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Etar Museum creates your unforgettable memories! We take care to keep you informed about everything new and ongoing in this institution's Event Schedule; about its upgrade and promotion. We help you learn new things and thus enable you to live the tale called Etar in a different way every time!
For the tenth time, the Forum of Slavic Cultures has conferred the Živa Awards on the best Slavic museums - this year in Gabrovo, Bulgaria
The recipients of the Živa Awards 2024 are:
The Živa Award 2024 for the Best Slavic Museum was granted to the Regional Museum of History Ruse, Bulgaria.
The Živa Award for the Best Slavic Heritage Site was conferred on Bled Castle, Bled, Slovenia.
Honourable Mention for the promotion of the intangible cultural heritage was granted to the Museum of Bećarac, Pleternica, Croatia.
Five Živa Award 2024 Special Recognitions were awarded to:
Photo House Pelikan, Museum of Recent History Celje, Slovenia: for Sustainability.
Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro – MCAM, Podgorica, Montenegro: for Leadership and Team Efficiency.
Museum of Hercegovina in Trebinje, Bosnia and Hercegovina: for Visitors and Openness.
Radom Village Open Air Museum, Poland: for Creativity.
Museum of John Amos Comenius in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic: for Storytelling.
Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria visited the Etar museum
Yordanka Chobanova - head of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria / European Commission in Bulgaria visited the Ettar museum. The head of the "Cultural Management" department at the museum, Svetlozar Todorov, presented her with the new expositions and temporary exhibitions, telling about the achievements realized thanks to the European project "REMO "Eter" - a museum for creative cultural tourism".
The 10h edition of the Živa Award ceremony with a conference will be held from 25 to 29 September 2024 at the Regional Ethnographic Open-Air Museum ETAR in Gabrovo in Bulgaria. This year, 20 museums from 10 countries are nominated for the award:
  • The Olympic Museum Sarajevo, Public Institution City Museums
  • The Museum of Herzegovina, Trebinje
  • The History Museum Oryahovo
  • The Natural Science Museum Cherni Osam
  • The Regional History Museum Ruse
  • The Museum of Bećarac
  • The Museum of John Amos Comenius in Uherský Brod
  • The National Open-Air Museum, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm
  • The Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro (MCAM), Podgorica
  • The Cultural Centre / The Homeland Museum of Bar
  • The City Museum Kriva Palanka
  • Radom Village Open-Air Museum
  • The House of Jevrem Grujić, Belgrade
  • Lazar Vozarević Gallery, Sremska Mitrovica
  • The Museum of Naive and Marginal Art (MNMA), Jagodina
  • The Slavic Museum of A. S. Pushkin, Brodzany
  • Martin Benka Museum, the Slovak National Museum in Martin
  • Bled Castle
  • Škofja Loka Museum
  • Pelikan Photo House, the Museum of Recent History, Celje
This years HERITAGE IN MOTION AWARD Ceremony will be held, together with the yearly conference of the Živa Award Ceremony on 26 September. Take this opportunity to connect with museum professionals! The ceremony promises to be an exceptional event, providing a unique platform for nominees to engage with other industry professionals and celebrate their outstanding achievements.
We are looking forward to seeing in Gabrovo!
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"I am so glad to announce that we have resumed our trips, connected with TIMS this autumn, with our two transitional tours of Bulgaria" - with this emotional sentence begins recently published article in the journal " International Molinology", dedicated to the tour of the representatives of this international organization in our country. TIMS is an international society, where people and organizations, interested in installations, powered by water and wind are members. From TIMS have discovered how rich is Bulgaria in active or not, but preserved in some form water-mills, grindstones, fulling-mills and others of that sort. It turned out that "Ëtar" museum is a real center of preserved and well presented in front of the public such kind of installations and it has received enormous recognition in this relation by the members of this organization who visited it. The main curator of the museum Rossitsa Bineva has been an individual member since 2016 and in the autumn of 2022 the museum itself has become part of this international community.
In 2022 two groups of representatives of TIMS - 32 people from Greece, Estonia, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, USA in different times made a tour in |Bulgaria, guided by Rossitsa Bineva, documented preserved installations and got acquainted with their specifics. During that time was born the idea "Etar" museum itself to join the organization.
The international council of South East Europe (ICOM) has spread the Newsletter for 2021 – 2022. The members of the organization are 22 from 11 countries and each has their own National Board. The article of "Etar" museum director prof. Svetla Dimitrova phD. is published in this Newsletter. Mrs. Dimitrova describes the COVID-19 situation in Bulgaria and how it reflected to the museums and the galleries in Bulgaria. The readers can find information devoted to the ICOM conferences and opinions of international specialists. There is very interesting interview with Slavko Spasic – Candidate for the Executive Board, Supported by ICOM SEE.
Homo Faber Event returns to Venice in 2022 to unveil an unprecedented cultural experience of craftsmanship with 15 immersive exhibitions. For its second edition, the event looks to highlight the excellence of master craftsmanship internationally. With a special focus on craftspeople from Japan, it spotlights the country's venerated craftsmanship traditions and time-honoured skills, and showcases its influence on European creativity and craftsmanship. Together, the exhibition spaces showcase a diverse array of materials and expertise, from traditional skills in danger of
being lost to the most cutting-edge contemporary techniques. The event champions talented artisans from across the globe, their cherished savoir-faire, their
unique stories, and the territorial influences that enrich their masterpieces. Some of the exhibition spaces invite visitors to meet the artisans and share moments with them as they work, while others animate craft with their scenography. Visitors have the chance to explore the connection between contemporary craftsmanship and the wider arts and design world. In one exhibition space, the world's most prestigious luxury brands reveal the craftsmanship behind their pieces; in another, a endering by director Robert Wilson of an iconic evocation of Puccini's opera, Madama Butterfly, takes visitors on a theatrical journey.
"Еtar" is the first Bulgarian museum, winner of one of the two main international Živa awards
At a special ceremony held in the capital of Serbia Belgrade the International foundation Forum of Slavic Cultures (FSK) bestowed the "Živa 2020" awards to museums from the Slavic countries. The event took place in co-operation with the Ministry for culture and media of the Republic of Serbia and Serbian partner institutions.

