Srpska No 1 english

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Year I  No 1, 2013.  price 7 KM www.nacionalnarevija.com

Treasuries and Memories

DEEPEST HEARTBEATS OF THE BALKANS

ПРИНЦИП ПРЕС СЕРБИя ◆

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ГЕОПОЭТИЧЕ

СКИЙ АЛЬБОМ

СКИЙ АЛЬБОМ

Serbia

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Руссk иЙ

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english ◆

ГЕ­О­ПО­Е­ТИЧ­КИ АЛ­БУМ

SeRbia ◆ geo-poetical album

ГЕОПОЭТИЧЕ

Ср­би­ја

Сербия

м, ом, свидетельство назвать альбом андирует, не е в руках, можно ю вы держит ь. Она не пропаг прессКнигу, котору стремится убедит дение. Она не нтов. Она не ввести в заблуж турсобранием докуме , не старается вояжер. Она не ленное мнение продукцию комми навязывает опреде на старинное ирующий свою ипы. Она похожа адвокат, не реклам не стереот ки, арь, секрет описывающий раздвигаете занавес ыми фразами сь на поезд и ывайте журналист, рутинн когда вы садите видов. Разгляд ◆ geo-po сное путешествие, вающих за окном etical album долгое прекра глазами тех, нием проплы глазами, но и иться мелька только своими ится собираясь наслад , смотрите не The book before you could Что-то вам запомн любознательно путешествии. be called an album, testimony, может этом а , об их спокойно и ывать инаний anthology of documents. does not want to persuade. будете рассказ it кую нить воспом it does not propagate, does , который pR, кому вы потом not impose, does not spin. воссоздать тонень lawyer, blabby advertising портрет Сербии нужно будет it is not a agent. Neither is it a tourist й мозаичный сразу, для чего-то reporter, steeped into phrases в один большо the type of self-termina вас сольется and tion для called не routine. Just like on a long все люди быть, мелочные and beautiful old-fashione journey, when you sit in навсегда. туры: «Лишь d a train and open curtains останется в памяти on the window, numerous ка мировой литера глаз.» unraveling in front of you. е слова класси images will be а не скрыт от Watch them calmly and Только не забудьт мир очевиден, with curiosity, as an explorer, eyes and eyes of those to . Настоящий with взгляду your у whom you will be telling about верят первом the journey. Some of these you will remember right images away, the others you will occasionally retrieve and fine connection, and maybe restore your all of them will merge into one, into a large mosaic Serbia that you will carry portrait of forever. and do not forget the warning of one of the most ill-fortuned princes in world literature: “it is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances . The true mystery of the is the visible, not the invisible. world ”

Из­ван­ред­на мо­но­гра­фи­ја о Ср­би­ји, у одво­је­ним из­да­њи­ма на пет је­зи­ка! Срп­ски, ру­ски, ен­гле­ски, шпан­ски, фран­цу­ски!

Serbia

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ALBUM GÉOPOÉTIQUE

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ÁLBUM GEOPOÉTICO

Este libro que tiene delante podríamos denominar un álbum, un testimonio colección de documentos. o una No quiere persuadir. No propaga, no impone, no es un portavoz, un abogado, da vueltas. No un agente publicitario parlanchín.

Tampoco es un periodista turístico, abismado en palabrería y en aquella forma de auto-apagam Como en algún antiguo iento llamado la rutina. viaje largo y lindo cuando se sienta en el tren y abre de la ventana, pasarán aquí las cortinas numerosas imágenes delante de sus ojos. Mírelos con curiosidad, de forma descubridora calma y , con sus propios y con los ojos de otros a los que contará sobre ese viaje. Algunas de estas imágenes recordará instantáneamente, a otras vez en cuando renovando volverá de sus vínculos finos, y tal vez todas ellas converjan en un retrato mosaico grande en una imagen, de Serbia que llevará consigo para siempre.

Y no se olvide de la advertencia de uno de los príncipes más desafortunados de literatura mundial: „Sólo la gente superficial no juzga por la apariencia. El misterio del mundo es lo visible, verdadero no lo invisible.”

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Il de documents. témoignage, recueil porteappelé album, e pas. Il n’est ni e pas, il n’exagèr par e pas, il n’impos touristique, infecté ni journaliste té bavard. Il n’est beau, long voyage Comme dans un nte nommé routine. sur la fenêtre, de et écartez les rideaux ment, curieuse ez dans un train et z-les tranquillement ez nt vous. Regarde à qui vous raconter les yeux de ceux opres yeux et aux autres vous ez tout de suite, e, elles images vous retiendr subtile, et peut-êtr votre relation pour renouvellerez vous emporterez e de la Serbie que ortrait mosaïqu la littérature de princes malheureux nt d’un des plus ces. Le vrai mystère juger sur les apparen égers pour ne pas nvisible.”

SERBIA ◆ ÁLBUM GEOPOÉTICO

SERBIE

O-POÉTIQUE

Serbia

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GEO-POETICAL ALBUM Exceptional monograph on Serbia, in separate editions in five languages! Serbian, Russian, English, Spanish, French!

Ср­БИ­јА­◆­ГЕ­О­ПО­Е­ТИЧ­КИ­АЛ­БУМ

The most beautiful Serbia, on the palm of your hand!

Anthology of photo-documents on beauty!

Give it proudly, as a gift to yourself and others, here or anywhere else in the world!

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СрпСки ◆

PRINCIP PRESS

Cetinjska 6, Belgrade; Phone: +381 (11) 322 70 34 www.nacionalnarevija.com, www.turistinfosrbija.com

P R O L O G U E

SRPSKA

NATIONAL REVIEW

BEFORE A MIRROR, WITH AWARENESS OF ONE’S VALUES

Identity.

Publisher “Princip Pres” Cetinjska 6, 11000 Belgrade Tel.: +381 (11) 322 70 34, 322 16 92 www.nacionalnarevija.com princip.press@gmail.com Director and Editor-in-Chief Mišo Vujović

“T

Editor Branislav Matić Technical Editor Aleksandar Ćosić Photography Editor Dragan Bosnić Header and Cover Design Jovan Željko Rajačić Associates Milovan Vitezović, jerej Jovan Plamenac, Nebojša Jevrić, Dragan Lakićević, Bojan Mandić, Jovo Bajić, Dejan Bulajić, Dejan Đorić, Đorđe Srbulović, Mihail Kulačić, Zoran Pejašinović, Slobodan Krstić, Sandra Kljajić, Boris Čikić, Senka Trivić, Sandra Josović, Vanja Tepić, Ljubiša Trivić, Dajana Korolija, Radmila Đević, Vesna Kapor, Aleksandra Rajković Marketing Mirko Vujović, Irena Stolić Secretariat and Distribution Jelena Jović, Dragana Dimitrijević, Milenko Vasilić Print “Portal”, Belgrade Office for the Republic of Srpska “Princip Pres RS” Aleja Svetog Save 7, 78000 Banjaluka Tel/Fax: +387 (51) 304 360 srpska@nacionalnarevija.com Dijana Petković, Director Office for Australia “Princip Press Australia PTY LTD”, 12/24 Loch Street, 3182 St Kilda West, VIC Jelena Janković, Director

here are two way to make a person homeless. The first is to evict him from his house or to destroy it. The second, to make him feel like his house is just like anybody else’s.”

This is how Noam Chomsky writes. And in Srpska, now when they have again settled well, one should always keep in mind the second thing. We should learn and take a lot from accomplished and reasonable people, with adjustments to one’s measure. Standards of work and quality, organization, efficiency, proven legal solutions, safety and predictability. But, in this, one must not forget, even for a moment: in the world, we will be taken seriously and the foreigners will find us interesting in as much as we remain true to ourselves. As much as there are us in our homes and our lives.

Internationally, of course, one should have in the “offer” something that goes without saying, but the nation al and the local must not be neglected at any cost. Croissants in Foča, macchiato in Prijedor or cheeseburger on the Romanija may fascinate only the philistines and simpletons. This will never be a reason why one would remember these places or recommend them to their friends. But “pita savijača” pie, veal baked in traditional oven, cream from wineskin, wine from Popova polje, plum preserve or homemade currant juice will be attractive to every true guest from far away.

Provincial psychology and cultural imitation are boring, at least as much as the politics in protectorates. They summon greedy people and bullies from around the world, who typically come disguised as civilizers, with bags full of plastic jewelry. The words of Julius Nyerere are still echoing today, like a warning: “Of all crimes of colonizers, nothing is worse than their attempt to convince us that we do not have our own culture or, which is even worse, that it is something we should be ashamed of.” 

Sponsor of the Publication:

Cover page: Jovana Raljić (Photo: Boris Čikić) CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији Народна библиотека Србије, Београд 008(497.6 Република Српска) ISSN 2334-8518, COBISS.SR-ID 199403020

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PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

Partners of the Publication:

RTS - PUBLIC SERVICE OF SERBIA

SRPSK A  БРОЈ 1  2013

RTV VOJVODINA PUBLIC SERVICE

RTV SRPSKA

CONTENTS Panorama 04 PRO­LOGUE 06 CHRONICLE

Road Sign 10 AL­BUM: LITTLE EVERYDAY MIRACLES 16 ADVENTURES: RAF­TING ON THE DRINA 22 STRONGHOLDS: ZE­LEN­KO­VAC 30 SYMBOLS: AR­SLA­NA­GI­ĆA BRIDGE 36 PEAKS: SRP­SKA ON THE ROOF OF AFRICA 44 DISCOVERIES: POMPEII ON THE DRINA

People 88 SKY: PARACHUTISTS FROM BANJALUKA 94 THE WINNER: DRA­GAN BA­JIĆ 100 VIRTUE AND SKILL: ASSOCIATION “DU­GA”

Culture 50 LIGHTHOUSES: MI­LAN BU­DI­MIR 58 REMINDER: SA­VA MR­KALJ 64 TREASURIES: MUSEUM OF SRP­SKA 70 MEMORY: “THE GOLGOTHA OF JASENOVAC“ 74 CHALLENGES: THE BIENNALE IN VENICE 80 MORE THAN A GAME: VLA­DI­MIR PI­ŠTA­LO

Introducing 102 LETTER: TO THINK IN CYRILLIC 104 LINKS: M:TEL 108 HEALTH: “MER­KUR” 112 STUDIES: BELGRADE BUSINESS SCHOOL 115 KNOWLEDGE: COLLEGE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT 116 TRUMPETS: “GU­ČA”, 2013 SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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NE WS S T RE AM >> “It is good that after the 18th and 19th century, when science and religion were positioned one opposite the other, the situation is now changing and they are becoming one, two sides of the same coin, in the service of good and useful”, said His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej on June 10 in Belgrade, at the big international scientific gathering “Religion in the society, culture and European integrations”, which was organized by the University in Belgrade, in cooperation with “Konrad Adenauer” Foundation. >> On the occasion of 70th anniversary of the death of Serbian scientist and visionary Nikola Tesla, a series of gatherings and events took place in the USA, and Wall Street Journal marked this with the theme edition “The Greatest Scientist Who Ever Lived”, saying that “his face alone could have illuminated a room”. >> Exhibition “My Jadovno” took place recently in several cities of Serbia and Srpska, as a reminder of atrocities committed in that Croatian concentration camp during World War Two, when “in only 132 days at least 40,123 innocent people, old persons, women and children of Serbian and Jewish origin were killed monstrously”. >> Four capital editions of the Academy of Science and Arts of Republika Srpska – anthology of works Republika Srpska, 20 Years of Development, monograph called Treatises on the ConstitutionalLegal Position of RS, anthology Ivo Andrić between the East and the West and Works of Nikola Koljević – were presented on June 6 in the National Library “Filip Višnjić” in Bijeljina. >> In the official program of this year’s International Film Festival “Kratkofil Plus”, from July 24 to 28 in Banjaluka,

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Highway On the highway Banjaluka–Doboj, on May 23, works officially began on the section from Prnjavor to Doboj, with total length of 36 kilometers. The value of this project, financed through the loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is about 180 million Euros. There are 64 structures planned to be built on this section, mostly overpasses, underpasses, two longer bridges and one tunnel 180 meters long, and the deadline for the completion of works is November 2015.

– The highway is not only a structural but also historical challenge, which significantly changes the character of a society – said Milorad Dodik, president of Srpska, at the opening ceremony in Johovac. – With it we show that Srpska is a part of integrated communications ion the highest level.

Creating a network of highways and strengthening of internal links within Srpska, which we promised in 2006, is neither easy nor simple task. But here, we are no giving up.

Politicians are valued by what they leave behind, and not by what their words.

Oil At the end of May, “Jadran-Naftagas”, joint company of Naftna industrija Srbije and Russian company NeftegazInKor, started in the town of Obudovac in the Sava valley works on the first explorative oil drill in Srpska, 2,800 meters deep. This will be followed by the drill at depth of 3,500 meters in the vicinity of Bijeljina. Last year, they conducted geophysical explorations in municipalities Novi Grad, Kozarska Dubica, Kostajnica, Prijedor, Oštra Luka, Banjaluka, Čelinac, Laktaši, Doboj, Prnjavor, Lopare, Ugljevik, Bijeljina and Zvornik. The concession agreement with Russian partners was signed for 28 years.

– The estimates and everything we have done until now gives us realistic hope for success – said Aleksandar Voronjin, Deputy General Manager for eternal liaison of “Zarubežnjeft”, the parent company of “NeftegazInKor”. – Investments in exploration of oil and gas in Srpska by the end of 2014 will amount to 40.7 million USD. If it is discovered that there are sufficient reserves 188 million USD will be invested in the exploitation itself.

Museum New permanent exhibition at the reconstructed Museum of Serbian Orthodox Church in Kneza Sime Markovića Street in Belgrade was recently officially opened in the presence of renowned guests.

– A part of the exhibited great spiritual treasure of Serbia was formerly kept in depots. This is an opportunity to present everything that is owned by Serbian Orthodox Church and how big the cultural and spiritual legacy of Serbia is, which has been collected since the 13th century – said on this occasion His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej.

Museum of SPC, founded in 1954, was reconstructed with help from the Ministry of Culture of Serbia. Among 250 exhibited artifacts, the oldest is The Apocryphal Gospel from Dečani from the 13th century. Worthy of attention are hand written books, charters, a cloak of King Milutin (13th century), gown of the Holy Knez Lazar, miter of Katarina Kantakuzina, Jefimija’s Ode to Knez Lazar, Charter of Emperor Dušan, reliquary of St. Stefan Dečanski from 1343, Charter of Vuk Branković, icon of Christ the Savior from the 15th century, hand censer from 1654...

Edict “Serbian people have inherited the legacy of the homeland of Emperor Constantine. This emperor proved that we have the right to defend ourselves, to fight continuously and all over again for our right to religion, freedom of life and beliefs, and that nobody can take away from us what has been ours for centuries”, said His Holiness the Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla Hrizostom on June 9, at the ceremony in Nevesinje, which started the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan in Srpska.

With holy liturgy, the ceremony went in the sign of a humanitarian event in the barracks “Nevesinjska puška”, in the presence of the highest state, cultural and religious guests.

The collected funds will go to, among others, Foundation “Saint Vukašin”, the Association of Children with Special Needs “My Hope” from Nevesinje and fro the construction of memorial church of Ascension of Christ in Prebilovci.

The anniversary of the Edict of Milan will be celebrated by all dioceses of Serbian Orthodox Church, and the central celebration will take place in early October in Niš, the birth town of Emperor Constantine.

more than 40 works from around the world will be presented and the Grand Prix will be awarded – the award for the best feature, experimental, documentary, animated and regional film, as well as special acknowledgments of the jury and audience award. >> D estiny as the Motive, exhibition of paintings and sculptures of Milivoje Unković, a member of the Academy of Science and Arts, Serbian professor and artist with worldwide reputation, was recently presented in Nevesinje, and it was opened in June 6 by an inspired speech of Dragan Davidović, General Manager of the Radio-Television of Republika Srpska. >> I nitiatives of Milan Konjović at the Crossroads of Serbian Arts of the 20th century – is the title of the exhibition from the legacy of famous Serbian painter (1898-1993) which will be opened from June 20 to July 20 in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, and it will present an overview of the entire opus of this artist, from cubism and socialistrealism, through abstract art and expressionism, to modernism. >> Th e Evening of Opera Music was the title of a concert which took place at Banski dvor, donated to the capital of Srpska on June 6 by students of opera singing at the Academy of Arts of the University in Banjaluka (Ana Simanić, Miljana Brezičanin, Albina Smajlović, Ivana Živanić, Dragana Radovanović, Sofija Antić, Strahinja Buzadžija, with piano accompaniment of Dunja Marković), performing arias from well known operas by Puccini, Bizet, Mozart, Glinka, Vivaldi... >> Selected works from the third Biennale of Small Format Aquarelle were exhibited from June 9 in Kozara

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NE WS S T RE AM Museum, within the Cultural Summer “Prijedor 2013”, and 250 authors participated at this year’s open call, from Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Macedonia, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Srpska. >> “We must not allow to have generations growing up without reading habits, and therefore it is necessary to adapt the literature for children to new generations and extremely fast technological changes in the 21st century”, says Serbian writer Uroš Petrović, whose Mystery Stories and The Mystery of Glinka Street have been officially the bestselling books for children in Banjaluka bookstores in 2013. >> A long the Ćopić’s Roads of Childhood is the title of cultural event organized jointly in Donji Dubovik by the Municipality of Krupa on the Una and “Branko Ćopić” Foundation, to the honor of the great writer, who “introduced Grmeč and Grmeč region for the first time into Serbian literature”. >> Art-Environmental Colony “BardačaSrbac”, thirtieth in a raw, will between June 22 and 30 gather renowned painters and graphic artists from Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Srpska, as well as scientists from the field of ecology and architecture, who will again raise awareness about the need for preservation and improvement of our environment. >> D ress Rehearsal of Suicide, a play by Dušan Kovačević performed by the “City Theatre” (starring: Admir Mešić, Draško Vidović, Jovanka Božović Milovanović, Velimir Blanić, director Luka Kecman), was performed on June 8 for the second time at the Cultural Centre in Gradiška, in the presence of the playwright himself.

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Theatrical Adventure At the sixteenth Theatre Fest “Petar Kočić”, in the first decade of June in Banjaluka, Elijah’s Chair of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre from Belgrade and MESS Theatre from Sarajevo was proclaimed the best overall performance.

The award for best directing went to Egon Savin for The Evil Woman by Jovan Sterija Popović, produced by Theatre “Toša Jovanović” from Zrenjanina “Kočić’s Book”; the award for best play, went to Tanja Šljivar from Banjaluka for her play Scratching, or How My Grandmother Killed Herself.

Three equal acting awards went to Edita Karađole for the role of the mother in the production of May You Be Born By a Mother, Ivan Đurić for his role of Doni in the production Hello. Life, as well as Vlastimir Đuza Stojiljković for the role of Jakob Šnajder in the production Elijah’s Chair.

Special award went to Nikola Zavišić for his direction of the play Sava Savanović – A Vampire Symphony of the National Theatre from Kikinda. This production also received recognition “A Step into Courage” from the jury of the Radio-Television of Republika Srpska.

Road, Višegrad Thirty fourth “Višegrad Road”, the cultural event dedicated to the only Serbian Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andrić, was marked by numerous interesting programs. Writer Miro Vuksanović and the Minister of Culture of Srpska, Goran Mutabdžija, gave their speeches. A book by Milovan Marčetić, last year’s recipient of the Andrić Award was presented. There was a concert of classical music performed by “Ensemble Stefanović” from Užice. A poetry evening and the performance took place on the Bridge, and the Gathering of Librarians of Srpska took place in the Youth Centre. In the City Gallery there was an exhibition of artists – participants in last years’ art colony.

The anthology On Andrić’s Road and the calendar of Serbian Cultural Society “Prosvjeta” for 2013 were presented. The Drama Studio of the Youth Centre Višegrad performed the production called Ordinary Love Story. (...)

“Višegrad Road” will, of course, continue next year, although we will be passing through this road meanwhile.

Open Call “The Beautiful Face of Srpska” As a promotion of the beautiful face of the Homeland and in order to inspire others to recognize such an image of their own country, editorial board of National Review is announcing the First open call for a series of the most beautiful photographs “The Beautiful Face of Srpska”. The series must have at least twenty original photographs, without limitations in terms of genre or topic (portraits, landscapes, situations, details, people, cities, phenomena...).

The photographs should be sent on a CD or by e-mail, in resolution of at least 300 dpi, to electronic or postal address of National Review specified in the impressum, by September 1, 2013. The photographs which are technically below the said standard will not be taken into consideration. Every photograph in its file name must contain the subject presented on it and where it was made. Together with the photographs, it is also necessary to submit the author’s CV, as a Word document.

