A joyful finale to the third edition of the museum-educational program ”On Horseback to the Museums” was held in Kumrovec

The finale of the museum-educational program On Horseback to the Museums of the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje was certainly the closing ceremony held on Saturday, December 7, at the Museum "Old Village" Kumrovec.

This year, in the third edition of the program, children, parents and other visitors to the finale, in addition to the beautiful weather, enjoyed five different workshops, horse riding and socializing with horses, carriage rides, the arrival of Saint Nicholas and Krampus, and the distribution of gifts. The crowning glory of the program, but also of the finale, was the awarding of additional prizes by the Museum of Hrvatsko Zagorje to children who participated in a total of four or five workshops of the program in the period from November 2 to December 1, and the drawing of the main prize provided by the Ritam s konjem Center. This year's lucky winner is the girl Lota Martinolić.

Many people are responsible for the good mood and successful closing ceremony – Saint Nicholas and Krampus, embodied by members of the Kolovrat Ethno Association, the Kolman family, who brought horses and a carriage, the employees of the Ritam s Konjem Center, led by Josip Knezić, who are responsible for the main prize and horse riding, as well as the hosts, employees of the Museum "Old Village" Kumrovec, led by their manager, Anita Paun Gadža. Excellent photographs, both of the closing ceremony and the workshop, are again signed by photographer Luka Smuk.

Let us recall that the museum-educational program "On Horseback to the Museums" was held from November 2 to December 7, so the first five weekends in that period were reserved for workshops in all MHZ units (each museum held a total of four workshops during those weekends according to a pre-agreed schedule), while on Saturday, December 7, the closing ceremony was held in Kumrovec. The common theme of the program was the horse, which, through workshops and a museum-educational publication, each of the organizational units of the Museum of Hrvatsko Zagorje dealt with in a different way, with a corresponding sub-theme. Workshop participants at the Veliki Tabor Castle learned more about the use of horses for transportation, with a special emphasis on carriages, at the Antun Augustinčić Gallery they dealt with horses in art, while at the Krapina Neanderthal Museum they heard about the past and evolution of horses. The Museum of Peasants' Revolts told the story of military horses and knights, and the Museum "Old Village" Kumrovec about horses as traditional wooden toys.

This year's edition of the program is also statistically the most successful so far - sixty children participated in all workshops, nineteen of whom were in four or five of them (which earned them additional awards). Looking at all organizational units of the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje, we record a total of 135 attendances at the workshops. Some novelties have also been introduced, such as the Instagram page of the program and the use of QR codes via the Qurko application, as well as richer prizes and additional content at each of the workshops.

The program, with the support of the director Jurica Sabol, was successfully implemented by MHZ employees: Petra Šoltić (senior museum pedagogue of the Antun Augustinčić Gallery), Lorka Lončar Uvodić and Mirjana Biljan (museum pedagogue advisor and museum pedagogue of the Krapina Neanderthal Museum), Josipa Pavlović Požgaj (museum pedagogue of the Museum of Peasants' Revolts), Tatjana Brlek and Mateja Harapin (museum advisor and museum pedagogue of the Museum "Old Village" Kumrovec) and Jelena Bužanić (curator of Veliki Tabor Castle and program coordinator).

The Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje would like to thank all participants of the program On Horseback to the Museums and are scheduling another gathering with wooden horses for next year!

Photos: Luka Smuk

Invitation design: Petra Šoltić