The award "Best heritage site in Slavic countries" – one of the two main awards, bestowed at this forum, went to the Bulgarian Regional Ethnographic open-air museum "Etar" from Gabrovo. The winner of the other main award "Best Slavic Museum for 2020" was the Woodcarving Museum from Konjic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

The Živa award is a special recognition of the multi-aspects activity of the Museum, dedicated to the preserving and promotion of the cultural heritage, of the implementing of actual approaches towards different publics, for his contribution in the development of new ideas and principles in museology. It is an appeal towards the museums to follow the model of the winning institution.

For a first time a Bulgarian museum becomes winner of the main award of this highly authoritative international cultural forum.

20 museums from 11 Slavic countries entered the competition for the 2020 Živa Award. The jury consisted of 13 museum experts from Slavic countries and the European Museum Academy.

An important mission of the initiative connected with the Živa Awards, is the preservation of centuries-old values and the further building of Slavic cultural identities, which can become more visible through their affirmation on a global scale. This promotes the cultural diversity and at the same time contributes to the presentation of the Slavic cultures in the global dialogue.

More than 135 museums were brought together in the seven years of the existence of the Živa award.

Four new craftsmen are enlisted in the digital edition Homo Faber Guide of the International "Michelangelo" Foundation. At the time of its launching in the middle of September, 2020 it contained the business cards of ten craftsmen from our country. It became possible, due to the fact, that the "Etar" Museum is Ambassador of Bulgaria in the Foundation, and the Director of the Museum – Prof. Svetla Dimitrova, PhD, being the Bulgarian representative in the Cultural Council of this international Foundation.
The tool enables artisans to self-assess according to the eleven criteria for excellence defined by The Master's Touch book. Based on a detailed questionnaire, it measures to what extent an artisan fulfils the eleven criteria required to participate in the Foundation's projects. The tool also offers a unique profiling of an artisan's skillset, clearly identifying the areas of expertise and competence and the areas where there is scope for further development.

Explore the tool and evaluate your suitability to join the community!