National Review will award the best three series (I – Gold Plaque “The Beautiful Face of Srpska”, II – Silver „ Plaque “The Beautiful Face of Srpska”, III – Bron­ze Plaque “The Beautiful Face of Srpska”). Selection of photographs of six best ranked authors and their artistic biographies will be, in the order of ranking, published in National Review.

National Review and its publisher reserve the right to publish free of charge each of the photographs sent to the open call, with the obligation to duly acknowledge the author.

Awards “Branko Ćopić” Boar’s Heart, a novel of Drago Kekanović, published by Srpska književna zadruga, and Above the Clouds, collection of poems by Veroljub Vukašinović published by “Prosveta”, were crowned with this year’s award of the Branko Ćopić Endowment.

At the recently held award ceremony at the Salon of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts in Belgrade, Svetozar Koljević and Milosav Tešić, members of the Academy. spoke about the awarded books and Branko Ćopić.

In the explanation of the unanimous decision of the jury, it was said for Kekanović’s novel that it is “a dramatic image of dilemmas and misconceptions of some highly educated people during the exile of the Serbs from their birth territory in Croatia during the conflicts of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Vukašinović’s collection, “a striking auto-poetic thinking”, was also je unanimously given the highest scores.

Both awarded authors replied with speeches.

>> At the Festival of Russian Film in Han Pijesak, between June 5 and 7, films Driver for Vera by Pavel Čuhraj, Taras Buljba by Vladimir Bortki, Cuckoo

by Aleksandar Rogožkin and other movies were presented, which is a good introduction into the “Days of Russian Culture” planned for this fall. >> The best librarian in Srpska in 2013 is Željko Savanović from the Faculty Library in Banjaluka, the best library is the National Library from Mrkonjić Grad, the best library manager is Jovan Cvjetković, director of the National Library “Filip Višnjić” from Bijeljina – it was decided on June 9 in Višegrad, at the seventeenth Gathering of librarians of Republika Srpska. >> M arriage, Actually Love, theatrecabaret performance of Vladan and Kristina Savić, was performed on June 2 at the Centre for Education and Culture in Laktaši. >> Premiere of the production The Beloved of Student Theatre in Banjaluka, directed by Bahrudin Avdagić, took place recently at the main stage of the Youth Centre in the capital, in the presence of the author of this award winning play Kristofer Blindheim Grønskag. >> When asked under what conditions he would give concerts in Belgrade and Zagreb, the legend of YU rock and front man of the famous rock band “Azra” Džoni Štulić recently replied: “I do not play in occupied territories.” >> According to the information printed in Belgrade portal “Njuz.net”, officers of the Tribunal in The Hague asked in early June that someone quickly explains to them how Yugoslavia had fallen apart.

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ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, LIGHT AND FREEDOM

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Little Everyday Miracles

oris Čikić (Gradiška, 1977). A photographer and designer. Since the age of three he has been living in Banjaluka. This city marks a big part of his personality, which is reflected in the book of panorama greeting cards Banjaluka with Love. He grew up on the fourteenth floor, and this the reason for his panoramic view of the world and chronicler’s feeling for the changes in the sky, nature and the city.

For him, photography is not a job, but a form of love. Excitation of the man and the world. Serving to the Creator, bearing witness to the genius of Nature.

As a kind of noble hunter, he takes his bicycle, his mountaineering backpack and camera, and goes to the Nature, into the World. Freedom. The heart is pure, eyes wide open, like in a dream. He is both the hunter and the game. He is searching for the photograph, the photograph is searching for him. What he brings before us, immortalized, are actually the moments of fortunate encounters. Little miracles that happen to us everyday and are mostly unnoticed.

Photography, that mysterious inscription with light, always echoes inside him. Excites him, changes him and shapes him. He has a need to talk to us about it, to explain to us what is it that happened there. There is no distance, no (self) criticism. He has invested his heart, and he expects the viewers to do the same.

Wisdom of the heart. Trusting one’s eye comes later.

And so, in this way, he takes photographs of landscapes, people, cities. Mountains, waters, skies. Temples, streets, pastures. An ethno village and a rock concert. A beautiful girl and a willow.

He has traveled all over Europe, on a bicycle, planning everything carefully.

He is convinced that the most beautiful country of the old continent is the country in which he was born. And that it makes sense to live one’s life proving this.

To live the life and rethink the world.  (B. M.)

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A D V E N T U R E S

RAFTING ON THE DRINA AND TARA, AN IMPORTANT ASSET OF FOČA TOURISM

Pearls on a

Green String

By: Radmila Đević

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In the old times, rafters used to transport construction materials, goods and people on wooden rafts.

All the way to Belgrade. Today everything is different, only the attraction of green water and charm of Old Herzegovina have remained the same. Fifteen rafting clubs, rapids and beautiful landscapes, excitement and joy, mountain tourism and safari tours, bring a big number of people here every year

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A D V E N T U R E S  One of the rafting clubs in Bastasi Before departure for the rafting down the Drina

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t has been thirteen years now that the rafting center in Bastasi near Foča is attracting domestic and international tourists with its rich offer. Every year in May, this tourist pearl on the Drina opens up its colorful journal which will be signed by numerous fans of mountain and river tourism, adventure and unspoiled nature.

This is accompanied by authentic national cuisine, comfortable accommodation, good entertainment and recreation programs, as well as excellent atmosphere.

The region of Foča has been known for rafting since the old times. Predecessors of today’s rafters were triftari, who used to transport construction materials, goods and people on wooden rafts.

– They used to connect Foča with nearby towns, all the way to Belgrade. The construction material was transported down the Drina and Tara. In 1913, this type of rafting was thriving – says Dragica Ćurčić, curator of the Museum “Old Herzegovina” in Foča. – With time, they have grown into a tourist attraction. In 1937, the first tourist raft passed down the Drina. In the late 1970’s, rafting became a serious tourist activity.

After the war, in the ruins of Yugoslavia, in the late 1990’s, nature lovers began to revive descent down the river and to promote rafting. Wooden rafts have long been replaced by rubber boats, trained skippers, rich offer, modern equipment. Since 2000, camps are being built on the Drina one after the other, new clubs are established, the offer is expanded and new tourist programs are being introduced. Today Bastasi has seven rafting clubs, and in 2006 they also founded their Association.

– The Association includes twelve rafting clubs (out of fifteen). It has been a long journey from rafting pioneers to the brand we have created. All this is the result of an effort, desire and invested money. Today we have an entire networked system, we employ many local people, we gather agricultural products from our hosts, we promote the entire region

One Hundred Kilometers of Rafting – We offer rafting tours that last between one and seven days. We work on the entire Tara and Drina, and we offer a hundred kilometers of rafting. Additionally, we also offer visits to all attractive places in this area: Perućica rainforests, Zelengora lakes, the Durmitor ring, we go by vans to 1,907 meters above sea level – says Milomir Mihajlović from the Camp “Calista”.

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– says Miroslav Davidović, president of the Association of Foča Rafters. – This is an activity that will never stop, and guests expect from us to maintain the high quality.

In their offer, the rafters today bring together everything that can be found in this part of the Old Herzegovina.

– We primarily offer rafting on the Tara and Drina. Then there is mountain tourism on Zelengora, excursions and safari tours. For organization of all these adventures we have a camp, boarding house and a mountain cabin on Zelengora. We employ licensed guides and skippers, we have new equipment and boats. Guests are always here, there is no weekend that the camp is not filled – says Mirko Davidović, manager and skipper in the rafting camp “Tara Raft”, one of the most beautiful in Bastasi.

BEAUTIFUL TAME WILDERNESS Fast river and rapids, beautiful scenery and adrenalin, excitement and joy... All this marks the experience in Bastasi. Rafting clubs on the Drina are like pearls strung on a golden thread.

– The Drina is in al aspects very attractive – says Mirko Davidović. – For example, there are two big river rapids, the so-called Mazalački rapids, but also the emerald color of the water, natural sand beaches, numerous place for rest...

Those who are looking for more hardcore adventure go for the rafting on the Tara. The most attractive tour is from Brštanovica to Šćepan Polje. Rafting on the Tara feels like you are somewhere between heaven and earth.

– This river is fantastic for rafting, both tame and wild at the same time. It has about twenty rapids, between the third and fifth category. When water level is very high, some of them reach the sixth, highest category. The river is the warmest in August, and rafting may last three to four days, depending on the package tour. The most dangerous rapid on the Tara is Borovi, and most people avoid it, especially when water level is high – explain skippers.

Because of the Drina, and Tara, rapids, white water, mountains and woods and beautiful scenery, the rafting in Foča brings guests from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, but also more distant countries of Europe, America and Australia. Zoran Simanić from Belgrade is a guest of rafting on the Drina every year:

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A D V E N T U R E S – My son and I have been coming here  Joy and for about ten years. What nature has given excitement: Rafting here, near the borer between Serbia, Srpska on the Drina and Montenegro, and this what we have along the Drina, you can’t find anywhere in the world. I have traveled to many countries, from Austria and Germany, to Italy and France, Spain and Portugal, but I have neither seen nor experienced anything like this. I will keep coming here every year, because one must not miss this.

Tourists, exhibitionists, enthusiasts, hunters, fishermen, alpinists, wide hearted and good natured people, they all find something for themselves on the rafting.

– When you lose your energy and will in the city or in the plains, here, near the Drina and Tara you will find everything you need – says Miodrag Jovović from Vrbas, an alpinist who has recently conquered Mount Everest. – I have been coming here for thirty years, and it seems that not so much time has passed.

Unspoiled nature and perfect harmony permeate everything in Bastasi. It is a whole world in itself, filled with colors and unusual sounds.

– We had a concert in Foča and while talking to people I heard a lot about this area – says Petar Jelić, a guitarist of “JU Group”. – When I realized the beauty of nature here, the number of mountains and lakes, I was excited. I am now planning to come to rafting as well.

Stories about the rafting in Foča region have been spread around the world. Those who have experienced it, have passed on their impressions to friends, acquaintances, foreigners... and all the foreigners need is to hear.

– This is my first time on the rafting here, and I feel great – says Michael Solomon from Slovakia. – My friends told me

Along the Right Bank The only obstacle for the rafters of Foča is the absence of access road from Foča to the Tara River. For this reason, it has been for many years that they travel with guests from all over the world through the territory of Montenegro and cross two state borders.

They have a promise of the government of Srpska and the Municipality of Foča that this problem will be solved by building a forest road. Rafters, just like all people who lice in the region of Foča, are also encouraged by the fact that the famed Serbian film director Emir Kusturica has shown interest to build a road along the right bank of the Tara.

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about this, then I found some details on the internet. I have discovered an enchanting holiday place, and I will come again.

GOOD NEWS TRAVEL FAST What is important for tourists is that they do not have to be skilled rowers, but they must follow instructions and advices of the helmsman. They have available all necessary equipment, so the descent is safe.

– Every guest will get a special suit, diving bots and helmets. The Drina is not a problem for anybody, but the Tara can be wild, especially when the water is high. It camouflages itself perfectly, one day you remember where the rock is, the next day it is already gone. If someone incidentally falls off, which happens very rarely, there is always another boat behind us which provides assistance.

Everybody is following the instructions, and atmosphere on boats is always excellent – says skipper Marko Kalajdžić.

Package tours last from one to five or seven days. In the old times only a small number of people could afford this enjoyment, and now the prices are affordable. A day of rafting costs 30 Euros per person. It is the rafting on the most exciting part of the Tara, in a stretch of 20 kilometers, and five kilometers of rafting on the Drina. Several stops are made on all tours, to visit important sites, to swim, make photos. Each camp organizes great parties, with live music, until early morning hours. And the food is excellent.

– They prepare authentic dishes from the Foča region. Tender roasted lamb, veal, chicken, roasted meat, chowders, homemade pies, homemade bread and focaccia, kajmak, cheese, moussaka, yoghurt – ex-

plains the chef of the Rafting Camp “Calista” Milena Kovač, for the readers of National Review.

Each rafting club also has mountain cabins for rest. People can also go fishing. There is hardly a wish left that the hosts of Foča have not fulfilled for their guests. This has brought excellent ratings for years. Besides the National Park “Sutjeska”, rafting the most popular in tourism of Foča.

– Rafting brings significant income to the municipality and complements our tourist offer – says Ljeposava Đajić, Director of the Tourist Organization of the Municipality of Foča. – Everybody recognizes Foča for the Drina and Tara. Mountain tourism, which is closely related to rafting, has also been promoted. Not everything has been connected yet with the centre of the city, but we will work on this in the upcoming period.  SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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ECO ZONE “ZELENKOVAC” NEAR MRKONJIĆ GRAD

Forest Castle of

Arts

First the painter Boro Janković left the city and returned to his father’s mill. Then in 1988, poet Duško Trifunović, the old master, officially opened the forest gallery “Why Did Not Boro Leave”.

Through him, good word about this place quickly spread in circles of artists, cultural haiduks and nature lovers. Today, people come here from all over the world. Why?

By: Rada Popović

Photographs: Boris Čikić

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S T R O N G H O L D S  Entrance into the Gallery “Why Boro Did Not Leave” “Ivan’s Troughs”, a part of the complex in Zelenkovac

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he image of Eco Zone “Zelenkovac” could have appeared at any corner of Republika Srpska, but it didn’t, because its creator and builder Borislav Boro Janković was born right here, at the place in which he would weave his dreams, visions, architectural skills, artistic spirit and coexistence with the nature.

By fate or by accident, in that tuning year of 1988 it happened that, in the same day, Serbian poet Duško Trifunović opened Café-Gallery “Why Did Not Boro Leave?”, and Bora’s wife Vesna brought their first son Jan into this world.

Since his childhood, Bora’s connection with Zelenkovac has been unbreakable, and then strengthened with time which brought challenges, but much more pleasures and joy.

When, twenty eight years ago, this painter decided to replace galleries and museums of the city with his father’s abandoned mill, and to build a studio on the ruins of the old mill, many people wondered about this.

– When I came to lice her, in the woods, in the mill, there was no electricity, running water was the actual creek, there was no bathroom, no telephone... Without any contact with civilization, all I had was nature, and all my technical supplies was the mill. Everything else was silence, peace,

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birds, sound of the wind, the murmur of water. However, it was necessary to make a living somehow – tells Boro.

The most difficult thing, he says, was to survive, and we survived, because artists and well-intentioned people recognized the idea and will of the artist, ecologist, haiduk, with feet on the ground and head among the clouds. Writer Dara Sekulić, a friend, warned him that he would not be able to support himself by painting, and suggested that he should create a place where people would be able to have something to eat and drink, and t the same time to buy his paintings. It is not difficult to imagine that night at the mill, lit by candlelight, imbued with murmur of the creek and sound of the wind when, in a conversation between friends, a seed was planted which would grow into excursion grounds, now known far and wide, but also something much more than this.

FROM THE BEGINNING TO INFINITY That opening ceremony was solemn and proud. More important than the act itself was the message sent to those who were suspicious that Boro was here and was not planning to leave, to the joy of those who found here their corner that brings tem back to nature and to themselves. Life scenario so arranged that great Duško spread good

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word about this unusual place, attracting well-known artists, such as Josip Pejaković, Zijah Sokolović, Bora Čorba... The message sent by Trifunović to the gathered villagers has been preserved: “Be happy, because many cities do not have their galleries, and you have a gallery in the woods!”

And so, by the word of mouth, a network of Zelenkovac fans was being created. In parallel, a magical place was being built, from everything that nature has to offer, merging into the greenery, as if it had always supposed to be there, and as if Boro was sent to complete some unfinished painting of the Creator.

The original architectural endeavors were temporarily interrupted by the war. In the meanwhile, Boro works as a war reporter at the newly founded Television of Republika

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Srpska, Studio Banjaluka, and occasionally as a reporter from Moscow.

– During that war we were, in a hurry, learning the art of reporting. It was necessary to create a studio, to work a lot, and that time was precious,. This thing here stagnated, but I came back as soon as I could – says Boro.

Having returned to his birth place, at the entrance into the mill he saw an inscription of an unknown soldier: “Aggression calms down here.” Undamaged with warfare, the castle for artists continues to grow. In the post-war years, the offer in Zelenkovac extends, and in 1998 it was officially registered as a protected eco zone, when the ecological movement with he same name was founded.

– From the beginning, people have been in the centre of everything. And now they keep coming from all over the world. It is not that I came here to live all by myself. If you are only for yourself, it means that you are an egoist. If you live only for yourself, if

you paint only for yourself, you are insignificant for the society, you are an unsuccessful individual who is not a social person.

A SPRING OF INSPIRATION The basic postulate about the balance between man and nature has not been abandoned in Zelenkovac. The original charm which offers to the artists that necessary space to explore themselves and release creativity has been preserved. And so, Boro has been painting, but not to live from the arts but for the arts.

– A painter must not be in a hurry. The most serious problem of small painters is that, at the moment when they enroll at the Academy, they already feel like painters and want to be famous immediately, want their paintings to be expensive. A painter must not be a slave to anybody or anything.

A painting will find its fan, and vice versa.

When someone buys a painting from me, the money that I receive is not the most important. That painting goes to someone’s home and it binds us. That someone is watching and knows that it came from here.

The beauty of this place has been witnessed by a plethora of artists and nature lovers, all of whom have left a part of themselves in order to bring back a part of Zelenkovac. During our visit, at the corner of the Café-Gallery, we met Zoran Suvajac Zograf, one of the best aquarelle painters in Srpska, tirelessly creating new works.

– Zelenkovac gives me peace and inspiration to create. I come here a few times a year and I stay fifteen days. I am now preparing an exhibition which should soon be opened at the Cultural Center “Banski dvor” in Banjaluka – SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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says Suvajac. I would defend that place at the foot of Lisina Mountain with my life, if necessary, he says.

And our host treats us wholeheartedly and attentively, with local pancakes.

HARMONY OF PEOPLE AND NATURE As the number of visitors increased, there was a need for bigger accommodation capacities. Summer houses and bungalows mushroomed one after the other, all made of woods, all in accordance with Bora’s taste.

– Harmony is the most important in nature, painting, poem. It does not obstruct you with anything, you swim in it, relish in it. Hierarchy of power, material, military, any power, leads to something else. And when you find harmony, you are already in another world –Boro muses out loud. – My wish was to make this look like a fairytale. People are already fed up with routine and restrictions, they want as much fairytale as possible, and even to see me as a caveman, as something exotic. Even with these forms and architecture of ours, with everything, we bring people back from the uptight world, marble, leather, glamour, neon lights, everything that jeopardizes human life to such an extent that people have to run away and search fro themselves.

Nothing here is in access, including the number of simultaneous guests, because that would disturb the harmony. Guests come from all over the world. From Mongolia, China, Italy, France, Chile, Argentina... Of course, most of them are from Banjaluka region, which is about 70 kilometers away.

Adriano Baf, from Pazin in Istria, came to Zelenkovac for the first time eight years ago.

He was drawn to this area by the “mrkonjićka scythe”. As a blacksmith by profession, with passion for history, he wanted to learn from a local blacksmith the secret of construction o this specific type of scythe. Then he searched for other curiosities, and then by chance he stopped by Bora’s. Since then, he has been visiting Zelenkovac every year.

– I have met many people from the world and from the Balkans here and I am very fond of all of them – says Adriano. – I am fascinated by the nature and other charms.

Nobody here asks you where you are from, where you are, what you are, we all talk as if we have known each other forever and this fascinated me, just like my colleagues who have been coming and will keep coming.

Clarity and Diversity Mounting air at 840 meters above the sea level clears and cleanses people, and is appetizing. Homemade healthy local food is offered here.

There are various events organized in Zelenkovac, such as art colonies, rock concerts, poetry evenings, school classes in the nature, theatrical performances, sports competitions...

WHY DID NOT BORO LEAVE These five words, like lifeblood, permeate the history and spirit of Zelenkovac. In 1984, Boro has began to write a book with that title.

– It has given rise to my philosophy of how to survive on one’s own roots, where you belong, where you were born. We see people leave, we see all types of migrations...

According to this logic, I should have left too, to a place where there are museums, exhibitions, media, and my target groups. In that book I asked a question: why did not Boro leave, and so I gave it the title.

Later, this became the name of the CaféGallery. The title has imprinted itself in the life journey of its creator, a visionary. Because, as Duško Trifunović says in one of his poems: “There is a secret connection, strict law for all people, and once a man is bound by it, once it chooses a certain road...”

The power of that bond gave birth to this forest story, framed with natural beauties, eternity, hospitality and art. 

