Lapis Albus – the treasure of the Franciscan Monastery treasury on the Island of Visovac

Lapis Albus – the treasure of the Franciscan Monastery treasury on the Island of Visovac


Museum of Arts and Crafts
Zagreb     
   
The Museum of Arts and Crafts, as the central national and parent institution, has joined the programme of the Ministry of Culture in celebrating the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 with an exhibition and publishing project, which for the first time would present to the public the exquisite „hidden treasure“ of the Franciscan Monastery treasury and the Church of the Holy Mother of God, Mother of Mercy on the Island of Visovac. The exhibition under the working title Lapis Albus – the treasure of the Franciscan Monastery treasury on the Island of Visovac, would present a complete corpus of items from collections of paintings and sculptures, liturgical metal objects, precious metal votive gifts, devotionals, collections of archaeological finds and ethnographic objects, as well as manuscripts and book materials from the monastery archives and library (manuscripts, specimens of incunabula, works by Croatian authors of the 16th, 17th and 18th century and documents related to the history of the Franciscan Order on the Island of Visovac, as well as historical ones from the time of Turkish invasions).

A large part of this „forgotten treasure“, following necessary restoration works and professional treatment, would be presented to the public at the end of 2018 with an exhibition in the Museum of Arts and Crafts. With the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia this exhibition would be the Croatian priority cultural event in the European Year of Cultural Heritage. The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia together with the City of Zagreb will ensure funds for preparatory works (restoration works on the most endangered items, field work for the purpose of evaluating and selecting items for the exhibition and professional treatment) and for the ultimate realisation of the exhibition accompanied by a representative multilingual guide trough the treasury.