European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21 st century „ Page 73 Components: [S] Social Targeted audience: General audience Aims / Content: A civil society and media action aimed to mobilize a massive citizens engagement to save a museum in a difficult political and economic context and finally influence the policy change at a state level Year / Duration: 2015 (9 months) Online material: http://jasam.zemaljskimuzej.ba/guards-museum http://www.europanostra.org/awards/199/ Bosnia and Herzegovina “I am the Museum” ational Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the largest and most important museum collections in South East Europe. In 2012 however, the management decided to close its doors to the public as the government was unable to reach an agreement regarding the financing and upkeep of the Museum. Without any income, the people working in the museum continued going to work everyday for three years, taking care of the cul- tural treasure of the country. — In order to tell this fascinating story of the Mu- seum’s workers to the public, Aida Kalender from an independent NGO AKCIJA Sarajevo in collaboration with the photographer Zijah Gafić, started in Janu- ary 2015 to document photo portraits of the workers and to record their stories. This material represented a base for the large media-activist campaign called “I am the Museum” ( “Ja sam Muzej” ) initiated by AKCIJA seven months later. — Campaign has started with the exhibition “The Guards of the Museum” that consisted of 38 portraits of the museum’s employees with personal stories about their dedication, love for their job and their present work’s conditions. Exhibition has been presented in the closed Museum and the audience Sources: http://www.europanostra.org/awards/199/ http://jasam.zemaljskimuzej.ba/about-us http://www.muze.hr/news/i-am-the-museum N has been entering the building from the back gate. AKCIJA has used this opportunity to invite citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the workers of the closed Museum by making a “guarding shift” in the Museum as an act of support and solidarity with the workers. In the following 45 days, during August and September 2015, more than five thousands people from whole country, as well from the neighbouring countries, came to do a guarding shift and to sup- port the Museum. — The campaign which had an enormous media coverage, both in new and“old”media, also included a cultural programme donated as a gift to the Mu- seum by other cultural organisations and individu- als, literary works about the Museum from notable Bosnian-Herzegovinian and regional writers, an invi- tation to citizens to get involved by sending letters to the addresses of the responsible ministers of cul- ture, or donating equipment, adopting or restoring objects in the Museum. — This well executed campaign, together with simultaneous political and diplomatic efforts, result- ed in the re-opening of the Museum on 15th of Sep- tember 2015 and gaining a guaranteed public fund until 2018. — Today the National Museum, not only works, but because of the impressive victory for civil en- gagement in cultural heritage, the museum and the “I am the Museum” campaign received the Europa Nostra Grand Prix award in 2016. The strongest mes- sage that they sent through this common act, was that “people are the Museum” . Photo by: Zijah Gafić Photo by: Edin Hadžihasić