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 Painter Zoran Suvajac Zograf, frequent guest in Zelenkovac Interior of the Gallery “Why Boro Did Not Leave”

 Boro Janković, the painter who came back

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S Y M B O L S ARSLANAGIĆA (PEROVIĆA) BRIDGE IN TREBINJE, OVER THE WATER AND TIME

Rock in the Eye of the Architect Arslanagića Bridge and view of Gračanica of Herzegovina, on the Crkvina Hill

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It is believed that the founder of this beautiful structure is the one who was taken away as boy Bajica and returned as the powerful Mehmed-Pasha Sokolović. The builder was probably one of he students of Mimar Sinan, the designer of the Bridge in Višegrad. The empires were changing, eras, roads, even the place where it is located was changing, but this bridge has remained the recognizable symbol of the city on the Trebišnjica River

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“O

f everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living nothing is in my eyes better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines... They are all essentially one and equally deserve our attention because they point out to a place where a man has encountered an obstacle and did not stop before it, but has overcome and bridged it to the best of his abilities, in accordance with his understanding, taste and circumstances he lived in. And when I think about bridges, not those that have crossed the most frequently come to my mind, but those which have survive for the longest time and captivated my attention and my spirit.”

These are the words of the great Ivo Andrić.

Arslanagića Bridge was not so fortunate to have this great Nobel Prize winner write down its history and immortalize its glory. However, based on its architectural, cultural, historical and artistic values, this structure is on the same level as the bridges that fascinate the famous writer.

Within only about twenty years, small mountain horses brought took away from the mountains of Little Asia and Bosnian hills two Christian boys into Janissaries. The screams of their mothers would be blown away by the wind, and the boys would grow into two of the most respected personalities in the history of the Ottoman Empire. One is Kodža Mimar Sinan, Michelangelo of the East, the most famous Ottoman architect, and the other one is greatest of all great

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viziers, Mehmed Pasha Sokolović, born near Rudo, as Bajica. These two great men will several times in their lives build and embellish the territory of the former Empire.

FROM MARBLE AND MEMORY Trying to improve road communications, but also to develop the territory of his birth, Mehmed-Pasha is building many important structures in the empire. In addition to the Bridge on the Drina in Višegrad, Kozija Bridge in Sarajevo, Vizier’s Bridge in Podgorica and the Bridge on the Žepa, it is believed that he commissioned the construction of the magnificent bridge in Trebinje. The purpose of this bridge was to connect Bosnia with coastal areas, primarily with what is today Herceg-Novi.

Based on historical accounts researched to date, construction of the bridge is dated in 1573/1574. There is no reliable data about

the main builder, but based on the style of architecture, the ridge is ascribed to one of the students of Mimar Sinan, the designer of the Bridge in Višegrad. Time indicates the possibility of participation of Mimar Hajrudin in the construction of Arslanagić Bridge, since in this time period this architect worked on the Old Bridge in Mostar. Still, there is undisputable evidence of participation of famous Dubrovnik masters in the construction of this bridge.

Every historical and monumental building carries a story about itself and certain questions. Thus, certain theses have appeared in historical circles about a completely different history of Arslanagić Bridge. According to one of them, the structure was built about one hundred years later, and the benefactor was Hajdarbeg Kusturica. Historian A. Bejtić claims that Sokolovićev Bridge was washed away by the water immediately after the conSRPSK A  No 1  2013

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struction, and that the modern Arslanagić Bridge is a completely different building. This question should certainly be left to historians.

From the time of its construction, this structure of beautiful arcs is called by local people the Big Bridge, Trebinje Bridge or the Bridge near Trebinje Monastery (Dobrićevo Monastery). When in 1687 the Venetians conquered Herceg-Novi, driving away the Turks, the volume of trade over this bridge decreased, especially salt trade. In this period, rich Muslim population withdraws toward the interior and Trebinje. It is believed that one of them was Arslan-aga, who obtained the permit from the sultan that he and his heirs charge bridge toll. This is how the bride got one of its well known names, and shortly afterwards the guardhouse. Arslanagić Bridge is also called Perovića Bridge, because it is believed that the Arslanagić family is actually Islamized part of the Perovići tribe.

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FLOOD AND MIGRATIONS Knowledge of the builders and strength of materials, the stone from Bileće that was famous far and wide, enabled this bridge to survive a turbulent history. In World War Two it was mined and its left end was demolished, for a stretch of eight meters. The arc was replaced by a concrete structure only in 1958.

Construction of hydro-accumulation Gorica endangered the bridge and Dobrićevo Monastery. During the trial filling of the accumulation, in 1965, Arslanagića Bridge was flooded and remained under water for about one year.

Experts from the entire former Yugoslavia gathered in the mission to save the bridge. It was decided to relocate the bridge about five kilometers upstream, and the dismantling was completed “stone by stone”. Each block was marked and arranged to the nearby valley. Dismantled in this way, the bridge stayed on the

valley for about a year. The locals say that purchase offers began to arrive from abroad. In the period 1970-1972, Arslanagića Bridge was fully restored and it rose in exactly the same form over the Trebišnjica River. Today it connects Trebinje settlements Gradina and Police. On location where Arslanagića Bridge was originally built, there is still a part of the settlement with the same name (the settlement of Arslanagića / Perovića Bridge) which was not flooded by the construction of the accumulation.

Although it has lost its former function, Arslanagića Bridge is one of the ornaments of Trebinje. When the city is observed from Crkvine, the old bridge dominates the view. This monumental structure can be seen in a length of 92 meters, road width of 3.6 meters and height of 15 meters during normal water levels of the Trebišnjica. The stone structure is made of three pillars, two big and five small vaults. Arrangement of pillars and vaults gives unique appearance and beauty to Arslanagića Bridge, making it certainly one of the most important cultural and historical monuments of Trebinje and Republika Srpska.

At the end, this is what Andrić says about bridges: “... Everything in which this life of ours is expressed – thoughts, efforts, glances, smiles, words, sighs – is all reaching out to the other shore, as toward its aim, and only there will it be granted its true meaning... Because everything is a transition, a bridge whose ends are lost in infinity...” 

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P E A K S TWO MIROSLAVS, ALPINISTS FROM BANJALUKA, BUNDALO AND TRIVIĆ, CONQUERED KILIMANJARO

Srpska

on the Roof of Africa Previously, members of the Mountaineering-Alpinist Club “Summit” climbed Grossglockner (3,798 meters above sea level), Grand Paradiso (4,061), Mont Blanc (4,810), as well as Elbrus in the Caucasus, the highest peak in Europe (5,642).

But Uhuru, the Peak of Freedom (5,895), on Kilimanjaro, is the crown of their feats up to date. How did they do it and will they stop there?

By: Senka Trivić

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Photographs: Archives of “Summit”

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 Bundalo and Trivić at the airport

 Two views of Meru Peak, the fifth highest peak in Africa

T

hat February 2, 2013 will stay in their memory forever. The view of the world from the top of Africa. The crown of long efforts, dream and passion, courage and strong will. Two Miroslavs, Bundalo and Trivić, members of the Mountaineering-Alpinist Club “Summit” from Banjaluka, stayed half an hour on the highest point of Kilimanjaro. Like the previous ones, they immortalized this feat with photographs.

Since the establishment of “Summit”, on August 26, 2010, its members have organized numerous mountaineering actions in Srpska and beyond. Those who were more prepared have conquered several important peaks in Europe, such as Grossglockner (3,798 meters above sea level, Grand Para-

Support The journey of Banjaluka alpinists was supported by the Cabinet of the President of Republika Srpska, Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports, the City of Banjaluka, several sponsors and friends, Without them, this feat probably would not have be accomplished.

And Uhuru Peak, the Peak of Freedom, is the highest peak climbed so far by the members of the Mountaineering-Alpinist Club “Summit” from Banjaluka (5,895).

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diso (4,061) and Mont Blanc (4,810). Elbrus in the Caucasus, the highest peak in Europe (5,642), which they climbed in 2012, certainly has a special place. They have dedicated this success to the members of the Skydiving Club “Banjaluka” killed in May that year in the settlement of Zalužani in Banjaluka, when the sports plane crashed.

Following the map of what, in the world of alpinism, is called Summit 7 – conquering the highest peaks on seven continents – Kilimanjaro was the logical next destination.

THROUGH MOON FORESTS They arrived to Tanzania, a country of great natural beauty and national parks, where the Demon Mountain is located (as the locals interpret the meaning of the word Kilimanjaro), on a flight via Zagreb and Istanbul. From winter seized Banjaluka they landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport, into a summer African night.

– It was night, so we first sensed Africa through smells and sounds – says Miroslav Trivić.

They spent the night in a car, at the gas station, with their host don Velimir Tomić, a

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Catholic missionary living in Africa since 1988. Because of numerous bandits, it is not safe to move through this part of Africa at night. In the next two days they are searching fro the best offer of agencies organizing climbing on Uhuru, the highest peak of the “Black Continent”. Besides this peak, popularly called Kili, they decided to also climb Meru, the fifth highest African peak, and to spend the days of break between two feats in a unique safari.

On the third day, they begin their first climbing campaign toward the National Park “Arusha”, which is also the name of the city at the very foot of the Meru Mountain.

Excellently prepared mentally and physically, they ask for the climbing to be shortened from usual four to three days.

– Climbing Meru is an excellent exercise for acclimatization before Kili, although very few climbers decide to do this, because the adventure is quite expensive – says Miroslav Bundalo.

One day of stay at the national park is about 100 dollars per person, while agency services and everything else is charged separately. Without agency mediation, says Bundalo, it is not even possible to enter the park.

– They also provide porters, who also go to the camps and put together your tents and make lunch for you. It is convenient, but such treatment takes away some of the true mountaineering spirit, and you feel more like a tourist.

They were especially surprised by the care of this people for the environment.

Porters carry with them even organic trash and would not let you leave it in the nature. On the way through rainforest (up to the altitude of about 3,000 meters) they are also accompanied by an armed ranger, mostly because of leopards and very aggressive buffalos.

– Above the belt of the rainforest, comes an area which they call “Moon Forest”. The origin of this metaphor is in the low vegetation which has something like lichen instead of leaves, very specific moss, with shining light green color. The unusual moon belt is about 500 meters wide, and after that the landscape takes the contours of the surface of Mars. Humpback shapes covered with volcanic dust were our companions from there on opt to the moment when we conquered Meru Peak – explains Trivić.

Having successfully overcome the terrain and minor physical problems, such as dizziness and general weakness, on the third day, at six in the morning, according to the plan, they found themselves on the top of Meru, at 4,566 meters above the sea level.

They witnessed the magnificent sunrise be-

 At the National Park “Manjara”

 At the National Park “Serengeti”, with Ngorongoro crater

Safari – After conquering Meru Peak we were so tired that even safari was strenuous for us. But the things we saw drove away the thoughts about tiredness – says Bundalo. In four days they went through three protected natural reservations from UNESCO’s list of cultural heritage of biosphere (national parks “Manjara” and “Serengeti”, with Ngorongoro crater), habitats of a big number of unique and endangered animal species and vegetation.

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P E A K S

Useful and Interesting Visa is charged at the airport, it costs 50 dollars, and it is also mandatory to have the “yellow card”, proving that you have been vaccinated against infectious diseases, such as malaria.

Tourists are advised to drink only bottled water.

In early February this year, a law was adopted in Tanzania prescribing that personal ID cards are mandatory for all citizens.

If they ask you if you want cumin, you should know that it is a spice that they put in almost every dish here.

hind Kilimanjaro, which stood proudly on the opposite side with its snowcap.

FROM THE PEAK OF FREEDOM Uhuru (5,895), the highest peak of Kilimanjaro and Africa, is frequented by alpinists and adventurers from all over the world. There are several treks leading to the top. Two friends from Banjaluka chose Whisky or Machame route, the most beautiful, the longest, the most demanding and the most expensive. Almost simultaneously they say that they were surprised the most by the difficulty of the climbing itself: – During preparations we talked with many of them who had previously climbed this peak and almost everybody told us that it is an “easy mountain”, that almost everything is more or less touristy, you have  The city of porters and all. However, this might be the Arusha, at the foot truth up until the altitude of 3,000 meters, of Mount Meru but from there on things should not be tak-

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en lightly. While climbing, we met many of those who gave up. One woman passed by us almost distorted. It is not a sugar-coated touristy and commercial story. You have Kilimanjaro before you and height that might kill you. There is a high risk of pulmonary edema or cerebral edema. For this reason, no matter what you hear about this, Kilimanjaro must be climbed wisely.

In the rainforest areas, where the road toward Uhuru (translated: the Peak of Freedom) begins, heavy rains fall daily and there are high vapors, so the weather is always hot and humid. The porters call this mountain a “chameleon”, because of frequent changes in weather and temperature. And right before overcoming the last part of the road, the friends from Banjaluka were surprised. Although it was summer in Africa, that night everybody was surprised by snow. It would have surprised even Hemingway. Departure to the top was postponed from ten thirty at night to one o’clock in the morning. They start this last section, the most critical one, from the last camp Barafu to the point called Stella, accompanied by the guide and two porters.

Both friends from Banjaluka experienced problems there.

– Mišo had problems with cold, he needed another layer of clothes. And after one third of the way to Stella Point I had an attack of drowsiness. I focused all my power at that moment on maintaining concentration. Several times I was awakened by slipping on the snow. It kept me like that for about half an hour, and then sun came out, which brought joy and new energy to all of us – says Trivić.

At Stella Point the wind was displaying all its power. Crystals of ice and snow almost tore the skin from our faces. Unprepared for snow at this time of the year, they realized that their equipment was far more scarce than it should have been. But the magnetism of the peak which was at that moment about 45 minutes away, and the joy before the possibility to achieve the great goal, helped them overcome all the problems. Step by step, Banjaluka was approaching the roof of Africa. And it arrived, succeeded. Two Miroslavs, Trivić and Bundalo, touched and proud, say that they would do it all over again. But there are so many new peaks to be conquered and each one of them is a name for a new challenge and adventure. 

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О Т­К Р И­Ћ А

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MUNICIPIUM MALVESIATIUM, ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE FROM THE ROMAN PERIOD IN SKELANI

Pompeii

on the Drina

Probably founded at the time of Emperor Hadrian (117-138), it was a powerful city with more than 40.000 inhabitants. It had an imperial palace, luxurious villas, shrines and a fort, fountains and squares, as well as high-level art. It was discovered in the late 19th century, but it was thought that its traces were taken by the river in the terrible flood of 1896. A hundred and twelve years later, Serbian archeologists proved it wasn’t so. Seems like the biggest discoveries are still pending

By: Damir Kljajić

A

seven-member team, led by archeologist and director of the Semberija Museum in Bijeljina Mirko Babić, supported by 32 workers and mechanization, began their research on September 1, 2008, in the area of the Srebrenica village of Skelani, on the left bank of the Drina. They believed that the almost forgotten site, which hadn’t been researched for more than a century and which was, many years before, struck by a terrible flood, still holds remains from the Roman period.

They researched five weeks on four locations: Communal House, Churchyard,

Branko’s field, and grandma Anka’s backyard. The surprising discoveries attracted great attention of both local and international public. They discovered the remains of the Roman settlement Municipium Malvesiatium, believed to be lost forever.

IMPERIAL PALACE IN FRONT OF THE COMMUNAL HOUSE Photo: Museum Two fragments of the city council moof Semberija saic were discovered in October 2008. The and “Roman building had floor heating, indicating the Municipium” level of development of the center.

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 Sacrificial altar dedicated to Jupiter, discovered in Skelani

Also discovered were 30 monuments dedicated to Roman gods Jupiter, Triad, Mars, Sylvan and Mithras. More remains of Roman architecture were found in front of and behind the Communal House – Imperial Palace with 40 square meters of floor mosaics, unique in the Balkan area, probably dating from the second half of the 4th century. The mosaics are excellently done, as a combination of geometry motifs and four-leaf rosettes, with precise interlacing with dark blue and dark red ornaments on white background.

Impressive remains of a large Roman villa with baths, tiled canals, floor mosaics, along with lots of movable archeological material, were found in Branko’s field.

Under grandma Anka’s house was a Roman basilica with a necropolis. While searching for it, archeologists discovered a marble tombstone from the 14th century, made of solid green shale stone, showing a warrior’s bow and arrow, indicating that it was erected to honor a medieval duke.

After a four-year break, after resolving the property and legal issues, the excavations were continued in 2012. The remains of five large Roman objects were discovered at the end of that year, lined up along the bank of the Drina. According to experts, it indicates that this used to be a city with a population of more than 40.000.

Also discovered was a votive monument from the first half of the 2nd century.

It was erected by Julius Ver, from the local Dindari clan, to celebrate his liberation and becoming a free citizen of Rome.

The discovered artifacts are exhibited in the former school building in the village of Crvica, next to the Skelani-Bratu-

Cooperation The Archeological Museum in Skelani cooperates with the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) Institute of Archeology in Belgrade, Archeological Museum “Viminatium” in Kostolac, Center of New Technologies “Viminatium” in Belgrade… Their experiences and positive practice are applied in Skelani by a team of scientists and experts appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Srpska, which is very supportive. The Ministry of Science and Technology helped organizing the international scientific conference “Cultural and Historical Heritage of Srebrenica through Centuries” and publishing a collection of works. There is also close cooperation with the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Srpska and Municipality of Srebrenica, as well as other institutions and individuals from Srpska, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Belgium, England...

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nac regional road, as a temporary museum exhibition. It is visited by numerous archeologists and historians, as well as curious non-professionals.

The archeological complex in Skelani was declared monument of culture of exceptional importance for Republic of Srpska, as well as national monument of B&H. The public cultural institution “Roman Municipium” Archeological Museum was founded in Skelani.

WHEN THE DRINA HID THE CITY The Archeological Lexicon of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1988 lists Skelani as a site with a Roman settlement, two early-Christian single nave churches, a necropolis, medieval cemetery and movable artifacts. These were the results of researches made in the late 19th century.

The oldest observations about the visible remains of Roman edifices in Skelani were published by Felix Kanitz in the 19th century, describing Roman monuments, parts of old streets, roads and other material remains. The first archeological excavations were done in 1896, led by Carl Patch, archeologist from Vienna. He discovered the Roman necropolis, two early-Christian basilicas and as much as 80 Roman monuments. He placed all the discovered stone monuments in one of the basilicas, made a blind and waited for the following summer to transfer them to Sarajevo or Vienna. However, the Drina and its tributaries flooded terribly. The floods brought enormous piles of soil, stone and mud and completely covered the historical discovery. Patch published drawings and interpretations of all the discovered monuments in 1907, in the National Museum Herald in Sarajevo.

In the early 1960s, Vladimir Đurić, history professor from Bajina Bašta, and his students discovered three Roman monuments, today decorating the garden of the “Drina” hotel in Bajina Bašta.

However, there were no significant excavations until 2008.

– Any research project in archeology is a special challenge, especially at such significant sites. The Skelani site was known in science for more than a hundred years.

However, after the catastrophic flooding of the Drina in 1896 and a local flood in

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 Archaeological excavations in Skelani and Italians visiting the museum in Crvica

1898, it was considered that the up to then discovered archeological monuments were taken away by the river and that further research would be meaningless. A hundred and twelve years later, I was given the opportunity to check this, so I initiated this project – says archeologist Mirko Babić, manager of the Semberija Museum, for National Review, and emphasizes that perhaps he was the only one who believed they would find some of the disappeared archeological treasure.

FROM SKELANI TO BETHLEHEM Babić’s research team started by searching for 2nd and 3rd century ornaments, at the site where the Roman customs point used to be, for the transport of ore from Gradina near Sas. According to historical sources, there was a large Roman colony in the area of Skelani in that period. The area of Srebrenica, especially the part immediately along the Drina, was one of the most populated areas of present B&H in the Roman times. Municipium Malvesiati-

Government Support – The government of Srpska founded the “Roman Municipium” Museum, because the archeological complex in Skelani is of extraordinary importance for, among other things, the development of the tourism potential of Srebrenica and Skelani – says Irena Soldat-Vujanović, assistant minister of culture of Republic of Srpska. – A few years ago, the Republic of Srpska Development Program approved one million Marks for the “Archeological Research of Roman Municipium in Skelani, Srebrenica” project. Up to now, 323.520 Marks were spent (23.520 KM for purchasing land, and the rest for preparatory works, creating the design, research and other).

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um was located in the middle Drina area, with its center in Skelani. The Roman city in Skelani was most probably founded at the time of Emperor Hadrian (117-138) or Antoninus Pius (138-161).

However, the remains discovered in the previous years, as archeologists determined, date from a later period, mostly from the 4th century. The earlier period remains are probably deeper, because younger edifices were built on the foundation of older ones.

Dragić Glišić, manager of the “Roman Municipium” Archeological Museum, tells us that, during his trip to Bethlehem several years ago, he made an interesting discovery: the Bethlehem basilica from the 4th century is ornamented with magnificent columns similar to the ones discovered in Skelani.

