Teacher by profession, Milleker first worked in Bela Crkva. When School
Council of Vrsac called him in 1883, Milleker comes back to his hometown
to work as a teacher, and two years later, he was offered to be the
manager of the Vrsac library. As municipal government wanted Museum
to be a part of the City library, Milleker becomes a first curator
of the Museum in 1894.
The founding of the Museum was initiated by the discovery of a big
deposit of the Roman coins (1,400 pieces) from the period of Emperor
Constantine from the 4th century. The very same year, 1882. the municipal
government concluded that it is necessary to set up a museum. In the
year 1894. the town gave two rooms to the Museum in “Concordia” building,
the Statute was made and the first curator appointed–Felix Milleker.
He remained on that duty until his death in 1942.
As the space in Concordia became too small for the collections enlarged
rapidly, the Town committee decided in 1900. to move both the City
Museum and in the building of a nursery school, where the Museum is
still today.
Milleker got some more education and met experts of that time in Timisoara.
He becomes acquainted with modern scientific approaches towards organizing
museums. His first excavations Milleker started in 1893. in the village
Vatin near Romanian border. Thankfully to the finds Milleker made at
that time, one culture group of the Bronze Age got its name–Vatin Culture.
Another very important Bronze Age Culture got its name after findings
Milleker made at the site Dubovac.
He discovered dozens of sites and published many articles about his
excavations and finds, which are still very important source of information
for the sites in the area of South-East Banat.
He was very diligent not only in writing articles but also in collecting
findings. Milleker left behind him 135.000 objects, majority of them
were archaeological finds from Prehistoric period.
Archaeological Department
It represents the most important and richest part of The City Museum
since its founding. The first collection of finds was given to the
Museum in 1894. According to the Museum inventory books, in 1920.
the Archaeological Department had 99,252 objects and in 1978. 155,559
object of which 148,922 in the Prehistoric collection of the Department.
The most important sites of the Stone Age Period discovered by Milleker
are At near Vrsac, Kremenjak and Potporanjska granica near the village
Potporanj, some 10 km south of Vrsac. Majority of the Milleker`s
finds belong to the Metal Age Period and these sites are very well
known in the archaeological world. To name some - Vatin, Dubovac
in the village Kudeljiste, Stari Ludos near Vrsac and Grad in the
village Dupljaja. The sites Grad–Dupljaja and Zidovar–Oresac are
categorised by the government of Srbija and Crna Gora as the sites
of the most important value.
Most of these finds represent everyday pottery–dishes for preparing
and keeping the food. A great number of cult objects show a high
level of cultural and spiritual development of the people living
in these areas throughout the Prehistory. Probably the most famous
finds are the “Dupljaja barrow” and the “Vrsac idol”.
