Tomislav Šola

Tomislav Sladojević Šola (born 1948) is a Croatian museologist.

Early life and education

Tomislav Sladojević Šola was born in Zagreb, at that point part of Yugoslavia, in 1948. He graduated with a diploma in art history and English in the University of Zagreb from 1969 to 1974, then pursued a postgraduate study of journalism in the Faculty of Political Sciences, Zagreb, from 1975 to 1976 and a two-semester-course of contemporary museology at Sorbonne University in Paris from 1978 to 1979 and attained a PhD in museology from the University of Ljubljana in 1985.

Career Following a seven-year period of curatorships in Zagreb from 1975 to 1981 and another seven years as director of The Museum Documentation Centre from 1981 to 1987, Šola joined the University of Zagreb and was appointed assistant professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences from 1987 to 2013, having retired with academic tenure.

He draws from his practical experience as a curator, director, editor, lecturer and consultant in his research.

Šola’s main research interests are in heritage and especially in examining its theoretical underpinnings, for which he coined the terms “Heritology“ (1982) and “Mnemosophy” (1987). Both describe the convergence of museum and heritage related occupations into one mega-profession based upon common science. The latter term as certain cybernetic philosophy of heritage, addresses public memory issues and institutions in a more accurate way. His broad lecturing and publishing activity covered many other themes. Most of his books and writings are freely accessible online.

Šola is the founder of The Best in Heritage, the world’s only annual survey of award-winning museum, heritage, and conservation projects in Dubrovnik.