– The geometrical motifs of floor mosaics (braided Gordy’s knots), are undoubtedly the same in the Bethlehem basilica and in Skelani. It indicates that, even though they may not have been made by same artisans, they belong to the same art school of that time – believes Glišić.

The time of construction of the Imperial Palace and early-Christian basilica in Skelani, accentuates our guest, fits to the time of construction of the early-Christian basilica in Bethlehem, place of birth of Jesus Christ.

– When the Roman Empire declared Christianity a legitimate religion in 313, Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena began building a church in 326, in a place where, according the legend, Jesus Christ was born. The building of the church in Bethlehem was completed in 333, so there is only the question whether the church in

Skelani is somewhat younger or older than her famous “sister” in Israel. The Church of Nativity of Christ was officially enlisted as one of the three oldest Christian temples in the world – tells Glišić.

There are several indicators stating that Skelani is a first-class archeological site, emphasizes Mirko Babić: – The largest area of preserved mosaics in the inner part of the western Balkans is located here, as well as the largest collection of Roman monuments found in one place.

These are reasons why this site is considered one of the most important in the wider part of the region.

Dragić Glišić says that some experts are already saying that the discovery in Skelani is “Pompeii on the Drina”.

– The Drina flooded the Roman monuments in this area, just like the volcanoes Vesuvius and Etna covered Pompeii in 79 B.C. – says Glišić. – This is an extraordinary cultural value, a great challenge for archeologists and science in general.

NEW SURPRISES AWAIT US – The Roman site covers a large area.

Only a small part was researched up to now. We expect another site with ancient temples, but I have the feeling that the most important findings are hiding in the immediate vicinity of this site and its periphery – continues Babić.

When this year’s construction season begins, mentions Glišić, the works will be continued in Branko’s field, where property issues are completely resolved.

– A protective construction will be made above the Communal House site, to

preserve the mosaics. Geomagnetic studies  A part of the determined that there is an entire complex mosaic from the of Roman edifices underground along the Imperial Palace in Skelani left bank of the Drina – says Glišić. – The design of an urbanism and regulation plan Roman heating for this archeological complex and entire system, a detail Skelani is in progress, so all the activities would be harmonized with the future “DriA part of the na” National Natural Park. inscription in stone, Skelani Babić and Glišić believe that this site should be developed in two segments.

– The first is the regional cultural tourism offer, a unique tourism ring, which would, besides Skelani, also include “Tara” National Park, Drvengrad in Mokra Gora, riding down the narrow gauge railway – the so-called Šargan Eight, visiting Zlatibor and ethno-village of Sirogojno, Dobrun Monastery, bridge on the Drina in Višegrad and Kamengrad... There is also a plan to make a documentary and historical movie about this (negotiations on showing it on “National Geography” are in progress) – says Babić.

They say that the second way of promotion would be to include this site in the European tourism route “Roads of Roman Emperors”. 

Recognizing – Already five years passed since these discoveries, however there aren’t many tourists from Tara or school field trips – says Mirko Babić. – At the same time, Skelani are suffering economic and demographic losses, which seem to be of no interest to anyone. As if some people still haven’t recognized this opportunity for development. The problems in archeological research work are mainly financial, partly related to staff and politics. In order to capitalize such a project, it’s necessary to have unity and cooperation.

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L I G H T H O U S E S In Belgrade, on Christmas 1923: Milan Budimir

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Birth house of Milan Budimir in Mrkonjić Grad

MILAN BUDIMIR (1891-1975), FAMOUS SCIENTIST AND TRADITIONAL TEACHER

The Deepest Heartbeats

of the Balkans

He went a long way from Mrkonjić Grad to resolving the most delicate pre-Antique mysteries of the Peninsula. He earned his doctorate degree in Vienna in Indo-European religion.

He knew Andrić and Kočić, taught Gavrilo Princip, traveled with Nušić to Masarik’s birthday.

Although he went blind before the age of 30, he set the foundations of Serbian Balkan Sciences and fortified classic philology. He despised “any kind of mad running after Europe” and called upon the “resurrection of the Balkan spirit and Balkan Homeland” By: Đorđe M. Srbulović SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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L I G H T H O U S E S  Professor Milan Budimir in his office, with assistant Ljiljana Crepajac and a guest Lecture at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade.

March 1955

T

rue knowledge, the one that separates a person from its contemporaries for centuries, has a feature of initiation. It implies that the Teacher, who possesses, develops and transfers it to others, must go through everything destined for him, but remaining upright in his Path. With it, he testifies Virtue and his life gains the magnificence that doesn’t end in his earthly life. The lives of Teachers last and multiply, transfer and continue in others, without the latter knowing whose life, whose deeds, thoughts and knowledge have been granted to them. Their task is to continue the Path, and those worthy of Learning do it.

All this is reflected in the life and work of Milan Budimir. Who would’ve known?!

The beginnings were so unpromising on that November 2, 1891 in Mrkonjić Grad, homeland of Vrhovina, with Roman and Turkish roads, as he used to say. “In the God forbidden land!” Mother Jovanka, illiterate, honorable and traditional woman, father Đorđe, barber, merchant, inn owner, seller of traditional calendars and other books published by the “Bookstore of M. Popović Brothers” in Novi Sad. These were the first encounters of Milan Budimir with books. According to his words, his father spoke the ijekavian dialect and his mother ikavian, so already in his home, he discovered different words, pronunciations and meanings. He attended the SerbianOrthodox elementary school in Mrkonjić Grad, in the class of Pavle Ubavić, who later became senator. At the end of his life, in the early 1970s, in an interview to publicist Kosta Dimitrijević, Budimir said that he still knew the church songs he had learned then.

He was a man of encyclopedic knowledge, a great erudite, always full of energy.

(Nula dise sine linea. Not a single day with-

Teacher He was a teacher in the traditional sense of the word. Among his numerous students, we will mention only the most famous ones in the world of science: academicians Franjo Barišić, Milutin Garašanin, Slobodan Dušanić, Fanula Papazoglu, Vojislav Đurić, Dragoslav Srejović, Miron Flašar, university professors Momir Jović, Branko Gavela, Emilija Jovanović Mason, Radoslav Katičić, Ksenija Maricki Gađanski, Miroslava Mirković, Milena Milin, Miodrag Stojanović, Ninoslava Radošević, Radmila Šalabalić, Bojana Šijački Manević, metropolitan Amfilohije Radović, PhD, Ljiljana Crepajac, Ivan Gađanski...

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out a line written. That sentence was his life motto and he often used to repeat it.)

Joy was in the essence of his being – as Vojislav Đurić estimated the character of his professor.

CLAIRVOYANCE OF BLIND POETS After the first four grades of elementary school, thanks to the municipality scholarship, he went to Sarajevo to continue his education in the classic gymnasium. He was good in languages, so already in junior high school he learned Greek and Latin, later Hebrew and several living languages: German, Hungarian, Russian, Italian, French… “At the time I could read by myself, I read literature in twelve languages.”

By 1910, when he graduated from the gymnasium, he had become member of “one of the many students’ associations, first Serbian, later Yugoslavian”. But not just any… He became member of the organization, which Božidar Purić named “Young Bosnia” in Corfu Humorist in 1917! Budimir met the somewhat younger Gavrilo Princip, whom he held classes, as well as Gaćinović, for whom he said that only after his arrival the organization became serious and strong. Gaćinović was a real, born revolutionary; it is known that he used to meet Trotsky.

From 1910 to 1914, Budimir was in Vienna, studying classic philology and comparative linguistics. He was also active there, in students’ organizations “Zora” and “Akademac”. Due to his participation in the demonstrations against the “dual monarchy”, he was in fifteen prisons. This ruined his health, so he went blind before the age of thirty. The hand of God: Budimir left more than 200 scientific works and studies of the blind poet Homer and his Iliad. He wrote most of them after going blind – at the same time opening the eyes of the entire world towards new paths of knowledge he had searched for, as well as towards the disappeared time, as academician Srejović used to say. This, along with many other things, took him to the very top of Serbian, European and world knowledge. At the end of his life, the work he wrote about the third blind great man – Filip Višnjić, will be the cause of Budimir’s persecution by Bosnian and Yugoslav communists.

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Although the persecution additionally ruined his health, this man of joyful spirit stood tall. After a long illness, he died on October 17, 1975, without a commemoration, without the right to the Alley of Greats, without selected or collected works.

Even today he doesn’t have the place he deserves in Serbian culture. It is true that the famous Society of Ancient Studies in Belgrade grants the “Milan Budimir” Award for Classic Sciences. The library of the Association of the Blind and one school for visually impaired carry his name. He was declared honorary citizen of Mrkonjić Grad, his birth town, in December 2012 and one street was named after him. However, all this wasn’t nearly enough or in accordance with the real importance of this scientific giant.

THUNDER GODS AND BALKAN FATES Due to his poor sight, he spent World War I in the logistics units, at an office desk.

After the war had ended, he returned to Bosnia and started working, first in Bihać and then in the Sarajevo gymnasium. He started Novo Djelo, Oko, Slovenski Jug magazines. One of his closest associates – Cvijeta Cihler, doctor of biology, became his wife. (When professor Budimir lost his eye sight, his wife left her career completely and dedicated herself to his work and the family. It remained so even after she had lost her hearing, until her death in 1970.)

In 1920, Milan Budimir, together with Branislav Nušić went to Tomas Masaryk’s 70th birthday celebration. On his way back, he went to Vienna, where he earned his doctorate degree, with professors Radermager and Von Arnim as mentors, with the thesis About Thunder Gods of IndoEuropean People. He taught at the Belgrade University since 1921.

At the time of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, during his participation in many international scientific meetings on Byzantium and philology, professor Budimir developed the consciousness about the need of scientific research of the entire Balkan area. When Ratko Parežanin (a great and unfortunately forcedly deleted name of Serbian culture) informed him about his idea to found the Balkan Institute, developed in his talks with his godfather Svetozar Spanaćević, Budimir immediately got

involved in those activities together with  Milan Budimir, a photograph Professor Petar Skoko from Zagreb. Aware from his ID card of the importance of the commenced work, King Alexander supported the work of this significant institution organizationally, financially and in every other way. The text of the program, entitled Balkan Fates, which Budimir wrote with professor Skoko, best  With his wife shows the task of the Balkan institute: “…

Cvijeta in his so the entire civilization, both spiritual and backyard in material, created in the Balkans, would be Belgrade, criticized and formed not from the aspect Cvijićeva Street of Western Europe, but from the aspect of the Balkan Homeland. Madly running afIn Belgrade ter Europe and uncritically imitating it, as 1945, with his it has often been the case in the Balkans, grandson Zoran excludes the revival of Balkan nations and Plavšić, later well known Belgrade resurrection of the Balkan spirit, since journalist both can be achieved chiefly by contem-

Best Students Among all his students, professor Budimir singled-out Ljiljana Crepajac and especially Miroslav Marković, who was professor at the Cambridge and later chief of the department in Illinois, USA. Although he had written more than a hundred books until the age of 50, Marković disappointed and betrayed his professor – as Budimir said – by agreeing to convert to Catholicism only to be able to advance at the American university.

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L I G H T H O U S E S  With Ivo Andrić in Belgrade in 1950’s

porary cooperation of the Balkan humans, Balkan nations and Balkan states.”

The Balkan Institute gave a scientific view of the peninsula’s history, hardly noticeable up to then. The Balkans were no longer a synonym for backwardness and barbarism, but the Eastern Light, cradle of Europe and European civilization. The most important work the Institute published until the war, although the financing was stopped after the death of King Alexander (only a few months after founding), is certainly the two-volume Book on the Balkans, written by the greatest Balkan and European classic languages, archeology and history scientists of the time. Besides, also published were the book The Balkans and the Balkan People, and the monograph Belgrade, printed in several languages, which appeared at the Book Fair in 1940 but was never released, due to Germany’s opposition. Even today, this Belgrade guide is considered perhaps one of the best works ever written and printed about the Serbian capital. Furthermore, the Balkan Institute published four issues of the International Magazines of Balkan Studies until 1939. Even after World War II, in cooperation with other philologists from then Yugoslavia, Budimir started the scientific magazine Living Antiquity in Skopje, which he had given the name and interpretation of the name.

GUILTY FOR BEING AUTOCHTHONOUS That is how Milan Budimir, together with Petar Skoko, Ratko Parežanin and other great scientists, founded Balkan Sciences in our lands. After the beginning of World War II and the occupation of the country, the Balkan Institute stopped working. In 1969, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Academies, Cathedras, Recognitions Milan Budimir was a regular member of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Academy of Sciences and Arts in B&H. He was regular professor and for many years chief of the Classic Philology Department at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, where he worked from 1921 until his retirement in 1962.

In 1964 he was awarded with the Belgrade “October Award” and Medal of Labor with Red Flag, and in 1967 with the “Seventh of July Award”.

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Institute of Balkan Sciences was founded, but it was something different: the Balkan Institute was a mission.

Those familiar with the works of academician Milan Budimir, classify his voluminous scientific opus in their doctorate dissertations and scientific works in several wholes: philology and linguistics research of pre-antique tribes in the Balkans, Slavic lexicons (origins and primeval homeland of the Slavs), literary research. His textbooks, books and other works are seen as separate wholes. Above all this is the book-synthesis, perhaps the most important work of professor Budimir: From the Balkan Eastern Lights.

Milan Budimir was the first, long before computers proved his theories, who emphasized that the Iliad is the work of “one man”, referring to the last two books, which other researchers used to neglect. Furthermore, searching for the Balkan pre-beginnings, Budimir came upon the pre-Hellenic natives, whom he called the Pelasts. “European culture is a copy of the Roman, the Roman a copy of the Greek, and all this is a great mixture of the mixture”, he used to say. A blend of the existing and brought by the newcomers. Only the Balkan Slavs are autochthonous heirs of that great culture, because they are at their immediate source.

“Our language developed according to the Greek original, not according to the Latin copy.”

That is how Milan Budimir spoke, created, wrote, taught. The man who visited Laza Kostić at his deathbed, the man who associated and worked with members of “Young Bosnia”, highly appreciated Andrić, Kočić (he knew them both personally) and Tesla. He acquaintance of the very top of Balkan and world science and boasted he knew “two emperors – Bulgarian Boris and our Marko Car (Serbian: emperor)”, the writer.

We brought to the readers of National Review only crumbs of the story about Milan Budimir, wishing to renew the memory of this great man of science and culture, as well as to wake up something important, yet asleep within us, “lost in time and space”. Professor Budimir doesn’t need it any more, but we do. We referred to the doctorate dissertation Milan Budimir as a Balkanologist written by Nebojša Radenković and the book of Kosta Dimitrijević Life Confessions. 

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R E M I N D E R

Sava Mrkalj, illustration Predrag Dragović (from the book “Anthology of Serbian Romantic Poetry”, SKZ, Belgrade, 2012)

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DOUBLE ANNIVERSARY OF SAVA MRKALJ (1783-1833), ALMOST FORGOTTEN SERBIAN GENIUS

The Sin of Being above Average He spoke at least seven languages, ancient and modern. He had the highest grades at his philosophy and mathematics studies in Pest. He made an epochal shock in Serbian science and culture, with a book of only eighteen pages. Leaning upon Locke and Adelung, he elevated the hundred years old efforts of Venclović to the level of a language system and founded everything important later completed by Vuk Karadžić. It was difficult for his refined spirit and oversensitive nature to suffer three big breaks in his life. It is considered that he died at the age of fifty, in a Viennese “mental institution”, but no one knows how or where his tomb is

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he time of cultural excitements and war turmoil in Europe. Kant is publishing Criticism of Pure Reason, Goethe is writing Faustus, Schiller is publishing Die Räuber, Mozart is playing sonatas for Mary Antoinette, Beethoven is a pipe organ player in the palace chapel in Bonn.

Austria is recovering from the Seven Years’ War, Napoleon is announcing a new European drama. In the East, in Serbia, Turkish oppression is accelerating the sprouting of the uprising in the hearts of people. At that time, exactly two hundred and thirty years ago, in the village of Lasinjski Sjeničak, Kordun, in a poor frontiersman family, in a house made of chestnut wattle, Sava Mrkalj was born, the first new age reformer of the Serbian alphabet and orthography.

Writer Đorđe Rajković thoroughly studied sources which were later (by World War II) completely destroyed and preserved information on Sava Mrkalj from oblivion.

He says he was a weak and pale boy. He never played much with his friends; he liked solitude and contact with nature. As if he were looking for something big, at the same time bothered by the fact that he still couldn’t understand what. He was only ten when, while learning catechesis in school, asked himself for the first time: why aren’t

By: Uroš Matić the students asking for explanation for the incomprehensible words they had to learn by heart? What kind of letters are those anyway? Why doesn’t anyone in the village speak like that?

Such questions, simple and deep, and his difference from the environment he was growing up in, would later bring him both fame and suffering. He committed the “sin of being above average”.

THIRST FOR EDUCATION It isn’t certain when Sava completed the Clerical School in Plaško, because it was canceled and renewed several times. In his

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 Gomirje Monastery, in which Sava Mrkalj took his vows

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 Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović (1757-1836) Lukijan Mušicki (1777-1837) Patriarch Josif Rajačić (1786-1861)

biographical and literary note on Mrkalj in the Javor magazine from 1877, based on the documents from the church archive in Plaško, Đorđe Rajković states that Mrkalj graduated as an excellent student already at the age of sixteen, in 1799. Most historians agree on this. Due to such a successful graduation, Sava moved to Gospić straight from the classroom and became teacher in the local Slavic-Serbian school. He worked very hard, but stayed there less than a year.

Irregular salary, authorities which used to take students to military service, disrespect of certain students (some of them older than their teacher), influenced Mrkalj’s sensitive soul. He left.

We don’t know much about several years of his life after Gospić. There are no preserved data, only assumptions. In 1806, at the age of twenty-three, he earned the diploma of the Royal Academy of Zagreb, after passing public exams in logics, history of philosophy, mathematics, architecture, hydro-technology and metaphysics!

He spoke German, French, Russian Church Slavonic, and was familiar with Greek, Latin and Hebrew! However, drastic social differences, the difficult position of the men from the borderline area among the purgers of Karlovac (which, according to Gojko Nikoliš, PhD, hadn’t changed even a hundred

Voices of Recognition Sava Mrkalj wasn’t one of the unrecognized geniuses. The evaluation of Jernej Kopitar also proves it: “There is more linguistic philosophy in these eighteen pages than in a fat grammar book.”

Vuk Karadžić: “The solution of Mr. Merkail is so true and so clear that any unbiased Serb with a common sense must approve it.”

Aleksandar Mladenović: “Sava Mrkalj was the one who, with his reform of the Cyrillic alphabet in 1810, cleared the ground and prepared practically everything necessary for Vuk to bring our alphabet to pure perfection.”

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years later), as well as his wish for further education, made Sava Mrkalj move to Pest.

Much more important than his philosophy and mathematics studies, where he showed great knowledge and earned highest grades, was Sava’s friendship with Serbian intellectuals staying in Pest at the time: medical students Dimitrije Davidović and Dimitrije Frušić, who started Novine Serbske (Serbian Newspaper) in Vienna in 1813, Luka Milovanov Georgijević, law student, who, also in 1813, published the famous discussion Essay on Similar Words and Syllable Measuring. However, Sava’s biggest and most important friendship in Pest was with Vuk Karadžić, whom he met in a Serbian pastry shop in 1810. The “ijekavian” dialect, same views of the issues of the alphabet, orthography and language, joint interest in Pavle Solarić and other linguists, poets and educators, soon brought them close together. Through that friendship, Sava soon crystallized and verified the ideas he had been carrying for so long, so already in September 1810, he published his famous work Fat of the Thick Yer i.e. Alphabet Reshuffling, which greatly influenced Vuk’s battle for Serbian literary language and orthography.

NEW FRAMES OF SERBIAN LINGUISTICS There were four types of literary languages at the time: Serbian Church Slavonic, folk, Russian Church Slavonic and SlavoSerbian. The letters had no vocal basis. The dysfunctionality, disunity, arbitrariness and instability of the language as a system were a source of great difficulties. There had been earlier attempts to define and resolve those problems, but without any significant improvement. Even people such as Venclović, Orfelin, Tekelija, Dositej Obradović, Solarić,

Došenović, Emanuil Janković, Atanasije Stojković, Lukijan Mušicki, couldn’t complete the puzzle and make a stable system “at the service of Serbian people and its culture”.

Thus the booklet of Sava Mrkalj, although very humble in volume (only 18 pages), had such significance and such an echo among educated Serbs of the time.

