A contribution to research on the life and work of Mijat Sabljar (1790 – 1865)

SUMMARY A CONTRIBUTION TO RESEARCH ON THE LIFE AND WORK OF MIJAT SABLJAR (1790 – 1865) Mijat Sabljar was born in Dubica on May 5, 1790. His father, Ilija Sabljar was a soldier ; after the family tradition, Mijat also pursued a military career. His father and mother, Magdalena Sep, had twelve children. Sabljar wrote about his youth, schooling and the beginnings of his military career in his autobiography in the early sixties of the 19th century. It is evident from the autobiography that he had finished elementary school in Dubica, and started his schooling at the Theresian Military Academy in Wienerneustadt at the age of 9. It was there that Sabljar started collecting books and nurturing his newly discovered drawing talent. After he graduated from the Academy in 1809, he proceeded to the battlefield to fight under the French command from 1810 to 1813. After returning to Austrian command he was stationed in Dalmatia, Kordun, Italy and Glina. Between 1827 and 1842 he served as the engineering captain of the military engineering unit of the Lika regiment. It was there that Sabljar acknowledged his great passion – collecting antiquities and natural rarities. Lika was also the location of his first collections. After retiring in 1842 with the rank of major, he became a curator of the museum of Count Laval Nugent of Westmeath (*1777 +1862) in Trsat. Along with his work in the museum, Sabljar started to cooperate with Družtvo za povĕstnicu jugoslavensku (The Society for South Slav History) founded in Zagreb, and he also strongly advocated the founding of the National Museum. Along with numerous objects donated to the Museum, Sabljar in 1843 drew up the first museum catalogue of the numismatic collection. There are certain discrepancies regarding the exact year Sabljar came to Zagreb, but he was without doubt affiliated with the Museum from its very beginnings. Dragutin Rakovec, the first curator of the Museum, reports in 1846 that Mijat Sabljar was appointed as curator of the insect and shell collection. After the death of Rakovec, in 1854 Sabljar became curator of the archeological collection, and after 1862 he became the curator of the Museum. Both as a collector and a donor, Sabljar laid the foundations of all the collections of the National Museum, and it is generally regarded that there is not one collection either in the Archeological Museum in Zagreb, the Croatian Natural History Museum or the Croatian History Museum of which he was not the founder, or at least a donor in their early stages. Because of his remarkable contribution, Sabljar was awarded permanent membership in the board of Družtvo za povĕstnicu jugoslavensku, and in 1852 the Royal Government financed his journeys to various areas of the Croatian Littoral and Dalmatia. The purpose of his journeys was to collect objects of cultural and natural heritage and he meticulously took notes and copied all sights and antiquities he came across in his “Field notes”. These notes, or notebooks, are first class archival material and are still preserved, chiefly in the Directorate for Cultural Heritage Protection under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. In his notebooks, he would first in pencil, later in ink, map out town plans, forts, ruins, sketches of topography of localities and natural phenomena, medal drawings, reliefs, mosaics, pictures, epigraphic monuments, church inventory and utensils. He also drew minerals, shells, trees, plants, butterflies and many other objects which interested him. All those sketches and drafts were followed by notes which left us extremely valuable information. Together with travel notebooks, Sabljar also left numerous manuscripts, inventory ledgers, his personal correspondence and expert texts which are still today in the archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, National and University Library in Zagreb, in other words in the museum facilities which have originated from the National Museum. In the only printed work which was published during his lifetime Mane koje smetaju razvitku književnosti i sacuvanju umietnostih te starinskih predmetah (Faults which impede the development of literature and preservation of artistic and antique objects), he writes about problems that came up in his field journeys and writes with great concern about the damaging and destruction of the cultural heritage. He calls on everyone, especially those most responsible and knowledgeable, namely teachers, priests and cultural employees to make the effort to serve as an example in preserving antiques and art. Mijat Sabljar died in Zagreb on December 21, 1865. A large number of people came to pay their respects, and he was buried at the St. Rochus cemetry in Zagreb. During the transport of the remains of members of the Illyrian movement from the cemetery of St. Rochus to Mirogoj cemetery in 1885, Sabljar’s remains were unfortunately forgotten. His grave, to this day, remains unknown.

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