The local community "Stari grad" sent an open letter to the Municipality of Budva demanding that numerous buildings, which are intended for cultural contents in the current planning document, be finally brought to their intended use, and property and legal issues resolved.
"Without a big introduction and analysis of the past, the question of creating cultural content in the Municipality of Budva, especially in the Old Town, arises. From the level of the local community, we have been raising this issue for 10 years. The buildings in question are designated for culture by the Cultural Development Program from 1985 and the Urban Project, but they have never been put to use. After 35 years, they are more or less in a state of disrepair with unmaintained installations, water and electricity, unmaintained roofs, dilapidated carpentry, and otherwise with very cheap and modest materials in the interiors. Property-law ie. the ownership issue is problematic in many facilities", says MZ president Slobodan Bobo Mitrović.
In the treatment of repurposing possible objects in the Old Town, he says, the starting point is the Cultural Development Program, which implied that Budva has an archaeological museum, an ethnographic museum, a gallery of paintings from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, and a permanent exhibition.
"After three and a half decades, it is certain that the Program needs to be innovated with a city reading room, a native library, collections of weapons, fishing equipment, a museum of tourism and graphic design suitable for today's development. It would be normal for there to be a museum of both Catholic and Orthodox churches in Budva, because they have great wealth in exhibits and have their own houses. I believe that the establishment of a documentation center is necessary because Budva, among the oldest cities on the Adriatic, does not have a single document about its duration. Now that world archives are being opened, it is necessary to specialize staff who will establish international documentary communication and be able to show their children, where and when Sophocles mentions Budva, what kind of handwriting Don Krsto Ivanović or Anton Kojović had. What were SM Ljubiša's correspondences like, what did the original pages of the Budva Statute from 1350 look like..." said Mitrović.
He points out that the buildings in which it is possible to place the history and culture of Budva are Ćuda's House, Čekrdeković's House, Committee Building, Adriatic Guard, Citadel, Ancient Gate, Modern Gallery, SM Ljubiša Memorial Home, current Archaeological Museum, Gradenigo Bastion, MUrava, House in the Corner , Tubićka's house, Santa Maria In Punta and Sveti Saba, squares and open spaces, and it is also possible to rent and buy houses that are for sale.
"This review and analysis is based on the cultural treasures that Budva currently has and on the functional usability of certain houses for certain cultural purposes. For now, Budva only has archeology and artistic paintings, so the presentation of this treasure that we already have could be started right away. All other museum contents, suitable for an ancient city, should be allocated funds for years and museum collections and funds owned by the municipality should be formed," Mitrović pointed out.
To this problem, he states, the situation in Petrovac should be added and the situation in the villages should be recorded, because each village had cooperative homes or parish houses where documentary and historical materials and ethnological collections of tools that are no longer used should be concentrated.
"Regardless of when and whether the circumstances in the municipality will define the long-term development of cultural institutions, a special commission composed of lawyers with experience in property law, art historians with experience in museum technology, an architect with the same experience, an archaeologist should be formed as a matter of urgency, which would worked out all the mentioned problems. In particular, hire a law firm that would bring disputed property legal problems to an end through negotiations after 35 years, because it is obvious that the Secretariat for Property Legal Issues cannot have that efficiency," Mitrović points out. He suggested that the current Archaeological Museum become an ethnographic museum.
"These are museums that are growing everywhere in the world because the question of how people used to live is becoming more and more important for science. There is no fishing museum in Montenegro, so coastal ethnology would be suitable for such a museum in Budva, for which the acquisition of exhibits should start now. The committee building, as the largest house in the Old Town, is ideal for a permanent exhibition of paintings from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries".
The archeology museum should be returned to Ćuda's house
Mitrović states that the Museum of Archeology should be returned to Ćudini House, which is the most representative building in the Old Town.
"It was designed for an archeological museum and was equipped to the maximum just to bring in museum exhibits and then everything went to ruin. The old owners and the new owners moved around and moved into their premises because the Municipality did not expropriate and the problem has been like that for 35 years. The current archaeological museum was opened in an inadequate building, which does not have moisture insulation, so such a space is inadequate for the preservation of museums, especially since it is of small dimensions, so a "museum-sized" bus, whether of students or tourists, cannot fit in the space even on an adequate a way to view the exhibits without jeopardizing the safety of the display case," Mitrović points out.
Redeem the Citadel and solve the culture problem
Mitrović believes that if the Municipality would buy or provide a replacement for the Citadel, most of the problems of living culture would be solved.
"Primarily, it refers to the City Theater in both summer and winter versions. It is the highest quality building in the Old Town and is the most suitable for both static and living culture," he points out.
He believes that the Municipality should talk to the owner, the fourth in line, of Jadranska straža, who is selling it.
"That building would be ideal for the City Theater. It has capacity for dressing rooms, toilets, a warehouse, a club of cultural workers and a buffet, and a camera scene in the yard. Also for offices and administration. As for Santa Maria in punta and St. SABA has been making two-month contracts for festival needs for years. A long-term contract should be drawn up, because when the owner of a cultural asset does not have the capacity to maintain it and use it in operation, he is obliged by law to offer it to the Municipality", Mitrović points out.
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