For forty years the Atelier 61 has devoted equal attention to the making of tapestries and the popularising of this visual medium through numerous exhibitions in Yugoslavia and abroad. These exhibitions have spread the name of the then modest workshop already in the 60s, and Yugoslav tapestry reached the heights of world standards of quality. The exhibition activity was accompanied by a large production of woven works, since it often happened that attractive invitations to two or three exhibitions arrived at the same time, and a chance for displaying this rare and unusual art was not to be missed.

In the 70s and 80s serious thought was given in the Atelier to an exhibition space of its own, in which the tapestries would be on permanent display to the public and at any moment available to connoisseurs and professionals in this craft.

The establishing of the Tapestry Collection of the Atelier 61 was in many ways an important moment in the history of this workshop. The exhibition activity, following a period of stagnation in the 80s, was revived again, this time with exhibits from the museum collection. In the desire to present the treasures preserved over the decades in an adequate way, adequate spaces were sought for exhibiting them, spaces that would meet the specific requirements of this medium, and so, among others the large format characteristic of early creations and new ambitious ones, tapestries in free space. There were not many such spaces, so it often happened that due to circumstances of inadequate conditions of exhibition, with poor lighting of most of the exhibits and their improvised hanging on scaffoldings, the exhibitions fell short of what was demanded by this kind of art.

It is certain that these conditions were an additional motivation to the employees of the Atelier 61 to seek solutions, once again, for a permanent problem. Conscious in all of this of the fact that space for the gallery should be sought at the Petrovaradin Fortress, partially because of the organic connection with the workshop and because of the adequacy of the old fortification edifices. This limited the choice to the known surroundings. The Bastion of Leopold I, the former military gym, below the Long Barracks, where the Atelier is housed, met the requirements: a space of 150 sq. m, 4.5 metres in height, was a hall best for exhibiting tapestries. Owing to the understanding of the Municipal Executive Council and the engagement of the Business Space Enterprise, who during 1998 carried out adaptations of this structure, the Atelier finally got a chance to proudly and permanently exhibit its works of high artistic quality. Novi Sad also gained another exhibition space whose purpose is an honour to the city.

The tapestry gallery was officially opened on January 31, 1999 by an exhibition entitled “Boško and His Contemporaries”. The tapestries, created at the Atelier 61 in the early decades of its existence, revived the spirit of old times, when Boško Petrovic and artists of his circle who viewed art with a new enthusiasm, sought for expression in a different kind of artistic expression. The Gallery and the exhibition was opened by Nada Adžic, whose great efforts went into the realising of this old idea, along with Ksenija Popovic, a member of the Novi Sad Executive Council, and Sava Stepanov, art critic who has defended the reputation of the Atelier 61 for a long number of years. The reason why on this occasion the gallery was christened with the name of Boško Petrovic almost needs no explanation, suffice it to remember his powerful temperament and the force of his visions on the making of tapestry as a new artistic discipline, which have continued to live on in the work of the Atelier 61.

From its very beginnings the Boško Petrovic Tapestry Gallery formulated a programme and conception for itself, and these have continued to be respected. The gallery has come to life by exhibitions opened so far, at which the public is shown exclusively tapestries. The creations from the rich Collection of Tapestries of the Atelier 61, the works of the unique colony of tapestry makers, the tapestries of award receiving authors, as well as one man exhibitions of individual artists and other thematic and problem collections, all linked to the medium of tapestry, have made the programme of this gallery, and likewise left space for other ideas and conceptions.

The words of Nada Adžic: “It is our desire that this gallery should be a kind of cultural centre of the Fortress… In agreement with the Academy of Music we have decided to organize concerts of chamber music in the beautiful, acoustic space in the future, along with our exhibitions, as well as literary evenings, discussions on art and other programmes of culture, in order to popularise tapestry, and to enrich the gallery with new activity” ,and this come true over the past four years.