The first idea for the establishment of a collection of art objects in the museum of Vojvodina was born in 1825 in the newspaper “Matica Srpska”. After 22 years, the idea is realized, on 26 October, at the meeting of the Board of Matica Srpska, when the decision was made to form a Serbian national collection or Museum, for the purpose of preserving historic sites and old objects.
The rich heritage of Sava Tekelija was collected as the first collection and after a few decades, it has grown into a Museum of Matica Srpska on July 9, 1933, when it was established as a first public cultural institution in Novi Sad. However, there was a desire to create a museum concretized only for Vojvodina as a territory, and in this desire, on May 30, 1947, was created the Museum of Vojvodina. The Museum of Vojvodina is a complex institution containing collections of archeology, history, art history, ethnology, zoology, paleontology, botany. In 1974 the museum received its facility for the working activities, in the building of the former court built by the project Gyula Wagner, an architect. The main activity of the Museum is to research, collect, protect and expert processing of collected items, presentation, and publication of the same, in order to preserve the culture and history of the peoples of the Vojvodina and the first human civilization until the twentieth century.
From the wings of the Museum had been emerged other important institutions responsible for the protection of cultural monuments and natural resources, such as: Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of Vojvodina, the Institute for Protection of Nature of Vojvodina, Novi Sad City Museum, Museum of the labor movement and the people’s revolution and the Theatre Museum. In 1992 comes to a merger of the Museum and the Historical Museum of Vojvodina and then these cultural institutions were renamed as one- the Museum of Vojvodina.
Within the wide network of the Museum of Vojvodina were formed the following facilities: Museum Complex in Kulpin and Ethno house “Cabin” in Backi Jarak.
The collection of the museum is keeping around 500,000 original objects, and therefore it is considered as the richest and oldest museum institution in Serbia. Every year the collection is complemented by numerous donations, gifts, bequests and purchase items. Permanent exhibitions can be found at Dunavska 35 Street, Dunavska 37 Street, Kulpin Museum Complex and Ethno Park “Cabin”. In the framework of the permanent exhibition in the Dunavska 35 St, are archaeology, history, ethnology and old city street Vojvodina. The Dunavska 37 Street is presenting Vojvodina in the twentieth century. In Kulpin visitors can see decorative furniture created before 1700, agricultural tools, tools dating from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and old machines. The Ethno Park “Cabin” is representing the regional museum collection, which mostly has an ontological character. Visitors can learn about the way of life of the common man, farmers in the province of Vojvodina, their wooden houses, furniture, dishes, clothes and etc.
Museum of Vojvodina in his previous decades of work received 4 “Mihajlo Valtrovic” awards presented by the Museum Society of Serbia and the National Committee of the International Council of the Museum organization for special contribution to the improvement and development of museum activities and for the excellent results in its researches. Also, employees of the Museum won the award in 2005 and 2007 for the best exhibitions in Serbia. In 2009 the Museum was titled as the best museum in the country.
This cultural institution is located at the Dunavska 35-37 Street and it is open to visitors from Tuesday to Friday from 9 am to 19 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 are to 18 pm. On Sundays admission is free.
