Exhibition “Sladami Kanunu” in Poznan
On the 22nd of October 2011 the Ethnographical Museum in Poznan, Poland, opened its doors with an exhibition on Albanian culture in multiethnic Kosovo, which will last till the end of October 2012.
The title of the exhibition is “Sladami Kanunu” in Polish, “Following the Kanun” in English. A copy of the Kanun is one of the items on display.
The main exhibition shows complete folk dresses, parts, textiles, jewelry, utensils and handicrafts from Kosovo. The curator Joanna Minksztym and her colleagues created a marvelous exhibition which attracted many people. The museum has a large collection of materials from Kosovo and presented an exhibition on Albanian folk dresses before, in 1988. In addition to their own collection , parts from the collections of the museums in Krakow and Warsaw completed the exhibition. Now, focused on Kosovo, the exhibition is meant to give an impression of the Albanian culture in Kosovo, not only the items on display, but also history, way of life etcetera. For the children there is a workshop in which they can create their own Balkan belt, using the motifs they have seen on the dresses.
For those who are not able to travel to Poznan there is an alternative: the catalogue.
The catalogue in fact is a hardcover book with many beautiful photographs of the items on display with captions explain the item in detail. The pictures are in “museum” quality. It also has texts on the history of the collection, the Kanun, the history of Kosovo and other items of interest. The printed version is in Polish language, but a cd with the complete English version comes with the book. So far it might be the finest book on the folk dresses of Kosovo. Only 500 copies were printed and there are still some copies which can be ordered.
The catalogue has over 200 pages with 252 pictures in color of the items on display and many other pictures of Kosovo. A list of the items per museum collection is shown and a bibliography. Price is around 30 Euro, postage to be added.
For those interested in obtaining a copy of the catalogue, contact me for ordering details.
I am happy to have contributed to this wonderful exhibition.
