Collection of clothing and uniforms
The collection consists of about five thousand items and is made up of various objects, the largest number of which are parts of military uniforms, military insignia and military equipment of the Serbian and Yugoslav armies. In addition to military uniforms, the collection also includes examples of folk costumes and parts of civilian service uniforms. The collection was created thanks to gifts, purchases, and taking over from military depots and military units.
When filling the uniform collection, several criteria were taken into account. The first is that each historical period from the creation of the modern Serbian army to the present day should be represented by a specific original uniform, and where this is not possible, by reconstruction. The collection contains items from the insurgent Serbia, the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as well as from the period of World War II. Through the uniforms, all phases of the development of the armed forces of the SFRY are followed, as well as military clothing in the territory of Yugoslavia and Serbia from the 1990s to the present. Another important guideline in filling the collection is related to the representation of parts of the suits that belonged to important historical figures. The collection includes uniforms of King Alexander Karađorđević, Duke Stepa Stepanović, General Pavle Jurišić Šturm, Serbian politician Ilija Garašanin, Prince Danilo Petrović, military leader and diplomat Đuro Horvatović, and many others.
The collection is seen as a testimony of military-technical and ideological-political changes in the state and society. Based on the objects, changes in military clothing from the late 19th and early 20th centuries can be traced, when from intensely colored, shiny and highly decorative, the uniform became more practical, simpler and more color-neutral, which was conditioned by the emergence of mass armies and changes in the methods of warfare. In addition to changes, it is possible to notice constant characteristics on certain uniforms that reflect the understanding of the traditional values of a certain period. Such an example is the guards uniform, whose appearance, established in the Principality of Serbia in 1859, changed to a lesser extent until 1941. A similar conclusion can be drawn for uniforms from the period of the Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav People's Army, which make up a large part of the Collection. The cut, shape, and material of the suits established in 1953 and 1955 have remained virtually unchanged to this day, with a clear change in the markings on the cap, buttons, sleeves, and blouse shoulder straps introduced in 1994 and 2007.
In addition to objects that reflect the rich national history, examples of uniforms of foreign armies are also of no small importance. These include objects from Imperial Russia and the countries of the Eastern Bloc, as well as objects of German, Italian, American, French and other provenance. A large number of these objects arrived as a result of inter-museum cooperation and were obtained through exchange with other museums. Of particular interest are the uniforms and military insignia originating from Imperial Russia, which belonged to the former Russian Department that existed in the Military Museum between the First and Second World Wars.
The collection is curated by: PhD Bojana Ilić
The collection is curated by: PhD Bojana Ilić