SERBIA - National review, No 40

GALLERY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS 

Prologue
40

Vitrage
NUMBERS, EVENTS, INTERESTING THINGS

Album
LAND WITHOUT ECHO
Photo: Milan Belobabić

Celebrations
IN KIKINDA, WITH PUMPKINS AND CINDERELLAS, AND GAJDE ON TOP
About Pumpkins and Sages
The event is called ”The Pumpkin Days”, and we are talking centuries. The Banatians know that they have survived many difficult times thanks to pumpkin, just like they know how to make dozens of different dishes from it. They know how far you can see when you stand on the right squash, just like they know who you should not plant them with because it will backfire. And so, the entire philosophy of life and a type of humor have been woven around pumpkins, like a web, as well as entertainment and care, business deals and marriages are arranged, as well as sweet little conspiracies which make it easier to wait for the spring in the plains

By: Dragan Batinić
Photographs: Tamara Ristić

Notebook
THREE INTERESTING CITY RIVERS IN SERBIA
There Is No Town without Living Water
Gradska, Gradac, Gradašnica. In Vranje, Valjevo, Niš. Three cities, three city rivers. Why city rivers? All three flow from the city periphery, through the cities and in the cities flow into larger rivers. All three have the same root of their names, all three are favorite resorts and all three are one of the symbols of their cities

Text and photo: Dragan Bosnić

Pilgrimages
RESTORED ENDOWMENT OF KING DRAGUTIN UNDER CER
Rejoicing in Radovašnica
Looted and bombed by Germans in 1941, the Church of St. Archangels has been rebuilt, thanks to Milica Abt, now Mother Eugenia, who thus fulfilled the pledge given to her husband, a Swiss Christian Orthodox, Adolph Abt, on his death bed. The temple is a faithful replica of the royal endowment from the 14th century and is already a new place for important gatherings

Text and photographs: Milan Janković

Invitation
ON GOČ, NEAR VRNJAČKA BANJA, NEW PERSPECTIVES OF TOURISM
A Mountain of Medicinal Beauty
Exactly. It is not a mountain that you will definitely have to conquer, because meanwhile it will definitely conquer you. There you will find everything one can wish from a beautiful South European mountain: fairy-tale landscapes, nourishing herbs and water, forest fruit and a pretty lake, equipped ski slopes and a village for extreme sports, hunting grounds and fish ponds, ethno houses and small boarding houses... The municipality of Vrnjačka Banja is also planning to build an attractive cable car from the center of the town to ski slopes

Guide
ZRENJANIN, ON THE BEGEJ, KNOWS HOW TO CONNECT ITS BANKS
The City on Ten Bridges
Little, Yellow, Berber, harbor, Princip’s, Mužljanski, Magistral... Formerly Big Iron, Bečkerek, Eiffel’s... Some bridges of Zrenjanin have been described in songs, some are unavoidable, some want you to be seen and others want you to hide, one has even remained on dry soil. (When the Pannonian sailors could lose the sea, why couldn’t a bridge lose the river?) At any case, so many things have been woven around the bridges, over them and even underneath them. It is a part of Zrenjanin’s charm

Krajina
OUR REPORTER IN NORTH DALMATIA, HIS HOMELAND, AFTER TWO AND A HALF ETERNITIES
Landscape Painted with Memory and Sorrow
About twenty years of exile, scars of war and the anger, about monks who are healing memories, about a record according to Milutin, about Krka Monastery and the old art colony, the oldest seminary and future bishops, about old and new friends, about pride and melancholy, and everything else I experienced in the corner of the world where my roots are still holding on

Text and photographs: Željko Sinobad

Visit
SALZBURG, ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES IN EUROPE
In the Hometown of Great Mozart
Famous candy is the main souvenir of the city that built its power on salt trade. The name of the city itself means ”Salt Castle”. It was first built by Romans, later a series of archbishops, starting from Gebhard von Helfenstein in the 11th century. Salt was the power which brought Baroque and the structure of an Italian city with plenty of open city squares. Neatness is the first principle, water in the river is cleaner than in water supply systems of other places. The beauties of Salzburg were also immortalized in film ”The Sound of the Music”

Text and photographs: Josip Šarić

Lighthouses
ZAHARIJA ORFELIN (1726-1785), WRITER AND GRAPHIC ARTIST, IMPORTANT NAME OF XVIII CENTURY SERBIAN CULTURE
Destiny of the First in a Row
His ”Life of Peter the Great” is considered one of the best equipped Serbian books until the very day. He was rewarded by Mary Therese for his calligraphy textbook ”Slavic and Vlach Calligraphy”. ”The Eternal Calendar” was the first Serbian book of new age astronomy. ”Slavic-Serbian Magazine” is the first magazine in the entire Slavic south. We may also add the ”Big Serbian Book of Herbs”, ”Experienced Cellar Owner”, ”Cry of Serbia”, and many more… Yet he ended his life in an estate in Bačka, poor, ill and abandoned, at the age of 59

