Danica Pinterović and the Musealization of the Slavonian Nobility Collections

Dr. Danica Pinterović left a deep mark in the field of museum work with her long and fruitful professional work. In that segment, she contributed most in the period after World War II, when she was assigned the task of salvaging and musealisation of noble collections in Eastern Croatia. Since 1946, in addition to her work in Osijek museum, she was an active member of KOMZA, a special Committee of the Ministry of Education, which worked on salvaging and collecting museum materials. In a fight against time and various obstacles, members of KOMZA arrived in a lot of villages in Slavonia and Syrmia too late to save the endangered materials, but when they collected them, they made exceptionally important lists of artwork with basic information about a certain work. The biggest amount of material collected by the Committee, which was professionally organised by Danica Pinterović, makes up the most valuable part of the museum fund in Eastern Croatia institutions. Thanks to the efforts of Danica Pinterović, a very small, but priceless part of the Ilok Collection was saved. A slightly larger number of works of art comes from Vukovar, but the Vukovar Collection was also saved only in segments, and a part of the valuable material was taken, despite KOMZA’s efforts, to Serbia. However, Danica Pinterović was particularly successful in saving the Valpovo Collection. Thanks to the countess Julia Normann, who lived in Valpovo until 1952, and the efforts of Danica Pinterović and other members of KOMZA, almost all the material from the Valpovo castle was saved and successfully musealised, which is an exception in comparison with other materials from noble collections in Eastern Croatia. KOMZA’s work was conducted in extremely difficult conditions, especially because of the lack of professional and educated staff, the lack of means of transport, and the lack of adequate storage space for the material collected. In those conditions, Danica Pinterović worked exceptionally hard. From the salvaged archival documents and diary logs, we can see how successful Danica Pinterović was in salvaging an invaluable part of our cultural heritage by working devotedly and professionally. We have her work to thank for the successful musealisation of noble collections and for having exceptionally valuable materials in museum institutions. They remain a basis for research and presentation of the cultural heritage of noble families in Eastern Croatia even toda