Has Budva forgotten its ancient past?: on methods of protection and presentation of Budva’s ancient heritage

U radu se iznose zapažanja u vezi sa bogatom zbirkom antičkih spomenika pronađenih na teritoriji današnje budvanske opštine. Riječ je o antičkoj nekropoli u kojoj su otkriveni predmeti iz helenističke i rimske epohe (nakit, oruđe i oružje), zatim mozaici pronađeni na ovoj teritoriji, ostaci starih zidina i građevina koje potiču iz ovog perioda (rimske građevine i „budvanski Akropolj”). Ukazano je na značaj svjedočanstava antičke budvanske prošlosti, uz osvrt na metode i principe čuvanja i prezentovanja ovih spomenika uz kritičku analizu problema otuđenja pomenutog nasljeđa.Budva represents one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic coast. It was governed by various nations; the largest number of material traces was left by Illyrians, Romans, and Greeks. The interest for the heritage of the above mentioned civilizations has never been particularly noteworthy – the statues from the period were discovered by accident in the middle of the previous century, the artifacts have never been thoroughly explored, the majority of objects was either destroyed or stolen due to careless and unprofessional excavations or even donated to museums in Belgrade, Split, Zagreb, and Cetinje. Nowadays, Budva treasures only a small part of its history, which still does not attract the attention of the local people due to the fact the objects lack an adequate presentation. The most important treasury from this period is an antique necropolis situated near the city walls of the Old Town. The necropolis contained various lavishly decorated jewelry, tools, and weapons from the Hellenistic and the Roman periods. Today, we can see numerous antique mosaics and the foundations of the Old Town walls, the so called “Budva Acropolis”, which is the present day citadel. The preserved artifacts are kept in the City Museum of Budva. However, they are not worthily represented – the local people do not possess enough knowledge about the antique period of their history