“Sava found support and initiation in his predecessors for this big step. He wanted not only to educate his people, but to bring honor to them with this work and success”, notes a later commenter.

While writing Fat of the Thick Yer, Sava Mrkalj relied on the philosophical stands of John Locke and his empirical theory of knowledge, which significantly influenced the development of Enlightenment in Europe. He specifically emphasized the need for including the orthographic principles of Johann Christoph Adelung, German philologist and lexicographer. Adelung’s Schreib wie du sprichst is included in the principle of Mrkalj’s orthographic rule Write as you speak. Also clear was the influence of Gavril Stefanović Venclović, who was, already in early 18th century, proponent of creating a literary language on the basis of the folk speech.

Milorad Pavić emphasized that, by canceling twenty signs from the up to then alphabet, especially attacking the thick “yer”, Mrkalj set new frames in Serbian linguistics, paved the way to Serbian romanticism and anticipated the future reforms of Vuk Karadžić.

Praises came from all sides, except from the church and metropolitan Stevan Stratimirović. He accused him of striking the national and Orthodox Christian independence of Serbs, breaking the bonds with Russia and making them closer to

Catholicity by disrupting the connections with the “traditional language”.

 Sava Mrkalj (1783-1833)

WITHOUT SAILS, STERN, ANCHOR

Vuk Karadžić (1787-1864)

Only a year later, although at the height Milovan Vidaković of his fame and after excellent critiques, (1780-1841) Sava Mrkalj went to the monastery of Gomirje and became monk Julijan. Why? Again there is no reliable information, only assumptions.

We know that his scientific ambitions didn’t end with the publishing of Fat and the success he gained especially among philosophers. He indicated in that booklet that he must also write the Language Earthquake, i.e. the grammar. Where could he find better peace for such a thing than in a monastic cell or library? Lukijan Mušicki or Ruđer Bošković had already done it before...

The monastery, however, didn’t bring him peace, but new sources of suffering.

The situation is far below the imagined and necessary. Lack of zeal, intrigues, even fights. Mrkalj, educated and dedicated, with the literary and scientific fame he had brought, was different and provoked envy of the unworthy ones. They accused him of starting incidents which had often happened before his arrival. “They don’t let him withdraw to his cell, they starve him, some even physically assault him.” In the year of 1811, in December, Josif Rajačić, future Serbian patriarch, was appointed Archimandrite of Gomir, however that didn’t bring peace to Sava Mrkalj either.

Doubtful complaints about him constantly arrived to bishop Mojsije Mioković who, finally, seemed to have no way out. After almost two years, Mrkalj left Gomirje, sad and distracted.

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  Vladičanski dvor and the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci  Market square in the old Zemun

perately searching for paths of redemption”.

He traveled a lot. Turkey, Bović, monasteries of St. George in Banat and Jazak in Fruška Gora, Vojnić, Karlovac, Dubrovnik, Šibenik, Zemun. Similar to Dositej or Vuk, he searched for new knowledge which would be of use to the people. He’s not just an adventurer, hungry for new experiences.

He travels even when he is out of money.

He walks, jumps into horse carts, sometimes eats only what he picks along the way.

It’s no longer the man the Viennese palace used to speak about. Watching into the eyes of others, he sees himself as a ragamuffin and tramp, grown into beard, with cheeks withered from starvation. He sleeps in stables, parks, wherever he finds a place.

Then comes the terrible year.

AH! THREE HUNDRED TIMES AH!

Photo: “National Review” Archive

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Sava Tekelija writes: “Then came the year of 1817, when famine was so terrible, that people minced corn cobs and made bread out of it, ate tree bark, especially those from Erdelj, who came so exhausted and starving, that they were falling dead in markets and streets.”

Mrkalj is still wandering. His psychological state is getting worse. He replies to Vuk Karadžić from Karlovci, on October 20, 1817, to his question about the novel of Milovan Vidaković: “First, what I think about Ljubomir in Elysium? I think he is a degenerate of the Serbian literature.”

Also in 1817, In his critique Resistance, he criticized Vidaković in a taunting and angry tone.

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canceled his previous stands: “We want to free our fat yer from undeserved attacks and persecutions. The poor thing suffered many times from those who, if we asked them what sin it had committed, couldn’t say a single thing.” Karadžić, Gregorije Geršić, Platon Atanacković and others criticized these stands, thoroughly contesting Sava’s “new arguments”.

Why did Mrkalj change his stands? Did he want to improve his position in the church and survive? Or did he, as Luka Milovanov suspects, want to be satirical and bring things to an absurd, perhaps to send a message? The widely accepted thesis that, with this repentance, he wanted to soften metropolitan Stratimirović and ask him for permission to return to the monastery, seems disputable. In any case, he was rejected until his death.

The nature of Sava Mrkalj was oversensitive; it was easy for pain and suffering to get through to him. Having his soul tormented, he began reacting violently and short-temperedly. In 1822, he argued with a teacher in the street in Zemun. Another time, at the age of 42, after being asked by a drawing teacher to translate his birth certificate into Latin, he snapped and wounded the teacher with a knife. He was imprisoned and soon afterwards transferred to a “mental institution” in Vienna, where he stayed until his death. Even then, although with the doctor’s recommendation, he wasn’t granted permission to return to the monastery.

Before Sava’s death, Vuk Karadžić visited him. We can only imagine how emotional the encounter must have been. Sava gave him a notebook with the poems he wrote, including his most beautiful poem “Ah, ah, three hundred times ah”, which Milorad Pavić considers the manifest of pre-romanticism. It is one of the three poems of Sava Mrkalj that entered Serbian anthologies. Thus, it is amazing that one fourth of the entire opus of Sava Mrkalj as a poet is anthological (according to the opinion of Dušan Ivanić).

The certainty he felt before his death, expressed in this poem, that a man is a man’s greatest horror, remained hovering as a warning over his misfortunate life and his death. It is stated that he died at the age of fifty, a hundred and eighty years ago, but without information in the archives how or where his grave is. 

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MUSEUM OF SRPSKA, GUARDIAN OF HERITAGE AND IDENTITY

of the Memory of People Home

It changed five social systems, four states, six names, seven addresses, survived two wars, three peaces and one destructive earthquake, but, despite it all, it managed to preserve the national treasure.

Today it has more than 30.000 exhibits of first-class cultural importance. It is hoping to get a new building, modern and practical, in the urban center of Banjaluka, as it deserves By: Sandra Kljajić

Photo: Sandra Kljajić and Museum of Srpska Archive

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n all countries, museums are the identity card of the country’s history, culture and art, one of the most remarkable attributes of statehood. When you say the Louvre, Metropolitan, Hermitage, you don’t have to add France, the US or Russia. The Museum of Republic of Srpska became a first-class cultural institution of the Western Balkans – says Nada Puvačić, Museum of Srpska director.

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cial systems, seven addresses, survived two wars and an earthquake. Despite of everything, it succeeded in preserving national treasure.

In an object housing several institutions, the Museum today disposes with 3.700 square meters of its own space. The permanent exhibition covers 1.500 square meters, and the rest are depots and offices. After the adaptation, it also got a space for authors’, theme and guest exhibitions.

The Museum collections today preserve more than 30.000 exhibits. Prehistoric, antique, medieval and numismatic collections, three collections of medieval weapons and military equipment, Melanesian collection, collections of jewelry, music instruments, crafts, textile, leather and wooden objects… The rich collections of the Art History Department houses works of artists who lived and created in Banjaluka, including 57 works of Špiro Bocarić and 16 of Boža Nikolić.

– The permanent exhibition, the heart of any museum, is the mirror of museum collections and chronicle of time. The story in this exhibition starts from the Stone Age, showing the bones of a mammoth, continues with archeological jewelry of the metal age, antique era with amphorae and stone plastic, as well as the oldest medieval inscription in Glagolitic alphabet from Kijevci – continues Nada Puvačić.

They are followed by the Jajce District and numismatic collection, weapons of an Ottoman warrior, as well as the robe and weapons of a Serbian rebel from 1878, exhibits from the crucial years in the eve of the war and collision between the Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungary, exhibits from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Vrbas District, the golden age of Banjaluka development.

– Dominant in the historical part is a special multimedia exhibition about Jasenovac, which depicts the horrible suffering of people in the monstrous Croatian concentration camp during World War II. The ethnological treasure of textile, traditional crafts and ambient wholes are presented in separate departments. The Natural History Department, among other exhibits, includes Birds of the Bardača Reservation and Fish, Amphibians and Lizards collections. The exhibits of Civil Banjaluka and paintings are also attractive – adds Ms. Puvačić.

 Building of the Museum of Srpska, director Nada Puvačić and details from the exhibition

PRESERVING THE TREASURE The Museum of Srpska was founded on September 26, 1930, and named Museum of the Vrbas District. Its founder was the first head of the Vrbas District, Svetislav Tisa Milosavljević, following the orders

Structure The Museum includes the Center for Tangible Culture and Art, with archeology, history, ethnology, art history and natural departments. The library and photo-laboratory are in the documentation center of the Museum. It also has a Conservation and Restoration Center, Education and Pedagogy Center and Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

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 The staff of the Museum of Srpska in Banjaluka

of King Alexander Karađorđević. Spiridon Špiro Bocarić, academic painter from Budva, was the first manager of the Museum. “... These old folk objects, which represent history, ethnography and art to us, are disappearing, and it would be a great shame if everything the people have been making for centuries would be destroyed”, states Mr. Milosavljević in the introduction of the decision on founding the Museum.

Many people supported the Museum, and many historically, nationally and culturally invaluable ethnographic objects were collected during the first ten years of its existence.

– It is a wonderful period of the founding of the ethnographic collection, a time

Old Movies and Rare Books There are several remarkable old movies in the film material preserved in the Museum of Srpska, such as Špiro Bocarić’s Traveling through the Vrbas District from 1939. The collection of photographs includes as much as 24.000 units. There are about 14.300 books in the Museum Library, including many old and rare ones, such as the selection of seven Cicero’s speeches from 1623 and first edition of Suggestions of the Mind by Dositej Obradović from 1789.

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of high national consciousness which made the foundations of an unmistaken value system – says Puvačić.

After its establishment, the Museum was first located in the house of the famous Banjaluka merchant, Braca Babić, and in spring of 1931, it was moved to Kraljev Drum. It moved again the same year, to the former High Female School building, and then again in 1934 to the House of King Peter I the Liberator (present building of the National Theater of Srpska). It was finally an adequate space for museum and the first exhibition was made. However, the horrors of World War II followed soon afterwards.

The German forces entered Banjaluka on April 13, 1941, and the Croatian Ustashas soon took over governance over the city. Špiro Bocarić died a martyr’s death.

Emissaries of the Ustasha authorities formed the management of the Museum, and already on April 19, the Ethnographic Museum of the Vrbas District changed its name into National Museum of the Croatian Borderland. The manager was first Olga Meisner, and then friar Velimir-Mile Ilovača. 735 objects from the Museum were destroyed or stolen during the oc-

cupation. All those reminding of Serbs and Serbia were removed.

After the liberation in 1945, the management was taken over by painter Božidar Nikolić. Upon his suggestion, the name of the Museum was changed into State Ethnographic Museum Bosanska Krajina. Renovation and rearrangement of the permanent exhibition followed, and it was opened on July 27, 1946. Ethnographic objects were exhibited in one space, while archeological and mineralogical objects and medieval weapons were in the other, making the ethnographic museum a complex type museum. It was officially opened on November 3, 1946. Objects from the national liberation battles were collected in this period, and in March 1947, the Museum took over the ethnographic collection from the Trapisti convent. Nikolić left the Museum in 1951, and his position was taken over by Milena Radić.

In July 1953, the State Ethnographic Museum Bosanska Krajina and Museum of National Liberation were merged into one, named National Museum in Banjaluka, and that same year moved to the Home of Culture.

WINDOW TO THE PAST, GATE TO THE FUTURE In the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Museum, Banjaluka was struck by a devastating earthquake on October 26 and 27, 1969, and the Museum treasure was in ruins.

The ethnographic, cultural and historical, natural and national liberation army collections were saved. Unfortunately, part of the archeological findings from the Radosavska and Donja valleys, which belonged to the Bronze and Iron Age, were destroyed.

A barrack for the temporary accommodation of the Museum was erected in the Kastel area, and later moved to the Bosan-

Cultural Diplomacy The Museum is regularly visited by members of the diplomatic corps and foreign guests, so it is also an important place of cultural diplomacy, says Nada Puvačić.

– Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Greece… offered us their exhibitions. All national minorities have their space in our exhibition salon. We participate in the work of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, and are now making a joint exhibition “Pensive Balkans” with museums from eight countries. We are participating in preparing an exhibition in “Auschwitz”, as well as in the large international archeological project “Eurofarm”...

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Most Visitors The Museum is open during the entire day. The number of visitors increases every year. Now, especially in spring, 2.000 students a month visit it. Most visitors come to large author exhibitions of curators, such as “Jasenovac”, “Trapisti”, “Libada”, “Ethno Jewelry”, “Apron”, “Fungus”, “Serbian Uprising 1878”, “Božo Nikolić”, “Icons of Livanj”, “Decorating”, “Archeological Jewelry”, “Ban and Banjaluka”, “Thessaloniki Warriors”, “Vrbas District”...

ska Krajina Archive building. It was closed for visitors for thirteen years. The Museum remained in the Archive until the construction of an adequate space in the Home of Solidarity in 1983. It was reopened on July 2, 1983. Numerous exhibitions were organized, the numismatic and natural collection enriched and the permanent exhibition expanded…

The decision of the Republic of Srpska government on November 14, 1992 renamed it into Museum of Republic of Srpska and declared it the central museum institution.

Vaso Popović was appointed war director of the Museum and remained in that position until 1996. Electricity, space, staff was miss Postal stamp th for 80 anniversary ing… Still, many exhibitions were organized in the war period (“Banjaluka – Center of of the Museum of Srpska the Vrbas District”, “Jewelry”, “Traditional  Conservation Studio in the Museum of Srpska and the “Week of the Child” in front of the Museum building

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Music Instruments”…), as well as scientific meetings, publishing activities. After the war, Milica Radojčić became head of the Museum in 1996, and Nada Puvačić in 2006.

– The importance of the Museum, as the central institution for protecting movable cultural goods, for Republic of Srpska is enormous. It is the basis of the consciousness of existence, continuity and national identity, memory of the people, window to the past and view into the future – states Nada Puvačić. – After the Homeland War (1992-1995), the Museum was marginalized and its development stopped, but now it has grown into one of the most important museum institutions in the Balkans. During the previous six years, we realized more than 150 exhibitions and events and were included in several European projects.

Supported by the Swedish organization “Cultural Heritage without Borders” they traveled throughout Europe and realized a grand project “Grnčarsko Kolo”. The exhibition “Conservators’ Files” was realized for the Serbian Orthodox Church, presenting the process of conservation and restoration of four large Jerusalem icons from the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin in Livno.

– The most important projects are currently done by the newly formed Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is preparing a nomination of national culture ethno-elements for UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. Two archeological exhibitions are in preparation, as well as the historical exhibition “Weapons and Equipment of Turkish Warriors”. Every year for the Day of the City, we grant an exhibition to the city of Banjaluka. This time, it was an ethnological exhibition “Maiden’s Robe” from the Ethnological Department textile collection. We also prepare traditional events such as “Museum Night”, “Children Week”, “Spring in the Museum”, the archeological and ethnological movie show…

The Museum of Srpska is today located in the joint object of the House of Workers’ Solidarity, under conditions which jeopardize the work and reduce the significance of this institution.

– The Museum must get a new building in the urban center of the city, and Banjaluka should finally, after 80 years, get a building for culture. The highest officials of Srpska have also approved the erection of such a building, modern and functional – says Nada Puvačić. 

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“THE GOLGOTHA OF JASENOVAC” ORATORIO PERFORMED BY THE BANJALUKA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AND GUESTS

Artistic Liturgy

over the Scaffold The poem “Heartbeats of Jasenovac” had been a silent oratorio before professor Aleksandar Vujić, composer, read it and then it echoed powerfully, first in his imagination and then on stage.

Shocking, healing. The evil will repeatedly be conquered in each performance of this work of art, and the horrible crime will have the place it deserves in the fate of the world

By: Vanja Tepić

Photo: “National Review” and “Voice of Srpska” archives

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he Golgotha of Jasenovac oratorio, conducted by composer Aleksandar S. Vujić, had its premiere on May 8, in the packed ceremonial hall of the “Banski Dvor” Cultural Center. It was performed by the Banjaluka Philharmonic Orchestra, supported by their colleagues from Novi Sad, as well as selected members of choirs from several cities of Republic of Srpska (“Jedinstvo” and “Banjalučanke” from Banjaluka, “Vila” from Prijedor, mixed choir of SRPSK A  БРОЈ 1  2013

the Academy of Music in Eastern Sarajevo), and soloists Dunja Simić, Ana Simanić, Miljana Brezičanin and Svetozar Vujić.

This impressive vocal and instrumental, music and drama work of art, created on the basis of Ranko Pavlović’s poem Heartbeats of Jasenovac, reminds of the sufferings in the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia during World War II. The preparations lasted for almost a year, with great efforts and enthusiasm of many artists. It

is the largest music project of its kind in Srpska. Besides Golgotha of Jasenovac, there is only one more three-choir composition, Vojin Komadina’s Gorčin, but much smaller in volume.

THUNDERING SILENCE OVER THE FIELD OF HORROR The poem Heartbeats of Jasenovac, based on which the oratorio was created, sings about suffering. About a mother whose child is abducted, a child whose mother is taken away, killing an unborn baby, a girl whose chastity is torn by barbarous and shameful horsemen, sailors who became ships, repears who become numbers in swaths, hope which always exists and should be searched for.

– I visited the “Jasenovac” Memorial Area. There used to be a more convincing museum exhibition, testifying about the satanic killing and torturing history hasn’t seen before – says Ranko Pavlović, author of the poem. – I often visited Donja Gradina, the biggest scaffold. I was fascinated by the silence in which I recognized the silent cries of the innocent. The impressions simply deposited in me and formed a bigger poetic whole. Thus the poem Heartbeats of Jasenovac was being created in me for a long time, but I wrote it down in the 1980s. It seemed to me that such a suffering of biblical proportions, the suffering of a social being, even entire nations they wanted to exterminate, can be expressed only through the suffering of an individual.

The poem Heartbeats of Jasenovac had been a silent oratorio before professor Aleksandar Vujić, internationally famous composer, read it. Then it echoed powerfully, first in his imagination, and then on

Challenge – Especially requesting was the final line with the choirs, where each individual made a voice of one choir. I didn’t have the opportunity to encounter such a manner of performing. It was a big challenge both for me and for the choir members. I am always at the disposal for things encouraging the advancement of our people and state – says Aljoša Novaković, conductor of the “Vila” choir.

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Experience – I am very grateful for the trust the composer showed in me, because this is a valuable experience for me, especially cooperating with the Philharmonic Orchestra. We worked hard to make a successful performance. It was a great pleasure to perform before an audience that loves and appreciates art – said Miljana Brezičanin, solo soprano.

the stage. Ranko Pavlović offered the poem to the Ministry of Education and Culture of Srpska, to be performed as a recital in Donja Gradina with musical accompaniment, at the commemoration marking the day of the escape of the few inmates who survived the Jasenovac “orgy of evil”.

When director Aleksandar Pejaković read the poem, he saw something more than a recital, and then professor Vujić saw a libretto for an oratorio.

– The premiere left a strong impression on me, especially because I clearly recognized the parts of the poem which the choir and soloists didn’t sing or which the narrator didn’t tell, but were expressed only by the orchestra’s performance. I quickly agreed with the composer about adjusting the poetic text to the libretto, since it artistically and inspiringly followed the main idea of my verses. The audience was slowly leaving Banski Dvor after the premiere. People were speaking about the extraordinary musical event and experience.

This was for me the best indicator how the audience accepted the oratorio – states Pavlović.

FROM AN EMPTY NEST TO STRONG FAITH

 Première of the oratorio “Golgotha of Jasenovac” by the Philharmonics of Banjaluka in Banski dvor, May 8, 2013

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The Golgotha of Jasenovac oratorio begins with a prologue, as in an ancient drama. The dramatic narrative part of the poem starts after the introductory singing, and, in the climax of emotion, grows into singing again. The prologue is followed with the “Empty Nest”, where the motif of suffering, pervading the first ten lines, appears.

The famous composer’s song for the a cappella choir “Our Father”, modified into a vocal and instrumental form and embedded in the oratorio as the “Serbian Prayer”, connects each following section with an orchestra’s announcement, in order to get a compact whole.

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Then follows the line “Hope Ripens”, expressing the multilayeredness. While solo soprano Dunja Simić sings a very beautiful aria without text, the choir in the background sings the inspiring text of the poem.

