Чија је ово капа? Женска златовезна оглавља у ношњи панонских Срба. Kаталог изложбе (2006)

Clothing adorned with embroidery using threads of precious metals, gold and silver — gold-embroidery — was and has remained the component part of the festive clothing of many peoples. In the traditional culture of Serbs, gold-embroidery has a tradition of several centuries. Coming from the Orient, during the Middle Ages it was further developed in the Byzantium style. It reached its climax in the church artistic embroidery of medieval Serbia. In the national culture of Serbs of the Pannonian cultural and geographic space it adopted the characteristics of European artistic styles with a remarkable influence from Russia. In the costumes of Serbian women it was accepted as a way of decoration of their festive and ritual clothing.

The exposition Whose Cap Is This? — gold-embroidered headwear in the womens costume ofPannonian Serbs in the 19′^h and the first half of the 20″’ century presents one of the most luxurious objects of the Serbian traditional material culture. Headwear, shawls, headscarves and caps, embroidered with gold and silver threads, adorned with coloured glass beads and artificial pearls, were component part of the festive costume of wealthy Serbian women from Vojvodina, Baranja, western Slavonia, southern Hungary and the Romanian part of Banat. They were worn as symbol of ethnic identity of Serbian women from Sent Andrea to Zemun and from Temisvar to Bakovo.

The introductory part of the exposition is dedicated to some events and personalities of importance to the culture and history of Serbs, and the final part, with a few selected examples of gold-embroidered headwear of other peoples and ethnic communities, testifies to the multiethnic and multicultural character of the south Pannonian space. It is our desire that by presenting one segment of the material culture ofPannonian Serbs we contribute to the better knowledge of out own, Slavic, but European cultural identity as well.

The objective of the Exhibition is

• to contribute to the better knowledge of our own cultural heritage in which a significant place belongs to the culture ofPannonian Serbs,
• to present one segment of the traditional costume — gold-embroidered headwear and shawls, headscarves and caps as symbol of the social (family and economic) status and national identity,
• to show on the example of gold-embroidered headwear of Serbian women that in the polyphony and diversity of the South Pannonian space each people has its specific tone and colour.

Besides the objects from the northern parts of the Republic of Serbia and Vojvodina, there are also displayed examples and photos of gold-embroidered headwear of Serbian women from neighbouring countries — Rumania, Hungary and Croatia. The visitors will have an opportunity to see some of the most valuable objects from the collections of the Ethnographic Museum in Beograd, objects borrowed from the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad and the Museum of Srem from Sremska Mitrovica.

Шарац Момчиловић В. Чија је ово капа? Женска златовезна оглавља у ношњи панонских Срба. Kаталог изложбе. Београд: Етнографски музеј у Београду, 2006. 127 с.