The monograph published by the Herzegovina Museum presents a selected display of the photographic material of the Anton Zimol Collection, which has been in the possession and care of this cultural institution in Mostar for almost 70 years. The very precious black-and-white photographs of the first photographer in Mostar certainly represent pioneering work when it comes to this type of publication. There are 528 pages in the monograph and it has been printed in three languages (Bosnian, German, English). The publication is made up of three units, i.e. the way the collection of photographers Anton Zimol itself is and was formed in the annex of the Museum: Mostar, Through Bosnia and Herzegovina, National Costumes.
In the first part of the monograph, the focus is on the city of Mostar, with all its beauties, architecture, landscape, religious and cultural facilities and institutions, health institutions, sports clubs, important events that were accompanied by the photographer Anton Zimolo in the city on the Neretva. A very significant number of individuals from cultural and social life, such as writers, cultural workers, national-educational associations are also presented in this edition.
The second part of the monograph shows photos of Bosnian cities, from the south of the country (Trebinje, Bileća, Stolac, Čapljina…) through the central part (Jablanica, Konjic, Prozor, Travnik, Sarajevo, Jajce) all the way to the eastern regions (Goražde, Foča, Čajniče…) . Photographer Anton Zimolo was able to capture panoramic shots of these urban areas, shots of the sights that decorate them, street life as well as the architecture of all these areas with his camera.
The special value of this monograph is its third part with photos of national costumes, which show famous and unknown personalities in different national costumes of our country, especially from the Herzegovina region. The costumes of all peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina are presented, both in individual and group photos. Costumes from rural areas stand on an equal footing, “side by side” with costumes from urban areas. Different age groups, class status and all the other diversity of costumes shown makes the monograph exceptional, because most of the photos are being shown for the first time and in this scope.
The editor of the monograph is M.Sc. Ibrahim Dizdar, museum curator, and the editorial board consists of: Zlatko Zvonić, art historian and senior curator at the Museum, and Aner Duraković, collection associate.
These are very precious photographs, about 470 of them, which will be presented in this monograph. This is the first time that a monograph has been published about the photographer Anton Zimol from Mostar, who worked and created at the end of the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century. If we take into account the amount of photos shown, then it is clear how valuable the photographic heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina is.
The monograph with valuable, high-quality, numerous photographs, and its multilingual nature, contributes to make the heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to other civilizational trends and cultures in this way.