By: Milijana Barjaktarević

Treasuries
SERBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN 150 STORIES: GOLDEN RINGS STEFAN PRVOVENČANI, PRINCE RADOSLAV AND QUEEN THEODORA
Three Valuables of the Nemanjić Serbia
A little has been preserved of the royal jewelry of the Nemanjić Dynasty and many questions have remained. It makes these three exceptional artifacts all the more valuable. The first one was discovered suddenly in 1935, in the second trial, in reliquary of the Crowned King in Studenica. The second was discovered by Medaković, a member of Academy of Sciences and Arts, in 1960’s in an antique shop in Munich. The third had an unusual journey from the foundations of Banjska to the showcase of the National Museum

By: Vojislav Filipović
Illustrations: The National Museum in Belgrade

Reminder
GAVRILO PRINCIP, ASSASSINATOR FROM SARAJEVO 1914, THROUGH THE EYES OF THOSE WHO KNEW HIM CLOSELY
Gentle Young Man and Cry of Freedom
He became famous unexpectedly, yet remained almost unknown for many. Not many people today know that he was a caring son, excellent student and fine poet. That he was named after Archangel Gabriel, on whose day he was born. That he read a lot and was a newspaper reporter. He worked on paving the Karađorđeva Street in Belgrade to earn money for books. He passionately longed to become Serbian volunteer in the First Balkan War, reached all the way to Prokuplje, but was sent back due to his fragile health. His only preserved poem is the one carved with a spoon on a prison dish

By: Petar Stojanović

Virtue and Craft
JUBILEE OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ACADEMY OF ARTS AND CONSERVATION
Caring about Holy Paintings
For the past twenty years, more than two hundred students from Orthodox Christian countries, as well as those of other religions, attended this unique institution of high education. Today they are experts working all over the world, extending the lifetime of sacral art masterpieces. The Academy is famous for its excellent professors. Besides theological disciplines, students learn painting elements, physics, chemistry, structure of material and many other things necessary for proper work

By: Vlada Arsić
Photo: Dragan Bosnić

Centers
TWENTY-SECOND INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ETHNOLOGICAL FILM IN BELGRADE
Man, Skill, Heritage
The mission continues. With camera as an intermediary, our concerned eye is searching for identity and means to defend it in this era in which defacement has reached horrifying proportions. We know about wounds, we are searching for ointment. We know about abysses, we are becoming a bridge. Creators, researchers and image maestros from about twenty countries gathered and by doing so they already significantly shifted the borders, both visible and invisible. Because the world in which such people exist is not without hope

More than a Game
ZAKHAR PRILEPIN, ONE OF THE MOST READ RUSSIAN WRITERS, EXCLUSIVELY FOR ”NATIONAL REVIEW”
Behold, God Exists
Serbia is a wonderful country, with open and beautiful people. Lots of sky, very good poetry, very tasty food, saints in temples with swords and clairvoyant eyes of righteous men and warriors. Today’s world is spinning around, chasing its tail. Soon the ideas which marked the end of the XX century will go to hell and we’ll not be sorry one single bit about it. We flatter ourselves thinking that we are smarter than people who lived in the XV century or before Christ. The entire freedom is inside, there is much vanity and chaos outside. Angels are not outside, they nest within us, only they cannot live on dumps

By: Vesna Kapor
Translation from Russian: Radmila Mečanin
Photo: NR Press and Guest’s Archive

In the Scene
WALKING THROUGH BELGRADE WITH BORIS MALAGURSKI, FILM DIRECTOR
The City under My Skin
The details around us are escaping us. Thrown into the furious centrifuge, we forgot to stop at beautiful stories, just looking for mistakes. However, a bit of joy still shines from time to time through small cracks of piled up dissatisfaction. People with nice ideas appear, strong enough to persist. One of them is this young man from Subotica and Canada, in love with the Serbian capital ever since his early childhood. He and Belgrade chose each other

Text and photo: Dragana Barjaktarević

Time Machine
FIFTY YEARS OF BELGRADE ”MARAKANA”, THE BIGGEST SPORTS STADIUM
Powerful Energy Flowing Through You
For half a century, more than 25 million people supported ”Zvezda” in this stadium, at more than 1.100 official matches. 19 state titles were won there and as many national cups, European Champions Cup and International Cup. The most visited game was on April 23, 1975, at the match with ”Ferenzvaros”, with, unofficially, over 110.000 spectators. The stadium was equipped with reflectors in 1973 and the roof above the west stand was made in 1977. Now it’s waiting for better times to revive its old glory

