservation of cultural heritage is rendered much more difficult.
The current situation in museums is still very difficult in spite of the fact that protection of cultural heritage is one of top priorities of the Serbian Ministry of Culture. The first Masters degree offering specific and systematic training and educational programmes for cultural heritage professionals started in October 2008. This course joined some partial initiatives in the form of life-long learning courses that have been developed by the Diana Centre of the National Museum. The central objectives of these educational courses have been focused on different conservation problems, management and conservation approaches to the care of cultural heritage.
The lack of personnel trained in preventive conservation, as well as educational training for new expertise and skills are not only problems in museums. Museums also have no specialised marketing and PR services, animators and professional cultural managers. That is one of the reasons why the broader public remains insufficiently aware of the value and significance of their heritage.
Certain progress has been achieved to re-establish professional contacts and co-operation with international institutions and organisations in the conservation field, with the aim of improving methodology and knowledge in this area, as well as opening up possibilities to engage expert consultants on the more complex professional problems.
Efforts have been made to improve conditions for institutional work in cultural heritage institutions. The most important changes in this area have been made by the Ministry of Culture. The first step will be the reconstruction of the Yugoslav Film Library building and the creation of 6 new depots for storing film material. This initiative has received support from the French Government and the Serbian Ministry of Culture. In the framework of the National Investment Plan, reconstruction and modernisation of the National Museum in Belgrade and the Serbian National Library have been supported in the amount of 9.2 million euros in the period of 2006-2007. In the same period, for reconstruction and modernisation of national cultural heritage institutions, about 23 millions euros has been allocated, while for the purpose of reconstruction and modernisation of local museums and libraries, 3 millions euros will be invested.
On the whole, the network of institutes is considered satisfactory. It is possible that the territorial jurisdiction of certain institutes will be revised due to the fact that some may cover too much territory, such as the institutes located in Nis and Kraljevo.
A clearly defined conservation policy, including improvements to the existing heritage protection service will require a modernisation of all areas: from legal protection, documentation, categorisation, technical protection, to presentation and use.
The natural heritage is under the supervision of the Institute for the Protection of Nature, which covers 25% of the state territory; however, in fact, only 7.6% are officially and legally protected areas.
For more information, see
European Heritage Network: Country profile Serbia
http://www.european-heritage.net/sdx/herein/national_heritage/voir.xsp?id=intro_RS_en
The Institutes in Novi Sad, Subotica, Pancevo and Sremska Mitrovica are in charge of the protection of the heritage in the Autonomous Province of Voivodina. They work in accordance with the regulations established by the Republic of Serbia.
.
Secretary
