Library
After the establishment of the Military Museum, in addition to collecting museum objects, written treasures were also stored. A specialized library was formed, the collection of which includes materials mainly from the fields of general and national history, military science, art history, archaeology, ethnology and museology in Serbian and world languages.
The Military Museum Library holds materials relating to the First and Second World Wars, the history of Yugoslavia, international relations, war crimes, genocide, concentration camps, memoirs, monographs of places, biographies, as well as reference materials. The Military Museum Library Fund, carefully collected, processed and preserved, has today been significantly expanded. The Military Museum has a library fund with over 14,000 monographic publications and over 6,000 serial publications.
The oldest book in the library of the Military Museum is from the second half of the 16th century - Stratagemi militari di Sesto Giulio Frontino, printed in Venice in 1574. At the same time, this is one of the old and rare books, which are kept in the library of the Military Museum in a modest number of copies.
Stratagemi militari di Sesto Giulio Frontino, 1574. Histoire militaire du prince Eugene de Savoye, 1729.
A special place is occupied by the three-volume work on Prince Eugene of Savoy - Histoire militaire du prince Eugene de Savoye from 1729. This princely military history, with luxurious equipment, is illustrated with engravings on which there are portraits of military leaders, depictions of battles and sieges of fortifications. An entire chapter is devoted to the siege of Belgrade. From the field of military science, Strategy - the Art of War, by General Staff Colonel Živojin R. Mišić, printed in Belgrade in 1908, is worthy of attention.
This treasury of the written word also has books of artistic importance, which also have documentary value. The book "Donors of the Military Museum" is special, and its design and design are the work of the Russian painter Vsevolod Guljevic. He wrote the texts by hand in the old Cyrillic script, while he painted the donated items, usually in medallions, using the watercolor technique.
At the same time, old magazines represent rare and unique sources for the study of certain topics in the field of history and museology. Some of them are: Ratnik - for military sciences, news and literature, the monthly military newspaper of the Main General Staff, in Belgrade (issues from 1888 to 1941); Nova iskra - illustrated sheet of the State Printing Office of the Kingdom of Serbia, Belgrade (issues from 1899 to 1911).
Some of the magazine titles, which stand out for their value and timeliness, are the Voice of the Serbian Royal Academy Belgrade (issues from 1895), Brastvo - issues from 1887 to 1940, Starinar - of the Serbian Archaeological Society Belgrade (issues from 1884 to 1940, and then from 1950 to the present day).
Editions of the Military Museum also form part of the library fund.
Librarian: Vesna Baltić