The International foundation Forum of Slavic Cultures (FSK) bestowed the awards for the best Slavic museums in Belgrade in Serbia in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia and Serbian partner institutions. In addition to the main award, the winner was Woodcarving Museum from Konjic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the award for the best heritage site in Slavic countries was bestowed for the third time. It went to the Etar Regional Ethnographic Open-Air Museum from Gabrovo in Bulgaria.
20 museums from 11 Slavic countries entered the competition for the 2020 Živa Award for the best Slavic museum and heritage site. At the seventh ceremony in Belgrade in Serbia (previous ones took place in Skopje, St. Petersburg, Zadar, Bled, Prague and Bar) the Živa Award for the best Slavic museum 2020 was bestowed to the Woodcarving Museum from Konjic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). For the third time the jury consisting of 13 museum experts from Slavic countries and the European Museum Academy also selected the winner of the Živa Award for the best heritage site in Slavic countries. It was bestowed to the Etar Regional Ethnographic Open-Air Museum from Gabrovo in Bulgaria.
In addition to the main award, a special recognition for leadership was given to the Lviv National Literary Memorial Museum of Ivan Franko (Lviv, Ukraine); the winner of the recognition for attention to visitors and openness was Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze (Zabrze, Poland); the Božidar Jakac Art Museum (Kostanjevica na Krki, Slovenia) received the special recognition for creativity; the Center for Visitors Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales (Ogulin, Croatia) for storytelling; and the Yaroslavl Art Museum (Yaroslavl, Russian Federation) for good use of resources. The Jury also decided to handed the Honourable Mention to National Museum in Belgrade (Belgrade, Serbia).
“Among the many important activities of the Forum is certainly the preservation of centuries-old values, the nurturing of the Slavic languages and the further building of Slavic cultural identities. These values can only become more visible by jointly advocating for their affirmation on a global scale. This promotes cultural diversity and at the same time contributes Slavic cultures to the global dialogue,” stressed Maja Gojković, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and the President of the Board of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, while Andreja Rihter, the Director of the Forum of Slavic Cultures said:” ŽIVA, award for the best Slavic museum and heritage site is a platform that fosters and cultivates dialogue on Slavic heritage and its uniqueness, but in the first place it is a space where we can “encounter” Slavic heritage, obtain information about it, establish contact with the location and decide to pay a visit there in order to get to know more about it.”
In seven years of its existence the award had brought together more than 135 museums. Orhan Nikšić, the director of the Woodcarving Museum – the best Slavic Museum for 2020, dedicated the award to the past and present woodcarvers in town Konjic.
