Cultural-historical department

The Department for the History of Culture and Art preserves collections containing numerous items of high artistic and cultural-historical value. Its holdings of icons and sacred objects, manuscripts and printed books of Orthodox and Islamic provenance, metal and paper currency, jewelry, weapons, coats of arms, medals, and a small number of everyday objects shaped with artistic tendencies, – all testify to the development of a rich culture in the region of Podgorica from the 16th century to the early 20th century. 

Among them, a special value is attributed to the collection of items related to the work of the esteemed printer Božidar Vuković Podgoričanin, who was a successful merchant and businessman, a humanist, and a diplomat in the service of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg. Through his work in printing and decorating books during the first half of the 16th century, he connected Montenegro with the currents of contemporary European printing, building upon the legacy of the Crnojević Printing House. 

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After settling in Venice following the Turkish conquest of Montenegro, Božidar Vuković developed a successful trading activity and established a printing house, which he managed with his son Vicenzo for over forty years. Several Cyrillic books of liturgical purpose were printed there. The Podgorica Museum preserves the Praznični minej,printed in 1538, as well as the first page from the Zbornik za putnike from 1536, featuring a representation of the coat of arms that Božidar Vuković received along with a noble title from Emperor Charles V. The Museum also houses the Zbornik za putnike,printed in 1547 by Božidar's son Vicenzo, as well as a copy of the icon "Nerukotvoreni obraz" with his coat of arms and an inscription on the back, stating that Božidar Vuković purchased the icon in the Monastery of St. Francis in Venice. 

Of particular historical and artistic value is the collection of icons dating from the 16th–to the 20th century. The oldest among them, the Virgin Mary with Christdates back to the 16th century and is associated with the Italo-Cretan school of icon painting. In addition to works by anonymous masters, the collection includes several icons created by Petar Čolanović and painters from the Đinovski family, Macedonian-born iconographers settled in Podgorica, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the field of church painting in Montenegro.