Written by: Sonja Perić, senior curator – archaeologist
Daydreaming in a mystical surroundings filled with grain, smells and sounds from nature, surrounded by the most beautiful and valuable exhibits six to eight thousand years old, is an unusual and magical experience.
In the Museum of Vojvodina, in cooperation between this museum and the National Museum of Serbia, the authors Lidija Balj and Andrej Starović, presented the most beautiful and valuable Neolithic exhibits from the territory of our country at the exhibition “А Neolithic Night’s Dream” within the “Fortress of Peace” program, European Capital of Culture Novi Sad. The most important archaeological discoveries, which are kept in various museums and scientific institutions of Serbia, from the Starčevo, Vinča and Potiska cultures, are presented in one place, which makes this exhibition unique. Museum exhibits in a day and night ambience, which is evoked by the sounds of water, wind, animals and the smell of ripe grain, which fills the central space of this exhibition, take the visitor back to prehistoric times and tell him the story of the life of ancient ancestors, of the first farmers and herders in our area, the story about the Neolithic family, women, mothers, children, about the first metallurgy, the story about everyday life, about rituals and cults, about burial.
The exhibition begins with a map of Southeastern Europe and parts of Southwestern Asia and Northeastern Africa, the Fertile Crescent, from where residents from the “Cradle of Civilization” arrived in our region through migration, bringing with them new culture, traditions, customs and knowledge about the domestication of plants and animals and mixed with indigenous, Mesolithic communities, of which there is also evidence at the sites in Djerdap, and ends with a realistic reconstruction of the face of a man who lived in Lepenski Vir 10,000 years ago, brought to life by modern “MetaHuman” technology, and visitors can transfer their facial expressions to his, projected on the screen.
The core of the exhibition consists of artifacts from the sites in Starčevo, Vinča, Gomolava, Pločnik, Nosa, Donja Branjevina and other significant Neolithic sites in Serbia. Part of the exhibition presents figural plastic that depicts family and childhood, pregnant women and women in labor, the life of mother and baby, and among them, exhibits from the Regional Museum of Jagodina, figurines from Drenovac: Moravian woman and Mother with child, and an anthropomorphic rhyton, a vessel in the shape of the female body.
The exhibition has so far been visited by several thousand visitors, and the interest in it and the professional management of the exhibition is not waning, so it is a pity that its duration is limited to three months. That’s why, if your road leads you to Novi Sad by accident or on purpose, be sure to visit the Museum of Vojvodina and “A Neolithic Night’s Dream “, this especially beautiful, inspiring and educational exhibition, which will be available to the public until October 15, 2022.