By: Dejan Bulajić
Photo: Archives of ”Zvezda” and ”National Review”

Jubilee
SREMSKA MITROVICA CELEBRATED 1700TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EDICT OF MILAN
Wreaths of Glory of Ancient Sirmium
For year and a half Constantine ruled the Empire from the palace in this Roman metropolis. Today, important monuments to the grandness of the empire and the turning point in human history are located here. Thousands of people and numerous renowned guests attended the central celebration in Sremska Mitrovica, and the divine liturgy and large procession were led by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej

Pro Memoria
TWO CENTURIES OF THE DEATH OF THE UNFORGETTABLE HERO
Krajina Filled with Veljko’s Steps
This duke of the rebels loved life and freedom. His heart was big and pure like Serbia. His heroics are now almost legendary, full of insane courage and old time sense of justice. Mokranjac dedicated his ”Sixth Rukovet” to him, Jovan Ilkić and Nebojša Mitrić built monuments, Đorđe Jovanović sculpted a medallion, Vuk Karadžić and Milovan Vitezović left striking pages about him, Živorad Atanacković introduced him into a comic book. And the Tourist Organization of Negotin Municipality leads the guests down the roads crossed by Hajduk-Veljko Petrović (1780–1813)

Encounters
THE FIRST FESTIVAL ”THE DAYS OF DANILO LAZOVIĆ” IN PRIBOJ
Culture Still Exists
It was more than remembrance and homage. An example of how a city and a local community should honor their great fellow citizen and build upon his work. And of how young people should be put on the stage and prepare them for responsibilities awaiting for them. And of how it is possible to fight for culture, simply and strikingly, despite everything. Organizers of this two-day long festival were the Cultural Centre ”Pivo Karamatijević”, the Home Museum and Municipality of Priboj, with great support from the Lazović family

By: Dušan Janković and NR Pres

Health
NEW IDENTITY OF ”MERKUR”, TAILORED TO THE NEEDS OF CONTEMPORARY GUESTS, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
New Face for New Age
Under the slogan ”Be Health”, the key brand of Vrnjačka Banja has launched a new marketing campaign, accompanied by new visual identity, endorsed by famous Serbian actor Dragan Nikolić. The campaign started in mid-October, was successfully presented at the Tourism Fair in Novi Sad, and is already yielding evident results

Studies
NEW GENERATION OF STUDENTS AT BELGRADE BUSINESS SCHOOL – COLLEGE OF VOCATIONAL STUDIES
Another Great Start
This accredited institute of higher education has five undergraduate and here specialist study programs. Its main features are quality and integrity. The journey is not easy, but here one does not only acquire an important document, called diploma, but also the value which becomes an inseparable part of the personality of these young people: knowledge. It is only when they are armed with these values that they can become the real support to themselves and to the community to which they belong

Knowledge
MILOŠ STOJMENOVIĆ, PhD, COORDINATOR OF THE CENTER IN NOVI SAD OF ”SINGIDUNUM” UNIVERSITY
A New Safe Step
The center has become operational this fall. As a start, study programs Business Economy and Hotel Management have been accredited. Students’ response is excellent, quotas for the first year have been exceeded. Educational programs and quality of studying are on the level of renowned universities in the West. In addition from Serbia, there are students from Italy, as well as from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other South Slavic countries

By: Rozana Sazdić
Photographs: Archives of ”Singidunum”, Rozana Sazdić

Links
”TELEKOM SRBIJA” ONE OF THE GREATEST BENEFACTORS IN THE REGION
Good Is Rewarded with Good
Since its establishment in 1997, this respectable company has been conscientiously contributing to development of the societies in which it operates. It also regularly supports all religious communities. Among the supported projects are digitalization of the Hilandar Treasury, completion of the St. Sava Temple in Belgrade and the Temple of Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica, assistance to Serbian sanctuaries and the people in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of the Edict of Milan

Energy
SAVINGS MEASURES IN THE ”KOLUBARA” BASIN ARE GIVING THE FIRST RESULTS
More Efficient Operation of the Mining Giant
Nine-month long production increased by 6.2 percent, with cost reduction by about 4.3 billion dinars. The positive semi-annual financial balance. In the past year, numerous irregularities in operation were corrected and several large projects were commenced. The opening of new mines in ”Kolubara” is the backbone of Serbian energy development strategy

By: Ana Pavlović