Cultural Embarassment

An anonymous Yugoslav Army general's order on the exhibiting of a "full van" of valuable paintings, "collected" at the Dubrovnik front, in the Blue Palace in Cetinje, will not, it seems, be obeyed. The employees of Cetinje museums and the citizens of Cetinje have threatened Radomir Bulatovic, the newly appointed Director of the Museum of Montenegro, that they would "beat him up in the center of Cetinje" if any of these paintings entered the Cetinje museums. It is known for a fact that the paintings in question did not reach Cetinje and that the attempt to carry out the operation of "rescuing Dubrovnik's treasure" alarmed other citizens as well, opening up a series of questions which will have to be answered by the Montenegrin government.

The media in Montenegro ignored the scandal. Everything would probably have ended up as a local gossip, if the Director of the Montenegro Museum had not been forced to appear on Radio Cetinje and give his side of the story. However, his radio performance did not calm down the citizens, all the more so because the indignation caused by his sudden appointment to the post of director is still lingering. The Montenegrin government urgently dismissed the former director, well-known expert Jakov Mrvaljevic and appointed Bulatovic, in spite of protests by Museum employees. It should be remembered that Bulatovic is one of the founders of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in Bosnia-Herzegovina; he used to be president of Sarajevo's "Center" municipality. After being seized by Muslim forces, he appeared at Pale under mysterious circumstances, in Radovan Karadzic's headquarters. Shortly after that, he found himself in Montenegro. Whether because of his family name or family links with certain top Montenegrin officials, the authorities made an effort to find him an adequate post. Bulatovic failed to get the post of a museum director in Podgorica "because he did not meet the necessary requirements" - his education was not appropriate to the job. The Montenegrin government then decided to urgently dismiss director Mrvaljevic, who was obviously not politically suitable, and to appoint Bulatovic to his post. The post of Cetinje Museum director has the same importance in Montenegro as that of a ministerial posting. Bulatovic said over Radio Cetinje that, under the decision to withdraw the Army from the territory of Konavle and Prevlaka Isthmus, it had been necessary to rescue art treasures which, allegedly, would some day be returned to their rightful owners. He also admitted that the Office for the Protection of Art Treasures had refused to accept the offered paintings, saying "that were not authorized to protect what was not theirs".

The listeners were also told that the Montenegrin Ministry of Culture and Sports was familiar with the whole case. After many contradictory statements, Bulatovic finally said that "it was not known to whom the treasure belonged, since the war-afflicted territory covered a very broad area and included a part of Montenegro". In spite of international regulations, Bulatovic says that he is not sure who would get the treasure, but the those items proved to belong to Montenegro will definitely find a place in the Museum - the rest "will be returned in exchange for what is ours."

Educated citizens of Cetinje are acquainted with international regulations concerning the matter, which can be found in the "International System on Protection of Cultural Heritage". The document states that "during armed conflicts, cultural treasures must be put under international protection. All the contracted parties must put under sequester goods imported from the occupied territories and must order their troops and issue adequate instruction for the prevention of damage, robbery and the unauthorized alienation of these treasures. The party that violates these principles will be obliged to pay damages to the rightful owners."

The former Yugoslavia is a signatory of the aforementioned document. Heated debates in Cetinje say that the affair was probably an attempt by top Army officials to place Dubrovnik's missing art treasures in Cetinje Museum "for safe keeping".