Michael Mile Milkovich "Ambasador of Croatian Culture"

By donating five individual medals created by our great artist, Ivan Mestrovic, Michael (Mile) Milkovich (Director Emeritus of the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida) again showed his great love for his homeland. Mr. Milkovich became famous when he organized the magnificent display of Croatian Naive Art here in St. Petersburg, Florida under the title "The Fantastical World of Croatian Naive Art". This exhibit lasted from February 13th through May 28; over 60,000 visitors came to see this exhibit.

Continuing this "ambassadorial" and selfless work of promoting Croatian culture, Milkovich transported to Croatia from America a unique set of medals, which were the work of the great master, Ivan Mestrovic, while he lived in America. These medals were donated to the Zagreb Archeological Museum, to the Mestrovic Foundation in Zagreb and Split and to the Vukovar City Museum.

During the festive reception of these medals, Ante Rendic-Miocevic, director of the Zagreb Archeological Museum, Guido Quien, director of the Mestrovic Foundation and Ruza Maric, director of the Vukovar City Museum, thanked Milkovich for these gifts so important and significant for our cultural institutions. Croatian television and newspapers were on hand to cover this event.

In the special edition of this exhibit's catalog, the above mentioned director's stated:"On this occasion we would like to express our special gratitude that this portion of Mestrovic's work were recently donated to Croatia, thanks to selfless action of Milkovich, retired director of St. Petersburg Fine Arts Museum in Florida. Having expressed his desire to give a donation to our museums, Milkovich acted upon our suggestion that these "American Mestrovic medals", practically unknown in Croatia, be purchased and taken to Croatia."

In this special catalog edition, Milkovich concluded his remarks by saying:"I am both honored and happy to have been able to give these gifts to the Zagreb Archeological Museum, to the Mestrovic Foundation (in Zagreb and Split) and to the Museum of our heroic city of Vukovar, so that they might become the owners of such important set of medals."

I consider myself to be particularly honored to have Michael Milkovich as a friend. He has tirelessly worked for his homeland during all of our get-togethers and has exhibited extraordinary attachment to his native land, a land he had to leave early in his life. Because of his devotion to his homeland, Milkovich made many friends in the "Croatian-American Club of Florida", of which he was one of its founders.

Croatia truly needs to have "ambasadors' like Michael Milkovich if it wishes to show the world the beauties and values of  its thousand-year-old culture.

Dr Frank Z. Beluhan

 

Mile Michael Milkovich "AmbasadorHrvatske Kulture"

Mile (Michael) Milkovich (Director Emeritus, Museum of Fine Arts, St.
Petersburg, Florida) ponovno je pokazao ljubav prema svojoj Domaji poklonom pet
jedinih medalja, koje je izradio nas majstor Ivan Mestrovic ovdje u Americi.
Gosp. Milkovich se je proslavio velicanstvenom izlozbom hrvatske Naive ovdje u
St. Petersburgu, Florida "The Fantastical World of Croatian Naive Art" (13tog
Veljace do 28og Svibnja 2000g), a koju je posjetilo vise od sesdeset tisuca
posjetilaca.

Nastavljajuci taj "ambasadorski" posao propagiranja i nesebicnog rada za
hrvatsku kulturu, ovaj puta je odnio iz Amerike u Hrvatsku jedinstvenu zbirku
svih medalja, koje je izradio nas majstor Ivan Mestrovic u Americi. Medalje su
bile poklonjene Arheoloskom Muzeju u Zagrebu, Fundaciji Mestrovic u Zagrebu i
Splitu, te Gradskom muzeju u Vukovaru.

O znacaju ovog poklona nasim ustanovama ravnatelj Arheoloskog Muzeja u Zagrebu
Ante Rendic-Miocevic, Guido Quien, ravnatelj Fundacije Ivana Mestrovica, te Ruza
Maric, ravnateljica Gradskog Muzeja Vukovar, zahvalili su gosp. Milkovichu
prilikom svecanog primanja medalja. Ovu svecanost su pratile hrvatske novinske
agencije, a i hrvatska televizija.

U prigodnom izdanju izlozbenog kataloga, gore spomenuti ravnatelji izjavili
su:"Zelja nam je u ovoj prigodi izraziti osobito zadovoljstvo sto je taj dio
Mestroviceva opusa nedavno poklonjen Hrvatskoj, zahvaljujuci nesebicnoj gesti
gosp. Michaela Milkovicha, umirovljenog ravnatelja Muzeja lijepih umjetnosti
(Museum of Fine Arts) u St. Petersburgu u Floridi. Izrazivsi svojedobno zelju za
donacijom hrvatskim muzejskim ustanovama prihvatio je nasu sugestiju da se
njegovom pomoci otkupi skupina u nas gotovo nepoznatih Mestrovicevih "americkih"
medalja."

I na kraju svojeg izlaganja prilikom izdavanja prigodnog kataloga, gosp.
Milkovich je izjavio:"Sretan sam i pocascen sto sam omogucio da ovom donacijom
Arheoloski muzej u Zagrebu, Fundacija Ivana Mestrovica (Zagreb i Split) i
Gradski muzej naseg herojskog grada Vukovara postanu vlasnici ove vazne skupine
medalja".

Ja sam osobno pocascen biti prijatelj naseg cijenjenog Michaela Milkovicha, koji
prilikom svakog naseg susreta nema dovoljno rijeci i ljubavi prema svojem rodnom
kraju, kojeg je morao napustiti jos u ranoj mladosti. Kao takav nasao je ovdje
mnogo prijatelja i u "Croatian-American Club of Florida", ciji je jedan od
osnivaca kluba.

"Ambasadore" takovog kapaciteta kao sto je Michael Milkovich, zaista treba nasa
Hrvatska, da bi se pokazale svijetu ljepote i vrijednosti nase tisucljetne
kulture.

Dr Frank Z. Beluhan