Collection of Photographs: Positives and Negatives

The Collection of Photographs used to be part of the Collection of Pictorial Documentary Materials until 2019, when the photographs were taken out to form a separate collection. The Collection’s holdings includes individual photos (positives and negatives) and photo albums, most taken in the period from the end of the 19^th century up until the 1980s. There is a great variety of motifs that appear in the photographs: ships and crews, members and activities of navies, cities and settlements along the shores of the Adriatic - especially the eastern one - monuments, scenes of life from urban and rural areas, maritime and shipbuilding activities, and the First and Second World Wars.

An important place in the Collection belongs to photographic albums, with the album of photo-memorabilia of the Battle of Vis from 1866 being particularly valuable. Albums relating to the beginnings of hydro-aviation and Kumbor station, the most important hydro-aviation stronghold of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the southern Adriatic, are also worth highlighting. Filmed on land and sea and from the air, they document ships, ports and members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, war events on the Adriatic in the First World War, reconnaissance operations of enemy ports, conditions in naval arsenals, exercises, life on the sea, but also funerals of crew members. Since the vessels and aircraft depicted no longer exist, the value of these photographs is primarily in their documentary quality. Some also record the condition of public buildings and scenes from everyday life, depict cultural-historical monuments and panoramic shots of cities, which is useful for studying spatial changes and how conservation and restoration works were realized. The museum also keeps photo albums made for the purpose of protocol gifts for high-ranking officers and crews of ships of the Yugoslav Navy. Dating from the 1950s to the 1980s, they depict members and equipment of the fleet and the army, military organizations and industries, individuals, various political events such as visits by statesmen and anniversaries.

Collection manager: Petra Radić, senior curator