Representing the capital of a nation: Zagreb City Museum between Austria-Hungary and Yugoslavia (1907–1925)

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, Croatia was a semi-autonomous province in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Zagreb was the capital city and the national and political centre. Since most of the Croatian provincial governments in the so-called Dualist Period of Austro-Hungarian history (1867-1918) were formed by pro-Hungarian parties, the Zagreb City Government took on the role of promoting Croatian national identity by launching and supporting cultural projects and initiatives. It was in this atmosphere that the Zagreb City Museum was founded in 1907 as a new institution where narratives about the history and culture of the city started to be shaped through cultural and historical evidence that also served to represent the Croatian nation and national identity formation. This continued in 1918 when Croatia found itself stripped of all autonomy in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/ Yugoslavia. The significance of the Zagreb City Museum and the local government in sustaining and reinforcing the Croatian national discourse came to the fore again in 1925 with the celebration of the millennial anniversary of the Croatian kingdom. This article explores the main protagonists and the underlying ideologies behind the early work of the Zagreb City Museum and its nationalist agenda.