Paper short abstract:

Social and political context of the certain country has an impact on its cultural heritage. The prism through which we can observe the influence of war time on heritage is traditional clothing. It would be analyzed at the local and national level via case study of the village of Bogdanovci.

Paper long abstract:

Social, political and economic situation of certain country has an impact on its cultural heritage. Political - social circumstances during the Homeland War of the 1990s were reflected on the cultural heritage in the Vukovar area, which is situated in eastern Croatia.

Cultural heritage can be observed through several prisms; one of them is traditional clothing. The intention of this research is to show and identify any and all changes of traditional clothing in the Vukovar area under the previously mentioned cultural - political circumstances.

With the intention of better understanding these changes, we will analyze traditional clothing before the Homeland War, during the exile and after returning from exile. The emphasis will be on traditional costume as one of the markers of cultural identity, that is to say, what traditional costume means for the members of local community.

For the purposes of this research the topic will be observed from several viewpoints. On the local level, the activities of the Municipal Museum of Vukovar and influence of the members of local community on traditional clothing (either alone or associated) will be analyzed. After this analysis, we will try to examine in which way have the central ethnographic museum - Ethnographic Museum Zagreb participated in the process of preserving heritage.