Books of Pavle Beljanski: From Belgrade Salon to Museum Collection

The exhibition ‘Books of Pavle Beljanski: From Belgrade Salon to Museum Collection,’ by Milica Orlović Čobanov, will open on 11 July  at the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection and will run until 27 October.

The exhibition will feature the Book Collection of diplomat Pavle Beljanski, established through a donation by his heirs in 1966. The collection is one of eight significant museum entities, alongside the collection of anthological works of Yugoslav modern art of the 20^th century, for which the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection is widely recognized.

Pavle Beljanski’s library primarily consists of foreign language books from the European cultural sphere dating from the mid-18^th to the mid-20^th century, with few local author publications. It includes numerous editions on history, art history, literature, law, and diplomacy—fields that were of particular interest to diplomat Pavle Beljanski. The library’s 400 units are largely exhibited in the permanent display of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial. The current exhibition showcases the most significant books, furniture, and personal items of the collector, utilizing modern technologies to introduce the exceptional value of Pavle Beljanski’s Book Collection and its significance in understanding the persona of the great diplomat and the era in which it originated. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog of the Book Collection, a notable endeavor in the systematic cataloging of the museum’s holdings at the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection.

Preparing the exhibition was a complex undertaking involving conservation, digitization, and processing of the entire book collection according to library standards. Vladislava Gordić Petković, PhD, provided significant assistance in preparing the collection catalog, along with collaborators from various institutions, particularly the Central Library of the University of Novi Sad and the City Library of Novi Sad. The implementation of the exhibition and publication of the Pavle Beljanski Book Collection catalog were made possible by the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information, and Relations with Religious Communities.