SERBIA - National review, No 97

Prologue

GALLERY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS 

 

Introduction
Defense from Illusion

Vitrage
NUMBERS, EVENTS, INTERESTING THINGS

Album
BETWEEN UNFORGETTABILITY AND EPOCHAL DARKNESS
Our Country

Notebook
THE CAPITAL CITY WITHIN THE CITY, ACROSS THE SAVA, IN THE PLAIN, SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD
Good Old New Belgrade
The restaurant with that name has existed since 1924, a newspaper since 1930, an association since 1932. At that time, the architect Brašovan painted his oil on canvas vision ”New Belgrade”... The preparatory work for the construction of the first buildings began in 1947. Apart from professional builders, in in the following years and decades, almost two hundred thousand young Pavilions, skyscrapers, blocks, boulevards sprung up... For a long time it was a ”distant suburb”, ”a large dormitory”, ”the largest barracks in the world”. But it hasn’t been like that for a long time. Today, that refined area is the most modern part of the Serbian capital, where residential and commercial square meters reach incredible prices

By: Miloš Lazić

Pilgrimages
OZREN MONASTERY, IN SRPSKA, A MONUMENT OF FAITH AND PERSEVERANCE
A Mark of King Dragutin
According to a legend, it originates from the ”Northern Kingdom” of the Nemanjić dynasty, from the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, but since then it has been demolished and rebuilt several times. It has been defended against many enemies over the centuries, visible and invisible. Today, it houses parts of the relics of Margaret of Antioch, Saint Nicholas, King Dragutin and Prince Lazar, Saint Flavio of Carthage... And the relics safeguard it. The Ozren Monastery, as immovable as the mountain after which it bears its name, has great importance for Orthodox Christians west of the Drina

Text and Photo: Ivana Stojanović Šešlak

Distances
IN VIBRANT MEXICO, AN INTERPLAY OF RACES, CIVILIZATIONS AND WORLDS
In the Buried Mirror
The most populous country in Latin America, a mixture of Hispanic culture and that which precedes it, a combination of pre-American civilization (Mayans, Aztecs, Toltecs...) and modern achievements, can be viewed in many ways. Carlos Fuentes and Octavio Paz, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are helpful, but what you come up with by yourself is irreplaceable. The capital city of Mexico City, with twenty-three million inhabitants, is located in the Valley of the Damned. Not to be missed are exceptional museums, huge parks, street markets, Mexican pyramids, the cities of Teotihuacan or Guanajato, and boiled cactus stews

Text and Photo: Nada Zorić

Dossier
A SHORT HISTORY OF GALLIPOLI SERBS
The Feat of Enduring
We know them as exiles from Srem, the Surguns. When Turks conquered the Srem despotate and Belgrade in 1521, the Serbian population from Srem was forcedly evacuated, but not to Constantinople with the Belgradians. They populated nine places on the edges of Trace and the entrance of the Gallipoli peninsula, most of them in Bayramic. For half a millennium, they survived many tremors, turmoils and wars, plundering and exoduses, departures and returns. However, they never stopped being Serbs and speaking Serbian at home. After the Balkan wars, they finally had to retreat to their motherland, which no longer existed. Their last sparkles are burning away in our gloomy times. ”If only, my son, there were anyone to mourn us, even that would be enough.”

Text and Photo: Miloje Ž. Nikolić

Anniversary
AN UNUSUAL INTERVIEW OF MILOŠ CRNJANSKI (1893–1977), EXACTLY HALF A CENTURY AGO
If Only My Eyes Can Last
Each poet has certain acts in their opus, like in a theater, a drama. If they develop, true poets are always interesting, even in their old age. Our people love poetry, literature in general; besides us, it’s only the case in Russia. Don’t believe writers who cannot write. Each writer enters something real into books, but it doesn’t mean that they write it as it was. When you grow old, critics usually stop attacking you, they don’t set you up or make jokes. You either find meaning in your life or you don’t, regardless of whether you are fertilizing earth or literature. I have been working on a book about him for eight years and was interested in Michelangelo for fifty years. A true poet cannot die before they fulfil their self, their fate

By: Jovan Pejčić

Lyre
THIRTY YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF DESANKA MAKSIMOVIĆ (1898–1993)
Great Lady of Serbian Poetry
She was the good spirit of Serbia and its secret. She has been in the very top of Serbian literature since Pandurović’s anthology from 1921. Describing Desanka among the great writers of his time, Duško Radović concluded: ”Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs”. Selections from Serbian love or patriotic poetry cannot be imagined without her. It seems that there wouldn’t be Serbia without the book ”I Am Seeking a Pardon” or poem ”Bloody Fairytale”. Since Desanka was buried in the local churchyard, Brankovina became the inevitable landmark of Serbian poetic geography, similar to Lovćen or Stražilovo

By: Dragan Lakićević

Palette
NADEŽDA PETROVIĆ (1873–1915), PAINTER, GREAT NAME OF SERBIAN CULTURE, BORN EXACTLY A CENTURY AND A HALF AGO
Immeasurable Significance
One of the most important women of Serbia, the only whose picture is printed on a Serbian banknote. Educated and versatile, she was a pioneer and moved borders. She was able to paint in the manner of old masters, but her choice was expressionism. She was a woman of the world, European, but without any illusions about the attitude of Europe towards Serbia. She was in the center of avant-garde and a patriot, cosmopolite and nationalist, which is incomprehensible to today’s schematized minds. She refused to spend World War I in Rome and stayed with her people to the very end

By: Dejan Đorić

Arena
MILENA DELIĆ, HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION, ABOUT THE RESTORATION OF SERBIAN HANDBALL
Waiting for the Old Glory
Our school of handball was the foundation of contemporary handball in general. Both club and national team tops belonged to us. Then came the years of disintegration of the state and system, years of isolation and destruction. The recuperation has to be long and thorough, patient, but it has obviously begun. Renewing the work with young people, renewal of the profession and infrastructure, strengthening clubs and leagues, are giving encouraging results. We can again confront the strongest ones, and younger categories, after so much time, started bringing first medals

By: Dejan Bulajić

Examples
RUMA PLAYGROUNDS IN A NEW OUTFIT
A Gift for Children
The playgrounds and fields in the Berak and Kudoš settlements, in Planinska and Nazorova streets, have been completely renovated, and the Borkovac picnic area is being extensively developed. It is planned that in 2023, the municipality will develop a playground or park in every village, and it has started in Pavlovci. Caring for children and young people, for the real needs and quality of life of the population, in Ruma is systematic and continuous. And it can be seen, it can be felt at every step, as is confirmed by the numbers

Text and Photo: Ruma Municipality

Guide
VRNЈAČKA BANЈA ANNOUNCES NOVELTIES NEW IN THE NEW SEASON
To Remain on Top
Colorful, cheerful, with carnival spirit. Thus, at the Tourism Fair, Vrnjačka Banja conjured up the upcoming rich cultural and tourist summer, all its offer in spa, event, sports, congress, rural tourism. In addition to the construction of a hotel complex and a gondola with Novak Djokovic’s family, the novelties are also a Ferris wheel, an aqua park with the fastest slide, the Lehr tunnel from the Second World War, an additional offer in the highest tourism... And the old thing: see you there

Catalogue
”MERKUR” AT THE 44TH INTERNATIONAL TOURISM FAIR IN BELGRADE
Rest and Health
Specially designed ”Merkur” packages in 2023 combine comfortable accommodation, state-of-the-art diagnostics, therapies, mineral water treatments and a highly specialized team of doctors. Along with multimedia elements, numerous guests and friends, all this was presented at the ”Merkur’s” stand in a modern and attractive way