After nearly a year of diligent and creative preparation, the FEMIGLA project’s exhibition Painted in all colours – female figures on miniatures in the medieval Croatian Glagolitic manuscripts (Croatian: Premazane svim mastima: ženski likovi na srednjovjekovnim sitnoslikama u glagoljskim rukopisima) was launched in the Library of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb on December 1, 2025.

The authors of the exhibition are students of art history at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb: Tonka Belamarić, Nikolina Colnago, Nikola Cantoci, Sara Kaštela, Buga Kranželić, Ana Leko, Barbara Matulić, Dario Narančić, Karla Somek i Ivan Adam Šestan.

They were mentored by full professor Sanja Cvetnić, Ph.D., a collaborator on the FEMIGLA project, who initiated the idea and concept for the exhibition.

The organisers of the exhibition are Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (University of Zagreb) and Old Church Slavonic Institute. The exhibition lasts until December 12.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue edited by Professor Cvetnić. In it, the authors provide more detailed descriptions of the analysed miniatures within biblical, hagiographic, and iconographic contexts. The playful title of the exhibition, which uses the archaic Croatian word mast (‘colour’), indicates the special attention paid to colours.

At the opening of the exhibition, the guests were addressed by Professor Cvetnić, Assoc. Prof. Dolores Grmača, Ph.D, (also a collaborator on the FEMIGLA project) on behalf of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sandra Požar, Ph.D., on behalf of the Old Church Slavonic Institute, and Ana Šimić, Ph.D., the FEMIGLA project lead.

Much to the guests’ delight, each of the ten authors of the exhibition delivered a fitting address at the opening.

The major anniversaries of the Kingdom of Croatia and the Croatian Glagolitic culture this year (925–2025) primarily call to mind the men who deserve recognition.

The exhibition Painted in all colours – female figures on miniatures in the medieval Croatian Glagolitic manuscripts, as the icing on the cake for the 2025 anniversary year, highlights the significant contributions of women throughout history.

These contributions are not always loud or obvious, but they exist and compel us to discover and acknowledge them.

Photographs by Franka Puharić and Lana Udovičić