SIGNIFICANCE OF INSTITUTIONAL PRESERVATION OF A COLLECTIVE IDENTITY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF ZENICA

Abstract

The arrival of the new government, folllowing the end of the World War II, brought a dramatic and even brutal end to the traditional ways of living and strong attempts at establisshing new identity not only for an individual but for the entire cities. This was particularly evident in Zenica, where the new regime had something special in mind. Indeed, it intended to build a totally new proletarian identity, one far removed from the previous one that was fouunded on the Islamic cultural heritage. While Sultan Ahmad mosque and madrasah stood at the center of the “old Zenica”, the “new Zenicca” was to be built around the Steel Factory and uniform residential buildings. This article examines relationship of the institutions in terms of the collective identity and attempt to prove that identity cannot be validly preserved without organized institutioons to care for it. The Museum of the City of Zenica is an indicative example of this thesis. In the earlier period, when the ideological state was present, the Museum’s actions were significcantly directed at developing that type of identtity. Now, it is turning to its primary purpose to preserve and nourish cultural identity of the community within which it exists.