The second solo soprano Miljana Brezičanin warms up at the beginning, and then later in the canon accepts the same wonderful melody. Each of these lines separately perhaps isn’t too difficult for the performers, but the combination of singers with the choir, on the second level, represents an extraordinarily complex whole.

The final line, “Symbol of Faith”, also exists as an a cappella composition, and

is dedicated to His Holiness Patriarch of Serbia Irinej. The first motif, “I believe in the only God”, was used in the richness of orchestra combinations, and entered into every climax, thereby present through the entire line as a leitmotif. With it, carried by the powerful trombones and tubas resembling the trumpets of Jericho, while the choir sings “Amen”, the oratorio speaks about the strength of faith and ends.

– The main problem during composing was the dramaturgy – says composer Aleksandar S. Vujić. – It was necessary to make a large arc, one-hour music, with a logical development, climaxes, drops, stream, one-

ness, which would connect the work into a solid whole. Furthermore, it was necessary to think about how long the description of suffering should last, when hope should appear, when and with which message new life should burst in. 

Guest Performances The Ministry of Culture of Srpska announced the possibility of performing the “Golgotha of Jasenovac” in Belgrade and Niš. Also considered is the possibility to perform the oratorio in bigger centers of culture in Srpska, if it’s adjusted to smaller orchestras and choirs, and if the financial circumstances allow.

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THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS OF SRPSKA AT VENICE BIENNALE

The Garden of Delights, for a Change

Exhibition of Mladen Miljanović, a painter from Banjaluka, which represents Bosnia and Herzegovina at the fifty fifth biennale at the capital of contemporary art, received high ratings and attracted a big number of visitors. By the end of November, the audience will see exhibitions in eighty eight national pavilions. The central exhibition called “The Encyclopedia Palace” will feature works of more than one hundred and fifty artists from about forty countries By: Aleksandra Rajković

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arrow streets crowded with people of all generations, nations and skin colors, carrying on their shoulders canvas bags filled with exhibition catalogues. This is, in short, a description of Venice at the time of this year’s Biennale of Contemporary Arts, fifty fifth in a row, when this city is the undisputed capital of contemporary art.

The real adventure begins at Arsenals and Giardini, where most pavilions are lo-

cated. At the very entrance there is a mo Opening of the exhibition of the numental model of the Museum of UniMuseum of versal Knowledge, a work of Marino Auriti from 1950. (This self-taught art- Contemporary Arts ist dreamed about a big palace in which of Srpska in Venice a museum of all world knowledge would be placed.) And already there, at that moment, you realize why the main curator of the Biennale, Massimiliano Gioni, defined this years’ topic with the title “The Encyclopedia Palace”.

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Nothing Between Us Giardini also feature the Serbian Pavilion, the only country of the former Yugoslavia which has here its own monumental exhibition space, the construction of which was financed in 1937 by Prince Pavle Karađorđević. The Serbian Pavilion features exhibitions of artists Vladimir Perić and Miloš Tomić. As the title of their exhibition indicates (“There Is Nothing Between Us”), the artists offer different approaches to the means of realization and art materials.

 From the exhibition “The Garden of Delight” by Mladen Miljanović on the fifty fifth Biennale in Venice

 Opening of the pavilion of B&H at the Biennale and a part of the delegation: director of the Museum of Contemporary Arts of Srpska Ljiljana Labović Marinković, artist Mladen Miljanović, minister Sredoje Nović and commissioner of the exhibition Sarita Vujković

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After passing through the gates of these two art islands, true palaces of knowledge and talent are opened. Passing by, a day before Pavilion of B&H would open, namely the exhibition The garden of Delights by Mladen Miljanović, we are proud to learn that everyone has already heard about the artist from Banjaluka and his exhibition.

Italian magazine Kultura Panorama included the Pavilion of B&H in its list of ten pavilions that must be seen! With such recommendation, journalists and the foremost experts in contemporary arts reach the Palace “Malipiero”, where they face the large sign The Garden of Delights. They watch attentively, ask Miljanović how he got the idea about this exhibition, and humbly enter the room in which the video produced in cooperation with the Banjaluka Philharmonics is played. One woman, having seen the exhibition, cannot hide her tears. The magic of Hieronymus Bosch, whose triptych The garden of Earthly Delights from 1500 inspired Miljanović, can be felt in the whole pavilion.

THROUGH UNUSUAL ENERGIES All those who were not able to previously enter The Garden of Delights came

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to the official opening ceremony on May 30. The exhibition was formally opened by the Minister of Civil Affairs of B&H, Sredoje Nović, emphasizing that Miljanović’s exhibition with is vey name is sending a compelling message about the beauty and power of diversity.

Ljiljana Labović Marinković, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Arts of Srpska, which is the organizer of the exhibition of B&H at the Biennale in Venice, days that this institution has fulfilled the most important mission in its history to date. Commissioners and curators of the exhibition, Sarita Vujković and Irfan Hošić, do not manage to answer all questions of the reporters, while receiving congratulations from their colleagues from Belgrade, Zagreb, Trieste, Ljubljana, New York, Berlin...

Everybody is waiting in line to visit The Garden of Delights. Although everything is crowded with visitors, the exhibition area exudes strange calm and silence. Mladen Miljanović, however, does not see this record breaking number of visitors. He is behind a marble slab weighing 35 kilogram, which he holds in his hands, presenting an impressive two hours long performance called “Pressure of Desires”.

Representatives of public and cultural life of Srpska and B&H, as well as passionate fans of arts, filled the space of The Garden of Delights and plateau in front of Palace “Malipiero”. Bad weather did not bother anybody, the rain that was falling one minute and would stop the next. One great artistic story got the perfect epilogue. And in the next few days the audience continued

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“Encyclopedia Palace”, a part of this year’s main theme in Venice, by curator Massimiliano Gioni

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to pour in the B&H Pavilion, exploring in detail every inch of the exhibition.

A visit to Venice at the time of Biennale, visiting all national pavilions, is truly a journey through unusual energies embedded by the artists into their exhibitions. Croatian artist Kata Mijatović with her exhibition Between Heaven and Earth has enabled everybody to write down their dreams. In the Montenegro Pavilion, Irena Lagator Pejović has realized the exhibition Image Think, with three phantasmagoric installations.

Some distance from the Serbian Pavilion in Giardini, Finns are presenting their performance, Brazilian pavilion is like a paper empire, a sculpture made of books as a strange written building. Pavilions such as German, French, and British are always the most sought for, and the longest queues are in front of them.

An unbelievable esthetic image welcomed all visitors of the Pavilion of Latin America: a countless number of ceramic cones filled with countless number of

Rose Preserve At the opening of Azerbaijan Pavilion, entitled Ornamention, we are slowly making our way through the crowd. In small wooden vessels they serve traditional national desert, the rose preserve.

The Portuguese Pavilion, which is this year on the water, on a ship, could have been visited only by a small number of people, and only by invitation.

spices in many fascinating colors. Lithuania and Latvia, also in the Arsenals, offer a completely different image – a huge tree trunk swaying from the ceiling, surrounded by black and white photographs of Latvian winter images.

Cameras and video cameras. People. Impressions.

By the end of November 2013, the audience will be able to see exhibitions in 88 national pavilions, as well as the central exhibition “Encyclopedia Palace” with works of more than 150 artists from about forty countries.

Magic, in the centre of which there is The Garden of Delights of Mladen Miljanović. 

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Photo: Museum of Contemporary Arts of Srpska

 Italian pavilion

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SERBIAN WRITER VLADIMIR PIŠTALO, EXCLUSIVELY FOR “NATIONAL REVIEW”

Only Love

Makes Us Real Originally from Risan, born in Sarajevo, related to Mostar, Belgrade, Boston, as if he has got one of his selves in each of these cities. He thinks in images. For him, metaphor is a tool the Creator deliberately forgot in the world. The eternity of our lives is in details. As in fairytales, we should recognize ourselves among the masks of others. Without love, people remain masks for each other, as if at some sad carnival. He was writing a novel about Tesla for eight years, now he’s writing a “Book on Andrić”, and after that he wants to start writing about Vladan Desnica

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he backbone of his worlds are remarkable details, which, essentially, create the importance of our lives, and eventually the civilization. Readers unmistakably feel how much the writer truly inhabits his lines, how strong his emotion

By: Vesna Kapor is. With Vladimir Pištalo, the reader is sure that the stake is the highest: trust in the reader and the world, entirely dedicated to searching for his self.

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 Pištalo on the Višegrad Bridge and during his visit to Venice

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In a Few Sentences Born in Sarajevo in 1960. Graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, obtained his doctoral degree at the New Hampshire University in the US. He teaches world and American history at the Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts. He published books of poetic prose: Picture Book, Nights, Manifests, End of the Century, novellas Corto Maltese and Alexandride, books of stories Vitrage in Memory, Stories from Around the World, novels Millennium in Belgrade, Tesla, Portrait among Masks and Venice.

Winner of NIN’s award, Award of the National Library of Serbia for the most popular book, “Isidora Sekulić”, “Moma Dimić”, “Kočić’s Pen” award, as well as the “Miloš Đurić” award (fro the translation of the poetry of Charles Simić from English). Translated into more than ten languages.

 From old albums: Vladimir with his father, mother, a friend and grandfather Spasa

with his narration. He is poetic enough to swing you beyond the real, he is close and dynamic, intriguing enough so, after reading, you continue swimming in the world that remains floating as a trace for a long time.

From novellas Corto Maltese and Alexandride, collections of stories, to the novel Tesla, Portrait among Masks, you have a tendency towards big biographies. In all those stories, one can feel the passion for revealing the world within one’s self through others.

Is that an artistic fate or matter of decision?

Not much is a matter of decision. Ivo Andrić wrote that the part of himself he chose is less important. And people don’t have this impression about Andrić. Let me be the devil’s advocate and say that these are not big, but small subjects, and that it all depends on the eye of the observer. Many think that Corto Maltese is a great comic book.

And it is. However, I asked the children of the Zemun Gymnasium about Corto. Three of thirty in the class heard about it. My Alexandride is a story about Alexander the Great, as well as a version of Serbian Alexandride, a medieval novel in which Alexander was presented as a Christian hero. How

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many people know about such novels? I’m a bit suspicious about the tendency towards greatness, which sometimes appears in my books. I attempt to approach great subjects, so to say, in a small or unexpected way. I approached Venice from a Slavic aspect. The real world is a small world, said one poet. The truthfulness of a book is either revealed in a detail or not revealed at all. Paradoxically, the eternity of our lives is in details.

Searching through the world and symbolism of carnivals continues in Venice, and the book is considered as a bildungsroman or novel of metamorphosis?

The main metaphor in Venice is Metamorphosis, the inconstancy of the visible world. Most philosophers speak about the Being as a static category. Few of them speak about Creation as a constant process. The world is made and exists through Creation. Such was Heraclitus. Never in the same river twice. That’s how Ovidius thought about the world in his Metamorphosis. Such is my novel Venice.

If one takes a closer look, Venice is actually a series of miniatures, a series of picturepostcards composed as a novel. Did you have a vision of a novel at the beginning or did you compose the novel after noting sensations?

They are not only sensations. I had an idea what I want to say, not only in the form of images, but also in the area of ideas.

(Images and ideas, in an exciting process, somehow fit into each other.) Of course I didn’t know how all that would fit in. If I knew, there wouldn’t be any revelation, no added value. If nothing surprises me in the process of creation, how will the reader be surprised? If everything I do is known to me, it will also be known to others. And vice versa.

WALKING WITH HIS GRANDFATHER’S STEPS In Venice, as well as in Tesla and many stories, the thing is not only about introspection, but also about masks. The eternal question: what is a mask and what am I? The story how a human can be brought down to a lower form, animal form, and elevated into higher, heavenly realms, and that carnivals are places of such metamorphoses.

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Is the carnival in Venice actually a parabola for the constant state of civilization?

As in fairytales. One should recognize oneself among masks. One should recognize disguised others. Truths are disguised in illusions! And illusions are disguised in truths! One should recognize them. I don’t think it is the carnivalization Bakhtin wrote about. In ideological fairytales, the seed of illusion in the truth grows into a complete illusion in time. It should be re-recognized under a new mask.

The title Tesla, Portrait among Masks on one hand suggests that Tesla spoke a simple truth, as he saw it, among people who wear masks and adapt. On the other hand, the title points out the role of love (not towards mankind, but towards concrete human beings) in Tesla’s life. Only love makes the other person real. Without love, people remain masks for one another.

“Where does that leave me?” That sentence from Venice may open layers of stories about ancestors in us, about the “suitcase of heritage” we carry through the world, about faces and steps we are traces of…?

People always told me I look like my father. However, whenever I start shaving, I see the stubborn jaw of my grandfather Spasa Pištalo in the mirror. He was a railway man and passed me the love for trains. I can only imagine how much smoke he inhaled riding on the Sarajevo-Dubrovnik railway. Besides, he looked like Chaplin when he was young.

I don’t. He could walk on his hands. I can’t.

He had a habit people considered strange

Dream of the Writer and Dream of the Reader What is your relation towards what you have written?

My relation is such that in one moment I decided that there were enough versions of the story (fifteen in the case of Tesla), that there are no excessive words in the text or I’m not able to see them. That’s where my part of the dream ends. From that moment, it’s important what the reader dreams regarding the book. We can call it bouncing dreams. I think that dreams, meaning hopes and expectations, are the integral part of our character, more important than anything written in our ID card.

Respect for Respect In the sound and fury our literary scene is overcome by, you stand on the side, belonging both to everyone and no one.

Is the secret in the knowledge that “without our soul there wouldn’t be anything” (Webster, Venice)?

Perhaps it concerns the soul and perhaps it’s about the investment in the text you mentioned in your introduction. One gets respect if one invests respect. That also refers to respect for the reader. You must treat the reader as if he or she is as good as you are in your best moments. However, this also wouldn’t mean anything without emotions. It’s not bad to like what you write about. You invest emotions to get emotions.

when I was a child: every day he would go for a walk. He’d walk around the entire city of Mostar. I liked that, so I started going for walks very early. Those long walks remained a half-inherited, half-chosen habit.

Since I go for walks every day, whether I’m in Worcester or in Boston, I walk through those cities with “my grandfather’s steps”.

SEARCHING FOR VALUES “One can find another world without leaving the one we live in.” (Venice) About journeys, cities, lands...?

While writing about Ivo Andrić, I found that journeys, whether we talk about intoxication with them or doubting them, are one of the most important subjects of our Nobel Prize winner. Notes from Rome, Sintra, Bursa, Istanbul, Madrid, Vienna, Krakow, Stockholm, Beijing, are scattered in Andrić’s prose.

After the Book on Andrić, which I’m writing now, I will write, or collect, a series of travelogues. Most of my travelogues are kept in notebooks and I need to take them out.

Notes from Botswana, South Africa, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt… are waiting for me. And many others. Yes, from Montevideo as well…

“The Mediterranean – the eyes of my ancestors in the frescoes of Fiume.” (Venice) How much are we determined by the heritage of the nation we belong to?

My mother was a literature professor, so I knew the entire history of our literature, especially poetry, before I started learning it in school. As a boy, I knew many epic folk poems by heart. I forgot most of them, but the essence remained. And I know where to find what I need. I needed them while writing the novel about Tesla. Nikola Tesla read epic folk poems once a week. The folk gusle SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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G A M E symbol such as the city of Belgrade, writing my novel Millennium in Belgrade. I dedicated eight years to revealing and illustrating the story about Nikola Tesla. I will dedicate another few years to reviving the slipping away realities (in plural not in singular) of Ivo Andrić.

After that I would like to write a book or a long essay about the great writer Vladan Desnica.

NEW HISTORY OF OUR SOUL

 “Mediterranean begins a few hundred meters above the houses of the Pištalo family in Mostar”: Vladimir and the brand new Old Bridge on the Neretva

player Petar Perunović used to visit him in New York. While writing Tesla’s portrait, among masks, I chose two epic poems concerning my hero: “Wedding of Milić Barjaktar” and “Wedding of Dušan”.

Using the sensibility of those poems, I described Tesla’s experience of World War II. My English translator thus noticed that Tesla unites literary procedures from the most ancient to the most modern ones, from folk epics to symbolism, futurism, expressionism, surrealism. As well as realism and postmodernism. Following Tesla’s life from the preindustrial to the atomic age, the novel adjusts its language, reflecting the changing literary techniques.

“Your soul is a province or capital, regardless of the place you live in.” (Tesla) What people, experiences and paradigms from the Serbian cultural heritage should first be revitalized and reaffirmed today?

Almost all. All those people who were rightfully on Serbian coins and banknotes and were later devaluated together with those banknotes, as they kept getting more and more zeroes. Minters of false money were later ashamed to print the real faces of great people on banknotes, so they began making generic faces, like photo-robots.

The faces on the devaluated banknotes were no longer Andrić, Njegoš and Vuk, as we know them from photos, but faces drawn as if someone described them to a court artist and later printed on a hectograph: wanted! I believe those faces and their values are still wanted and searched for.

I invested years in some of those values and those faces. I dedicated two years to the

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Your Tesla?

A dark haired man, thin as a greyhound, tall, handsome. Always sick, always on the verge of a catastrophe, yet indestructible.

Ready to take risks against general opinion, even unable not to take them. Indescribably stubborn. Intuitively talented author, with deep eyes, playing the role of a positivist following the trend of his time. They say he was able to evaluate the depth of a person at first glance and based on that decide how much time he would dedicate him or her.

They say he could think about scientific problems while watching movies, watching through the movies in a way. They say he felt continuity through the buzz of time or even the city noise.

Your Andrić?

Ivo Andrić felt responsibility towards the reader, unmatched in our present time.

He believed that literature is an offered helping hand, which can make a person sad, but mustn’t insult or discourage. He assumed that he, as a writer, may sometimes be someone’s only friend and advisor and that he mustn’t fail in that role. In our mocking culture, he warned that “mockers are rarely right”. He attempted to see people from the inside, the way they see themselves. He never hesitated to console his reader, repeating that he or she is never alone in anything and never the first to experience something.

Essential Question “What is this world? What is the reason of existence?” (Tesla) That’s the essential question. If a person lives his life without asking this question, it’s as if he was never born.

Your Crnjanski?

Last summer I read Crnjanski’s essays again. My attention was drawn by the fact that he was strongly against whining, complaining and dark subjects our literature was and is prone to. He liked Branko Radičević exactly for the fact that he introduced new, merrier, erotic subjects into our poetry. I was touched by the tendency towards light and joy in a poet who also knew how to lament. Regarding Andrić’s Ex Ponto, Crnjanski wrote that perhaps a new history of our soul begins with it. Joy and directness in it are more in form than in subjects. Crnjanski was a fighter for the new history of our soul.

ECHOES OF LANGUAGE IN THE TISSUE OF A HUMAN “Seen from the outside, Serbian language is small, but its interior is spacious.” (Tesla) You live in the United States, but you write in Serbian; you once said that it’s your only way of expression?

The language you start speaking and speak in your childhood becomes part of you so much that it immediately provokes echoes in your tissue. In a matter of seconds, words turn into hopes, disturbances, discomfort, promises. They become your physical states. They become you. A word of the mother tongue personified in a second. This is what mainly poetry, but also prose, is based on. In a language you learn later, words are information, not a physical echo in your being. It remains a handshake in rubber gloves and a kiss after an injection of novocaine.

About Old Age “The carnival showed what will be when I’m not me. When I become the wind, when I become the river, when I become the branches of trees. That’ll be the end of greediness. When I become: everything.” (Venice) How do you see yourself in twenty years and what kind of old age would you like?

If I were rich, I would do the same I’m doing now. If I were very old (rich in age), I would still do what I’m doing now. That would be nice old age.

conquers his own initial subjects, usually related to defining his own being. Afterwards, gradually, he expands the circle of subjects. That is where experience helps. I wrote once that a young writer must and an older write shouldn’t be afraid of banality.

You say: Sarajevo, Mostar, Belgrade: these are my cities. You have been in Boston for a long time. As if your life is arranged through postcards and stories about cities?

I think in images, and that’s how I think about cities as well. I wrote a story about Mostar, which is my favorite, and which has a very original title – “Mostar”. I wrote “postcards” about Sarajevo and Boston.

I wrote a novel about Belgrade – Millennium in Belgrade, and somehow I continue writing about it every time I visit it. I’m inspired by something I hear on the street or by graffiti. Perhaps a human with several cities has one of his selves in each of them, who greets him at the station or airport and imperceptibly merges with him when he goes for a walk. 

