Bread has been following for 14,000 years humanity during the settlement of new parts of the world and thus over time a special geography of breads that we can follow today - from Indian roti bread (better known as chapati, phulka, flaws), to the French baguette (baguette) and irresistible Georgian khachapuri bread (Khachapuri). Bread is also inextricably linked to the Christian dogma itself, to the tradition and identity of many peoples, making it not only food for the body but also for the soul, uniting the divine and the human in a kind of everyday harmony.
14,000 years ago, someone in present-day Jordan left unleavened bread over a fire for too long, the bread burned and was then thrown next to the settlement, where it remained buried until 2018 when a team of archaeologists found it. The undoubted importance of this discovery lies in the fact that until recently it was believed that bread had been made for 10,000 years since the development of harvesting began in the Levant area.
Concerned about the disappearance of the bread-making tradition, the artist Slobodan Jeremić Jeremija founded the Bread Museum in Pećinci, Srem, a unique institution that was created after the artist's multi-decade artistic and ethnological research of bread-making culture in Serbia. The museum display presents the story of bread in a clear and interactive way, about the ways in which it was made, about the symbolism and importance of bread in society, about the people who made it and about the way of life in the past.
However, like languages, the old art of bread-making is fast disappearing and centuries-old recipes are in danger of being forgotten. Concerned about the disappearance of the bread-making tradition, the artist Slobodan Jeremić Jeremija founded the Bread Museum in Pećinci, Srem, a unique institution that was created after the artist's multi-decade artistic and ethnological research of bread-making culture in Serbia. The museum display presents the story of bread in a clear and interactive way, about the ways in which it was made, about the symbolism and importance of bread in society, about the people who made it and about the way of life in the past. The particularity of the installation can be seen in the presentation of objects that can be directly touched and whose purpose can be demonstrated. By touching and using objects, the active participation of the visitor is achieved and a demystified and active museum space is created. The objects on display are classified into three collections: ethnographic, archaeological and art, and there is a library within the museum. In the museum complex there is also a furnace for baking bread, a fireplace and a unique church dedicated to Serbian Slava, whose exterior walls are decorated with frescoes of traditional breads. The museum's collection consists of 96 different types of bread that were kneaded by the Serbs for annual cycles, for holidays and for family customs. Special types of bread intended for special occasions indicate their indispensable participation in celebrations and customs. We recommend you to visit the Bread Museum and learn more about famous breads such as Cesnica, Lepinja and Proja, but also about lesser-known Serbian breads such as the cute figural
Laws.You can see more about the museum and the forgotten art of bread making at:
http://www.muzejhleba.rs/o-hlebu.htm
Lora Milutinovic,
Art history student
