Collection of Works by Pupils and Teachers

With over 10,000 items, the Collection of Works by Pupils and Teachers is among the largest collections of the Croatian School Museum. A larger part of the Collection consists of selected art class works of pupils. The oldest preserved works date from the beginning the of the nineteenth century and as a result of the continual growth of the Collection, particularly in terms of collecting art class works, we can now diachronically trace the development of teaching arts in schools from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the present.

Topographic maps made by pupils in Slunj in the 1820s are among the oldest works preserved in the Collection. Pupils’ sample letters written in calligraphy also originate from that period. Calligraphy used to be an important subject (similarly to art classes), with particular attention in both subjects given to concentration, precision and accuracy. Art classes and calligraphy thus had a pedagogical function with the aim of developing, among other things, patience and diligence.

A similar role in primary schools of the nineteenth century was given to needlework classes. Samples of needlework were collected for the future school museum before it had been established, and when it had been founded, they were located in the modern department unit. While girls were taught embroidery and lace-making (which was often a source of their own and their family’s livelihood), boys were trained in wood carving, clock making, basketry, metalworking and other practical crafts. At the end of the nineteenth century, a specific didactic handiwork for boys – slöjd – was introduced, which originated in Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was characteristic for developing the skilfulness of working with one’s hands, with an emphasis on the technique and method of making, rather than on the end product. Slöjd was also taught as a compulsory subject in teacher education schools between the nineteenth and the twentieth century.

One of the most presentable sections of the permanent exhibition, retained in an almost entirely authentic form since the establishment of the Museum, is the Paris Room – a study room made by the pupils of Royal Territorial Trade School in Zagreb according to Herman Bollé's plans for the World Exhibition in Paris held in 1900. The Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia received the highest award there – Grand Prix – for the presentation of the school system in the category of Education and teaching.

Kristina Gverić, MA
Senior Curator