Original scientific paper
A scholarly approach to the institutional integration of early medieval archaeological material under the auspices of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Magdalena Getaldić
; Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper examines the decades-long endeavour of consolidating Croatia’s early medieval archaeological material within a single institutional framework, tracing it from the work of Fra Lujo Marun to contemporary museological and scholarly initiatives. Although the objective of assembling the original monuments in a central repository was never fully realised—neither through the efforts of the Bihać Society nor through the activities of the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments and the Archaeological Museum in Split—it was ultimately achieved through the collection of plaster casts preserved in the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The study follows the formation of this cast collection, which systematically brought together the body of early medieval material and thereby enabled comprehensive comparative research. Particular attention is devoted to the incorporation of the Museum of Croatian Antiquities into the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1949, a development that established the preconditions for institutional consolidation. The paper further provides
a historical overview of the development of the institutions responsible for the collection and study of medieval material, while highlighting the Academy’s role in their establishment, professional guidance and recognition within the national context.
Keywords
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; plaster cast; Glyptotheque; Millennial Museum; early medieval sculpture; Bihać Society; Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments
Hrčak ID:
353337
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2025.
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