Photo: Writer’s archive

The archaic language, oneiric and thick experience on one hand, and the amazing easiness of moving through space and time, through the contents of the read, on the other, are balanced in your work from beginning to end. How did you maintain such dynamics and lyrical expression through the years of writing?

By attention! Without rushing, neither in terms of language nor subject. A writer must first conquer a certain language purity and build a language which is not common, but his own. There are words you particularly like, and there are those you know but never use, because they provoke a negative physical reaction in you. That’s the most difficult part of the job. Then a writer SRPSK A  No 1  2013

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SIXTY-FIVE YEARS OF PARACHUTING IN BANJALUKA

History Written in Jumps In the year of 1948, Nevenka Ličina Majc was only sixteen when she performed her first parachute jump over the present capital of Srpska. Even today she remembers every single detail. The first local Aero Club was founded in 1932 and named “Kozara”, later changed its name to “Rudi Čajavec” and finally to “St. Elijah”… The “Banjaluka” Parachuting Club is one of its three sections. The crown of its history is the European Championship in Banjaluka in August and the World Championship next year

By: Olga Vukadinović

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anjaluka is one of the rare cities in the world offering authentic tourism delights just a few steps away from its city center, especially for those enjoying adrenaline sports. That fact, says Ostoja Barašanin, until recently director of the Tourism Organization of Banjaluka, reflects a great opportunity for the development of adventure tourism. Water, earth and air here offer extraordinary possibilities. The people of Banjaluka used it for an attractive tourism offer (parachuting, paragliding, rafting, hydrospeed, canyoning, alpinism, mountain biking…), as well as for organizing large international competitions, including world championships. We will mention only two here, both related to parachuting, an adrenalin sport with a long tradition: the European Championship will take place in August, and the World Championship next year. The “Banjaluka” Parachuting Club is responsible for becoming host of these competitions, especially the young parachuting instructor Nemanja Goronja, who tragically died in a plane crash in May 2012, as well as the previous president of the Club Dušan Grmuša.

zara” Aero Club was founded. After the  Jumps of end of World War II, its name was changed Nemanja Goronja i Dušan Grmuša into Aero Club “Rudi Čajavec”. It entered the history of aviation in those post-war years thanks to one of its members, a girl of sixteen, who performed the first parachute jump in Banjaluka on January 15, 1948. That jump is still a vivid memory for Nevenka Ličina Majc, today a Belgrade citizen, yet eternally a Banjaluka girl in her soul. Despite her age of eighty-one, she talks about it in so many details, passion and emotion, fascinating anyone listening  Nevenka to the story.

Ličina Majc with Born on October 18, 1932 in Banjaluka, members of the Nevenka became member of the club in club, in early 1950’s 1946.

“SPARROW” FOR JOY The beginnings of today’s Club are related to the year of 1932, when the “KoSRPSK A  No 1  2013

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 Banjaluka parachutists at the International Cup on Jahorina Members of Special Unit of Srpska Police Department during training of paratroopers

– When we returned to Banjaluka from exile after the war had ended and when I was supposed to enroll in high school, there were vacancies only at the Technical School mechanical department. I was the only girl in the class with 37 boys. I soon became interested in modeling, which higher grade students were engaged in. I joined them and first helped them make models. I advanced quickly, so it wasn’t long before I began teaching younger students. I was really good in modeling, so it was natural to become member of the Aero Club. My enthusiasm and my results were noticed by the Club management, so they offered me and one boy, a modeler, to go to an air gliding course in Slovenia.

They sent us to Ribnica in Dolijenska, but we didn’t stay there long. The course they sent us to was actually in Kompolje. That place was very nice for me. More importantly, although I wasn’t even 15 yet, I understood how serious you need to be to become engaged in air gliding. I had an incredible passion for that sport. I didn’t mind pulling the glider uphill, holding on to some pronged rubber. Four or five of us pulled each end of the rubber, and the instructor was setting the pace. When we would reach a certain height and stop, the one on the tail of the glider would hold it until the pilot takes his or her place.

Then the rest of us would run downhill, to pull the air glider uphill again after its landing. We used to go up and downhill for the entire day and no one minded it.

The “Sparrow”, as the air glider was called, didn’t have a cabin. It only had wings, a seat, foot command and joystick. The pilot would sit as if sitting on a regular chair.

Despite all that, I can’t describe the feeling of joy when I would sit in it and fly away.

FOLLOWING THE NOTES OF CVIJETKA MAJER She completed the “A” course in Kompolje, and then they returned to Ribnica

Tandem Jumps “Banjaluka” Parachuting Club established a special “Tandem Center” intended for adrenalin junkies. Most interested people for tandem jumps are from the B&H Federation, especially Sarajevo, but they also come from Serbia, Montenegro, even distant countries such as Norway, Lithuania, Canada, Venezuela.

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to course “B”. There she met Cvijetka Majer from Slovenia and Radmila Rakočević from Montenegro, a stunningly beautiful girl. Radmila was much older, but she got along with her well.

– One day we noticed that Cvijetka was thoroughly studying some papers. “I will be the first woman parachutist in FNRY, and this script is teaching me how to jump”, she told us. I was amazed and immediately started thinking how I could be given the opportunity to jump as well. When Cvijetka put down the script, I peeked without even anticipating that very soon I would have the chance to apply what I had read in it.

Several days later, Radivoje Mišković, pilot, and Ivan Gorup, “pilot and parachuting instructor, a truly extraordinary man” came to Ribnica. Cvijetka was on a trip to fix some air gliders, and Nevenka and Radmila began asking the instructors for permission to perform a parachute jump.

– They rejected us, explaining that we were not trained and that it could be dangerous. However, besides her charm and beauty, Radmila proved to be extremely persistent. I asked them to at least let us hang on parachutes in the hangar, just to see what it feels like. They allowed us. We asked them all sorts of questions about how to turn towards the wind, how to hold our legs, how to pull the parachute lever, how to land. They also explained us how to exit the aircraft, and that you can’t jump from the PO-2, which we then had at the airport, just by throwing yourself out. You must go along the wing and, at the sign of the pilot, you step through the door as if stepping on a stair, and then count “thousand and one, thousand and two, thousand and three” and only then pull the lever.

During the first two days of the “forced” training, their jumping was out of the question. The third day, Radmila somehow managed to convince the instructors. The additional problem for Nevenka was that she came to Ribnica unprepared for such an adventure, in a skirt, without required boots. She realized they were trying to avoid her also due to her young age.

– That day, they decided Radmila would jump first. Of course I didn’t oppose to it, because she was older and had natural “priority”. Even if I did protest, it wouldn’t do me any good. Who would ask me, a child, anything? While the instructors were pre-

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paring Radmila, I was told to go to the hangar and put on the overalls.

STEPPING INTO THE EMPTINESS, COUNTING While Nevenka was dressing for the jump, Radmila was already up in the air.

After she had jumped and landed, Nevenka was told she wouldn’t be able to jump because the wind had become stronger in the meantime. Desperate, with a feeling of endless sorrow, she sat down with the parachute on her back, waiting for the wind to stop.

She thought it would stop the same way it began blowing.

– I waited until five in the afternoon, until the wind became weaker. Then Ivan Gorup repeated all the instructions once again, emphasizing that, upon the pilot’s sign, I should step into the emptiness and absolutely not forget to count. I couldn’t wait to go up into the air. When it finally happened, I carefully watched the altitude rise to 200, 300, 500, 800, 1.000 meters. All that time, while the aircraft was ascending, I was just thinking of how to show the pilot I wasn’t afraid. The only thing I could think of was to sing something. Only what? I couldn’t remember anything. When I came to the pilot and he reduced the gas so that I could jump, a song crossed my mind and I started singing as loud as I could: “Our battle requires us to sing while dying.” I don’t know whether the pilot heard or understood it, but upon his sign, I stepped into the emptiness singing.

She cannot explain the happiness that took her over when she started flying towards the earth, she says. She forgot about the counting, she was still singing, and the first thing she felt was a strong tug when she pulled the lever and when the canopy began to fill.

– Is there anything more wonderful than this? I thought while flying between the sky and the earth, with my arms spread like wings, happier than ever. Is it possible all this is happening to me? I whispered.

Then I realized that the earth is coming closer very quickly and that I should concentrate on landing. I did exactly what they taught me, but the wind started blowing again, filled the canopy and it began dragging me on the ground. I heard yelling that I should shut down the canopy, but I had no clue how to do it. Luckily, I lis-

Parachuting Educational Center Nemanja Goronja, together with Dušan Grmuš, was one of the initiators of opening the Parachuting Educational Center, which had more than 700 students. Besides young people from Banjaluka, it also trains Special Police Forces of Srpska, members of the army, Mountain Rescue Service, members of the NATO, special support units, Gendarmerie, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports in Banjaluka, Belgrade Faculty of Security Studies.

tened to their instructions and, of course, I managed to come to a standstill.

A JUMP OF ALL JUMPS Nevenka performed her next jump, the second one, the one which started the history of parachuting in Banjaluka, at the airport in Zalužani. Many people of her age, as well as older ones, followed her example. In time, the number of Club members started growing, and their enthusiasm resulted in many significant successes. According to the words of the previous Club president Dušan Grmuš, the most magnificent moments of the Banjaluka Club were in the 1970s and 80s, when the parachuting coach was Viktor Kupljenik. He achieved the most important individual success of the club, becoming vicechampion of the world in the base jumping discipline in 1972.

Recently, one of the most successful and most active members was the tragically deceased Nemanja Goronja. On the Club’s sixtieth birthday, on August 18, 2008, he performed sixty parachute jumps, for which he received the Order of Njegoš, 3rd class.

Nevenka Ličina will be remembered as the only sportsman honored with a cup during her lifetime: the Nevenka Ličina Majc Cup. The list of activities of the “Banjaluka” Parachuting Club, one of the sections of the former “Rudi Čajevec” Aero Club, and since 1993 “St. Elijah” Club, is truly big. Some worth mentioning are New Year celebration for children, when Santa Clauses were falling from the sky, the “Adrenalin Against Drugs” action, in which 22 addicts decided to turn to sports, or the organization of “Paraskija” on Jahorina. The attention of the Club, whose present head is Zlatan Crnalić, is now entirely turned towards the upcoming European and World Championships.

The Banjaluka people have been fighting for the organization of these big events for four years. No wonder they were ordained five times for their enthusiasm and results.  SRPSK A  No 1  2013

 Nevenka Ličina Majc at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the club, marked with a cup with her name Nevenka with Nemanja Goronja and in her Belgrade apartment

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David from DRAGAN BAJIĆ, “IGOKEA” BASKETBALL CLUB COACH

Aleksandrovac

Many Goliaths fell before him in disbelief. It took them long to understand that it’s not only a matter of the opponent’s momentary inspiration. One of the pillars of the basketball wonder from Aleksandrovac, coach Bajić, is a child of “Igokea”. Once a great talent, he went a long way through the war, being wounded, sports tempering, to reach the present status of one of the best coaches in this part of Europe. Who knows where the paths of his career will take him in the future, but the greatest achievement of Aleksandrovac sports will forever be related to his name

A

t the beginning of the just ended season in the regional ABA league, the favorites were teams which are anyways constant candidates for the top rankings. It turned out, however, that a team from the shadow had the strength not only to confront them, but also to completely ruin their plans.

“Igokea” from Aleksandrovac is not only the most pleasant surprise of the ABA league or a team which sometimes makes the road to the top harder for favorites.

The best in the league part and semifinalist of the play-off, the champion of Srpska showed it has the quality for the very top.

Besides the excellent work of the management, the general impression is that most credits for the brilliant results belong to coach Dragan Bajić, who himself admits that he couldn’t even anticipate that his team would play so convincingly in the regional league.

– While making the team for the new season, I planned to keep eighty percent of the players from the previous year, which wasn’t unanimously supported.

However, most of the management was on my side, believing that it was the way to grow into a stable member of the re-

By: Dejan Bulajić gional league. We filled the missing parts during the transition period. I must admit that I was lucky in selecting new players. The available data testified about their quality, but we couldn’t know their personalities. It proved to be the biggest success, because their characters brought strength and quality to our team.

It wasn’t long before he was convinced he made the right choice.

– It was obvious we had good players already at the preparations. The young men were great at trainings, they fulfilled every obligation and created an excellent atmosphere. Already at the first control games, it became clear to me that we are on a good way to make a strong team. At that moment, I believed we could achieve our basic objective: to have a place in the middle of the ABA table. I thought it would be a big success for me as a coach.

I admit that I hadn’t even thought about the results we have achieved. We didn’t have the right to such optimism at the beginning of the season.

However...

– We made good results at the beginning of the league, which gave us incentive to continue. It seems that the players SRPSK A  No 1  2013

Photo: Archive of Dragan Bajić

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W I N N E R were also aware that we have a good team, and they only needed to prove it in practice in order to start playing even more determinedly among teams intended to be favorites. As time passed by, we didn’t yield, although everyone, from the sports public to analysts and coaches of other teams, predicted we wouldn’t be able to continue long with the same pace. I was afraid of that too, aware that we have a team of basketball players in mature, even late age for playing. However, the limits of expectations can be moved by forceful trainings, complete dedication and good chemistry in the team. The players made me believe that they would give their best in any moment. That returns me to the story about their characters, which is perhaps more important that the opinion about their playing qualities.

HOW THE GIANT WAS TEMPERED The good results in the season behind us drew attention not only to the team from Aleksandrovac, but also to Dragan as a coach, because he used to be unknown to the wider sports public in Southern-Slavic lands.

– I was born in Austria, where my parents lived and worked, but I didn’t stay long in that country. I grew up in Aleksandrovac, spent my youth there and gained the first experiences in life. My early basketball lessons were also related to this place. It was in the junior team of a club called “Potkozarje”. I was a great talent, in a team which was, in its generation, champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina

God within Us – Many things fit in a day, in a year. One should remember nice things, but without forgetting the bad, so they wouldn’t repeat. Perhaps the most valuable attainment of my life is discovering God within me and around me. I’m a religious man and it gives me strength to understand people and the time I live in better and not to judge them too harshly. I pray to God for the strength He has given me up to now, to fight and not to yield. I wish I could make life easier for my family, my daughter and son, especially my little grandson, because I know what it’s like to fight for pure survival.

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in 1988 (in the competition with teams such as “Bosna”, “Čelik” and other strong clubs, it was a big thing). After graduating from the high school of mechanical engineering, I went to the army. I spent three months in the “4th of July” barracks in Belgrade, and then five years in war, first as the Yugoslav National Army soldier, later in the Army of Republic of Srpska. I was wounded, but luckily, without serious consequences. After the war, I had to connect the broken strings of my life, return to normal. A time full of contrasts brought many difficulties. I already had a family, so I accepted all kinds of jobs.

Basketball, however, never disappeared from his life.

– At the same time, “Igokea” was becoming a serious club, professional, so I took the opportunity to return as a player.

Already the first year we showed our supremacy, winning in the Republic of Srpska league. I was part of the generation that played the Radivoje Korać Cup, Saporta Cup, EuroChallenge… “Igokea” has a tradition, it was truly remarkable in the European scene.

First steps in coaching...

– My career as a player lasted until 2003. Six months later, professor Simović, then coach in “Igokea”, invited me to be his assistant. I can say today that, thanks to him, I started down the road of coaching. I soon enrolled in and successfully completed the Higher Coaching School in Banjaluka. My only experience was on the bench of “Igokea”, as assistant to our famous coaches Rajko Toroman, Željko Lukajić, Zoran Sretenović, Drago Karalić. My first opportunity to lead the team alone was in the 2007/2008 season, when we had 21 victories in a row, but I withdrew at the beginning of the Super League. I returned to the club later, again as assistant coach and last year took over the position of chief of coaching staff. It was a remarkably successful season, completed with a big fight in the finals with “Široki”. The achievements in this season are only the continuation of the good work and results.

As with any other expert, the ambitions of Dragan Bajić open broad horizons of a long career in coaching.

– At the moment, everything links me to “Igokea”. I am very satisfied with how

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To Remember – I’m the child of “Igokea”. I discovered the wonders of basketball in this club, grew as a player, began my coaching career. Who knows where life will take me, which way I’ll go. Perhaps somewhere I’ll achieve more than I have in Aleksandrovac. However, my heart will remain here forever. I wish people will remember that one of the greatest successes of the club is related to my name. I would then know that I have repaid the club, which had given me so much good things, in the best possible way.

it’s functioning and the affirmation it’s offering me. By the way, anyone who has ever been in contact with our club in any way had only words of praise. Guests, officials, members of opponent teams, all left with excellent impressions, starting from the hall in Laktaši to the club organization. Therefore, my satisfaction for being where I am is great. After all, this is my environment. However, if I get the opportunity to go to a bigger club, I won’t miss it. I’m not afraid of challenges, I am sure of my knowledge, although I know many lessons and specializations are still awaiting me. Finally, it’s a logical path for any ambitious coach. I want to prove myself and mature, both as a human and a sports professional.

THINKING LONG-TERM “Igokea” has been successfully functioning for fifteen years. The question is whether it will manage to resist the rules of the market, which set strict conditions even in sports.

– It’s clear that long-term plans are determined by finances and that this is what the future of the club depends on most.

For now, everything is functioning well in this aspect. I emphasize with pleasure that “Igokea” is one of the rare clubs in the area of former Yugoslavia, which doesn’t own a single penny to any of the former or present players. It gathers people related to the club not only with contracts, but also with great love, because they live in this area. That enthusiasm can be felt and it is our driver. We know, however,

that, the world of strict professionalism has regulations imposing different rules.

Money determines results and duration in sports. “Igokea” will be no exception.

We cannot hold this position just by our dedication, if it’s not supported with necessary means.

“Igokea” has been the best club of Srpska for years. As the situation is now, the chances for having another club like this are small. The production of talented players in this area hasn’t been on a high level for a long time.

– Unfortunately, we don’t have a wide base of quality players here. The talented ones most often don’t stay long. They go to more developed basketball centers in Serbia, because it’s important for their advancement and career. That is why we, with a few exceptions, search for players outside of our town. Aleksandrovac is too small to be able to produce new generations of talented players, although we’ve had about 300 boys and girls in our basketball school. We are trying to use the good results we have now to draw their attention, to present sports as something they should aspire to in life. The question is, however, how many of them are ready to seriously dedicate themselves to it. If I say that Banjaluka hasn’t offered a single player worthy of attention for years, what’s there to expect from smaller towns? With more local players, the team would be more attractive and the interest of the public would grow. However, it’s a deep and longlasting problem, which, I’m afraid, won’t be resolved soon. The financial means in the sports of Republic of Srpska, as in many other countries, are very low. Many clubs are on the edge of endurance and survival. This is dangerous because it will associate talented children television broadcasts rather than to sports fields and halls, to being engaged in sports.  SRPSK A  No 1  2013

 Dragan Bajić with the famed coach Svetislav Pešić and at the press conference in Laktaši

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Trusting

HUMANITARIAN WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION “DUGA” FROM BANJALUKA

One’s Values

It started in the midst of the war, in horrific despair, when a large number of displaced and ousted needed help and hope. The gathered women-refugees, with their craft, provided income which was distributed to those who were the most vulnerable. Today, it is a real small ethno-art movement that contributed to the preservation of important elements of heritage and identity, but also set high ethical and artisan standards NR Pres

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t is 1992, the war is in full swing, rivers of refugees flow down to Banjaluka. The exiled, afflicted, homeless and jobless people needed help and hope. Humanitarian Association “Duga” from Banjaluka, the first non-governmental organization in Republika Srpska, was founded exactly with that purpose: to provide assistance and hope.

David and Zmijanjka The World Conference for Women, which took place in Vienna in 1997, inspired the members of “Duga” to create authentic ethnic souvenirs from Srpska. Famous dolls David Štrbac and Zmijanjka were created as the result, and they later became the trademark of this Association.

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Women of Banjaluka, humanitarians and volunteers, organized production of traditional Serbian folk handicrafts, that beautiful artistry passed down from generation to generation, an important element of ethnic identity, and the income from sales and support was distributed as assistance to refugees.

The assistance was not only material, but also psycho-social. Within this Association, women refugees were finding care and understanding. They also initiated workshops for training in the making of handicrafts and mastering old crafts, with an intention to empower the afflicted women economically and spiritually, and to strengthen their role in family and society.

– We were collecting wool and materials used by endangered women to embroider and weave in refugee camps. It was also a method to distract them from horrors they had survived – says Galina Marjanović, President of Association “Duga”. – We wanted to give them back their self-confidence and trust in people, not forgetting who we were and where we came from. I have noticed that all of them imbued their embroidery with beautiful ornaments typical for the place from where ran away. We collected their works and created small exhibitions. “World program for food” was giving us packages as reward for their work, and we distributed them to the vulnerable people... Many traditional embroidery works have been preserved in this way.

A MISSION FORGED IN TROUBLE A step further: the Association hired experts who provided guidelines for perfecting the handicrafts. One of the first was choreographer Vasa Popović. Significant contribution was given by Luka Medar, secretary of the Cultural-Artistic Society “Veselin Masleša”, an expert who provided the members with best advices, provided inventory and samples of original traditional costumes.

Ethnographic Museum from Belgrade recognized the importance of the work of these women refugees, and they exhibited their works at exhibitions in 1999 and 2000. These exhibitions featured works with original woven and embroidered motifs from Glamoč, Grahovo, Livno... The exhibitions were supported by many cultural workers, such as writer and painter Momo Kapor.

The Museum of Banjaluka also opened its doors to the members of the Association.

With help from ethnologists and relying on literature, they were gaining new knowledge on national heritage. They adopted and applied about 120 different embroidery techniques, motifs and colors. Since then, “Duga” has been exhibiting its works in Banjaluka at least once a year.

Today, the handicrafts of these ethno-artists include production of souvenirs, decorative items and clothes. And all this is marked with motifs and ornaments from original traditional clothes of the Dinaric type.

Until 2000, when “Duga” opened its sales gallery, they went a long way. Money from sales of handicrafts is directed as assistance to their users, but also for actions of other humanitarian associations. To date, “Duga” has helped more than 135,000 people, mostly women and children victims of the war, refugees and elderly people. And the achieved level of craftsmanship and artistry is reflected in the fact that “Duga’s” dresses with golden embroidery were worn by Their Royal Highnesses Princesses Jelisaveta and Katarina Karađorđević, as well as opera singer Radmila Smiljanić. 

Photographs: “Duga”

Embroidery “Zmijanjski Vez” One of important contributions of the members of Association “Duga” is in persistent safeguarding of a craft called “zmijanjski vez”. These threads are not only used to preserve tradition, but also the deep connection between people and this region. It has been eighteen years that the members of “Duga” have been passing their rich knowledge and artistry on young generations.

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L E T T E R

EXCEPTIONAL RESULTS OF CHILDREN FROM SRPSKA AT THE INTERNATIONAL OPEN CALL “SLAVIC LITERACY”

To Think and to Feel

in Cyrillic

“In public life in Serbia, the national alphabet is present only in 12 percent of the time! We are going through a real drill of Latinization, which is an intentional strike on deep codes of identity.

In the old times, elimination of Cyrillic used to be one of the first measures of the occupying forces, and it seems that today we are completing these occupation tasks ourselves, against ourselves.

If we do not want to help ourselves, we have a duty to help our children”, says Milan Milutinović, president of the Association of Slavic Literacy and Protection of Cyrillic Alphabet By: Milica Despot

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his winter, on the St. Sava Day, the Association of Slavic Literacy and Protection of Cyrillic Alphabet announced the third International Open Call “Slavic Literacy”, in four categories, for students of elementary and high schools, as well as university students. In two months, 11,500 works arrived from Serbia, Srpska, Belarus, SRPSK A  БРОЈ 1  2013

Russia... Art works were submitted only for the first category, for students between first and fourth grade of elementary school, in other cases these were written articles.

– Cyrillic today in Serbia is systematically discriminated against, endangered and marginalized. In the public life, the Serbian national alphabet is present only in 12 percent

of the time! From the early age, children are exposed to the pressure Latinization. Toys, cartoons, picture books, children’s journals, devices, school supplies... Everything is in Latin! SMS text messages are 5 to 50 times more expensive if you send them in Cyrillic.

We are going through a real drill of Latinization. In the old times, elimination of Cyrillic from our cities and public places used to be one of the first measures of all occupying forces. Today, we are completing these occupation tasks ourselves, against ourselves, overcome by mechanisms of identification with the aggressor – says Milan Milutinović, president of the Association of Slavic Literacy and Protection of Cyrillic, explaining some of the reasons for organizing this open call.

The closing event and award ceremony was again on May 24, on the day dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Day of Slavic Literacy. Also present were representatives of state institutions of Serbia, embassies of Slavic countries, the Association of Writers of Serbia, renowned representatives of cultural and public life. This year, the awards were presented by the Representation of Srpska in Serbia, Embassy of Belarus and the Office of the Government of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija. The event was opened with an appropriate program by the Cultural-Artistic Society from Lapovo, a collective member of the Association of Slavic Literacy.

SHINING CHILDREN OF SRPSKA In the first category, students of lower grades of elementary schools sent their art work. The first prize went to Milica Janjić, ES “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj”, Zmajevo, Serbia, the second went to Darija Sidorova from Belarus, the third to Ivana Samardžić, ES “Vuk Karadžić”, Vlasenica, Srpska.

Awarded Schools In the category of schools, the first prize went to ES “Vuk Karadžić” from Višegrad, Srpska, the second to ES “Đura Jakšić” from Belgrade, Serbia, the third to ES “Petar Kočić” from Šibovska, municipality Prnjavor, Srpska. All students of ES “Đura Jakšić” from Belgrade were awarded a recognition for special contribution and efforts in organizing the Day of Cyrillic Alphabet in their school.

In the second category, students of higher grades of elementary schools submitted their literary works. The first prize went to Teodora Dubljević, fifth grade, ES “Đura Jakšić”, Belgrade, the second to Marija Nasković, seventh grade, ES “Trajko Perić”, Veliko Ropotovo, municipality Kosovska Kamenica, Serbia, the third to Dejana Marinković, sixth grade, ES “Franc Prešern”, Belgrade.

In the third category, the first prize went to Milica Ševarika from school “Dositej Obradović” from Kneževo, Srpska, the second to Andrea Muratović from school “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj” from Trebinje, Srpska, the third to Katarina Marković from school “Vuk Karadžić” from Roćević, Srpska.

Within the fourth category, university students competed with their literary works.

The first prize went to Maja Korolija, student of the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, the second to Marko Jovanović from Šilovo, Gnjilane, student of the Faculty of Philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia, the third to Milica Ostojić, student from Stara Pazova, Serbia.

Special awards went to Dragan Bogdanović from ES “Sveti Sava” in Ljubinje, Srpska, Rade Sinđelić from the School for Artistic Crafts in Šabac, Serbia, Teodora Sarić from ES “Vuk Karadžić” in Višegrad, Srpska, as well as tourist technicians Jovana Avlijaš, Dragana Marković, Nataša Mičić and Željka Blagojević from High School “June 28” in Eastern Sarajevo.

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I N T R O D U C I N G COMPANY M:TEL – DRIVER OF SOCIAL LIFE, KEEPER OF TRADITION AND CULTURE

Corporate

Social Responsibility Is the Goal of Our Company

Everything of value begins with good communication. And relationships based on good communication are prerequisite for a healthy and happy society. For this reason we have chosen the way of doing business which includes continuous communication with our friends, presence in the lives of our fellow citizens in such a manner that we drive positive changes and support good ideas

A

s one of the national Telecom operators in B&H, by constantly investing in development of telecommunications and the most advanced information technologies, company m:tel has been creating the necessary base for development of an information society, improvement of business, digital integration and creation of equal possibilities for all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the approach to information and knowledge worldwide.

At the same time, our development implies creating conditions for development of other business entities, individuals and society as a whole, and for this reason we don not neglect the social dimension of our operations and, in this respect, we are friends with numerous humanitarian, cultural, educational and sports events, we invest in people, science, arts, music... Special attention is dedicated to children and youth, as well as giving support to knowledge, youth entrepreneurship and artistic creativity of young people.

Awards and recognitions we have received for our corporate social responsibility are proof of the positive and significant interaction between m:tel and the society in which we operate. Our commitment to

Our care about people Our care about people close to us always brings joy and is never a burden for us. For, love is always joy... Because ours is only what we give to other.

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corporate social responsibility has a long tradition in the past, but we are firmly committed to build the future on the same principle.

Friends you can rely on. Corporate social responsibility is a way of conducting business embedded by m:tel in the very foundations of its corporate life, as the basis of good quality operations and richness of the spirit which develops by nurturing the culture of stimulating real values.

In order to influence positive changes and introduce as many colors as possible into everyday life, w are trying to invest in corporate social responsibility projects.

Certainly, we are proud of our employees, as the primary asset of this company. We believe that by investing into their motivation, knowledge and satisfaction, we are creating a common socially responsible driving force.

And on order for this story about friendship not to be just mere formality with many nicely arranged letters on the paper, we are trying to stimulate others to become a part of noble stories with our own example, so that all together we would have a good reason to believe in better future.

Humanity means... to give a part of yourself! Numerous humanitarian events around B&H have had ours support. Regardless of whether it is about enabling infrastructure for assignment of short humanitarian numbers or monetary donations. Every cured child, purchased medical

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“Friendship is not a big thing, but a million of big things.”

Elbert Hubbard

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device, built hospital or institution, for us is a step toward a better future. Voluntary blood donors from m:tel, gathered in this activity, for many years have been donating what is priceless – the precious liquid that saves lives.

League”, m:tel has been giving support to knowledge and new ideas. Volunteers, talent colonies, entrepreneurship for youth and many, many others... these are all projects we have supported in our mission for a better future.

For children’s smile... we would do everything. Even more than that! For many years, m:tel has been giving selfless support to children and their needs. Permanent partnership with UNICEF B&H is the best example of our desire to make the young ones have better childhood, and for those who need it, to make the battle with illness and poverty easier. We have opened the door to many humanitarian organizations and projects, and we have also given our contribution to the education and safety of children on the internet.

Culture is an ornament... of everything that we call life! We are proud when we enter into our calendar of events a cultural event that we have been able to support and which we have been a part of.

We have been an old friend of the arts of theatre and film, festivals, as well as other cultural events in B&H, and we are especially proud of the projects that we conceive independently. One of such projects is “The Art of Connection”, through which we wanted to show commitment in our efforts to connect and promote art, talent and knowledge.

Knowledge is treasure... and investing into knowledge is a mission for a better future! Company m:tel has been traditionally participating in the promotion of knowledge and education as key values for development and progress of a society. For the past three years, m:tel has been taking care of its fellows – the best students of the faculties of electrical engineering in B&H. Through projects and open calls for young talented experts in the field of information technology, such as the project “Android SRPSK A  БРОЈ 1  2013

Music is a gift... for the soul! Music erases borders and gives the most beautiful emotions to others. For this reason, m:tel has continued in the past years to support musical events in B&H. Through numerous concerts and festivals, we have given our contribution to this art form – something for everybody.

Sport is a story... about positive values!

We regularly encourage young people to

practice sports, which is evidenced in our commitment to provide support for numerous sports events in our country. We are a part of numerous sports events and we bring to the youngest ones good quality moments of practicing sports, by supporting camps and competitions. Our logo can be found on many sports hearts, on jerseys of our athletes.

Ecology... for the future of our children!

With our actions, we have been showing willingness to conduct environmentally friendly business. An example of this is the continuous implementation of the action of recycling of used mobile phone devices. Additionally, we have been implementing the action of the transfer to electronic system of billing or notifications, in order to save paper. Through continuous support with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of RS, Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of RS, Regulatory Agency for Communications, the Republic HealthSanitary Inspection, and municipal communal police, we have been ensuring consistent performance of obligations in the area of environmental protection.

By following the development of new technologies, we will continue to provide the most advanced technological solutions, adapted to the applicable environmental standards, in order to raise environmental awareness to the highest level.

Employees and their satisfaction... are the measure of our success! Satisfied employees are the main recommendation and the starting point for good quality operation of the company. By organizing internal education, foreign language courses, seminars, congresses and consultancy, m:tel wants to invest into its employees, motivate them and provide them with all opportunities for gaining new knowledge.

Additionally, this company pays attention to health and safety of the employees, and we have also established labor-legal and psychological counseling.

Ready to invest their spirit in thee building of team spirit, ready to give help to those who need it the most and to participate in socially responsible actions of the company, our employees are active drivers of socially responsible activities of m:tel and an important factor of its business success. 

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/

H E A L T H

THE SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL FROM VRNJAČKA BANJA

Phone: (+381 36) 611 625, 618 860 marketing@vrnjcispa.rs, www.vrnjcispa.com

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SPECIAL HOSPITAL “MERKUR” IN VRNJAČKA BANJA

The Leader of

Serbian Spa

Tourism

By bringing together health treatment and enjoyment, traditional use of medicinal water and the most advanced medical methods, superb professionalism and high technology, this institution has grown into a unique center of health tourism in the region. A big number of guests come from Srpska as well

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lready after the first analysis, from the mid 19th century, military doctor Emerih Lindemeyer confirmed that the mineral water from Vrnjačka Banja is good for drinking and swimming, and “predicted its good future”. And the same goes for the ancient past of this royal spa of Serbia, the oasis of health and good energy, which is reflected in the millennium long tradition.

In modern Serbia, Vrnjačka Banja has been welcoming and parting with its guests for 150 years, and Special Hospital “Merkur” for a little more than half a century. Exactly that long it needed to grow into a unique health centre, centre of health tourism and wellness, with numerous programs, taking the leadership position among Serbian spa centers.

Special Hospital “Merkur” has brought together traditional use of medicinal mineral water, medicinal mineral mud, years

of experience of its medical staff, contemporary trends in treatment, diagnostics, as well as comfortable accommodation, hospitality and professionalism of the employees who will help you improve your health and vitality, relax and rest.

It has the most advanced medical service for prevention, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation of diseases of digestive tract, diabetes and diseases of musculoskeletal system. Staff potential of “Merkur” includes 300 employees, of which there are 40 doctors specialists and sub-specialists (urologist, physiatrist, neuro-psychiatrist,

More than a Third of Banja Vrnjačka Banja is visited by more than 146,000 people every year, with more than 560,000 overnight stays. Of this, “Merkur” has 210,000 overnight stays, which is more than a third of the total number in Vrnjačka Banja.

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gynecologist, ophthalmologist, internal me­ di­cine specialist, gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist, pediatrician, nutritionist, specialist for sports medicine and occupational health), over 100 nurses and physiotherapists and over 150 employees in non-medical sector.

Thanks to the expertise and many years of successful team work in the treatment of diabetes, Special Hospital “Merkur” has become the official National Centre for Prevention and Education of People with Diabetes, thus confirming that in this domain it is Institution No. 1 in Serbia and the region.

The greatest achievement of Special Hospital “Merkur” in the previous period are certainly – satisfied guests! Most of them say that gladly come to “Merkur” because of the friendly staff and good doctors, but the key reason, primarily, concerns the excellently conceived health programs, in the spirit of contemporary health tourism, and wellness programs, modern and imaginative, which are able to please even the most demanding clients. The possibility to use the Aqua Centre “Waterfall”, Peloid Centre “Limus Romanus” and hyperbaric chambers, as well as diverse programs of the attractive Wellness Centre “Fons Romanus” – additionally expands the offer of this special hospital, providing the guests with a number of new way

Prices of Medical Boards For season I: from RSD 2,565 to 3,940 For season II: from RSD 2,825 do 4,340

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for good quality relaxation. Very significant for satisfaction of its guests is also the increasingly high standard of quality of hospitality services, backed by huge investments in the kitchen block and restaurant, and introduction of HACCP standard of hygiene, as well as in reconstruction of rooms which can now provide guests with full comfort.

SPECIAL PACKAGES AND SPECIAL OFFERS In addition to treatment and enjoyment, guests of Special Hospital “Merkur” have available diverse special offers of Vrnjačka Banja: cultural events (film and music festivals, concerts, literary evenings, carnival...), hunting and fishing, wine tours, medieval monasteries in the surrounding area (Žiča, Studenica and Ljubostinja), mountains Goč and Kopaonik.

In order to simplify the offer, to provide flexibility and presenting diversity of the programs, they have developed medical, wellness and standard board. Within medical boards, the guests will have available the following: • General medical package • Living with diabetes – for prevention and treatment of diabetes • Gastro package – treatment of digestive tract diseases • Movement without pain – for pain in the spine and joints • Linea life – weight loss package • Lady life – gynecological package for prevention and treatment. 

„G

uinot Institut Paris” has been the leading company worldwide in the area of professional cosmetics for 35 years.

Through joint work and cooperation of the best scientists and cosmetologists from around the world, and continuous monitoring of needs and desires of clients, it has developed a reliable way for successful work in the field of face and body care.

The key to this success lies in superb treatments, use of products that are the result of the most advanced technology, as well as in exclusive dedication to care in beauty salons, high standards in education and training of the therapists, and the image acquired through advertisement campaigns and sponsorship of the most important sports events. In very strong competition, “Guinot” has managed to retain the leadership position through continuous innovations, most notably inserting the “cell medium” in preparations with as many as 56 active ingredients for cell regeneration: 21 amino acids, 17 vitamins and 16 minerals.

“Guinot” has quickly won clients’ trust all over the world based on visible and long-lasting results of the performed treatments. That is why among the users of these cosmetics there are those “forever young” world stars such as Halle Berry, Kylie Minogue, Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Adjani, and men – Mel Gibson, George Clooney and Richard Gere. Still, what keeps these cosmetics products on top is, before all, the loyalty of its customers, such as British Queen Elizabeth.

Today, every well known centre that operates in beauty industry must have its “Guinot” cabinet as the quality assurance for the most demanding clients.

More than 11,000 authorized “Guinot beauty” salons, clinics and spa-centers worldwide, with professional beauty therapists, are the guarantee of quality and stability of the brand.

Welcome!

The Most Popular Treatments • HYDRADERMIE • HYDRADERMIE LIFT • TECHNI SPA

• AROMATIC • BEAUTE NEUVE • LIFTSOME

FACE AND BODY CARE CENTRE Nikola Pašić 1, 78000 Banjaluka Tel.: 051 347 940; Fax: 051 347 942; Mob.: 065 593 569 glocon@teol.net, www.guinot.rs

Wholesale and retail of cosmetics products and make-up. Importer for B&H: “Glocon”, Banjaluka

S T U D I E S

FIVE AND A HALF DECADES OF BELGRADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Knowledge Is Always in Trend This institution of higher education, founded in 1956, was among the first in Serbia to embrace new educational strategies and new technologies of the information era. It has been developing and growing continuously. Today, it is a modern and accredited institution – one of the biggest colleges of vocational studies in Europe

C

onnoisseurs of the “drink of the gods” say that wine gets better as it gets older. A similar thing could be said for Belgrade Business School: more extensive experience – higher quality. When they say for a school that it is in its best age, it means that it has a tradition and professional staff which can provide the best for its students. Maturity and experience, and still enough youth to successfully follow the

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latest trends in its field. This is exactly what Belgrade Business School - College of Vocational Studies is like. These days, it has been celebrating its 57th anniversary.

It was founded by a decree of the Assembly of Serbia on June 29, 1956, as Junior Commercial-Business College. In 1988, it grew into Junior Business Administration College, and since 2002 it has been working under its current name: Belgrade Business

School. Not only its name was changed then, but the school was transformed in accordance with actual contemporary needs of the society. The process was successfully finalized, study programs were accredited, the concept and length of study were changed (they now last three, instead of two years). After the adoption of the new Law on Higher Education, in 2007 this educational institution has received the status of college of vocational studies.

– Optimum use of all available resources and more than five and a half decades of experience, then experience of prestigious world and European business institutions, ad well as the postulates of the “Bologna Process”, legal norms and standards, has shown that strategic objectives of our school, set long time ago, were not only realistic by anticipatory – says for National Review Prof Dr Ilija Samardžić, Director of Belgrade Business School. – Regardless of the number of colleges and universities that we have, we are still lacking highly educated staff. That is why in 1996, upon request of the Ministry of Finance, we founded the faculty for education of staff for public revenue administration and financial police. In accordance with professional analyses conducted at this time, 5,000 people with such education were needed. Today, there are only about 2,000 of them left, because many have retired. Practically, we have never reached the figures that our economy needs.

Belgrade Business School was one of the first to start implementing new technologies in the process of education and grading. Electronic exams, typical in most European countries, have been enabled here since 2009/2010 academic year. Within this project, the school equipped new classrooms with over 160 computers and the most advanced server system-room, with its own funds. They have also furnished

Ready for the Future Professor Joakim Veber, PhD, Dean of the University of Cooperative Studies in Stuttgart, during the official ceremony celebrating the 55th anniversary of BBS, said: – It was our pleasure to share with you some of our experiences that we gained in the last four decades of implementing threeyear practically integrated cooperative university programs. I had the opportunity to follow the process of accreditation of Belgrade Business School and it is my pleasure to host groups of students and professors from Serbia. They have been visiting our university for many years, and soon a group of our students will come to you.

I am impressed with the innovative academic development in Serbia and I think that Belgrade Business School is ready for the future.

two modern multifunctional amphitheatres, each with 125 seats, with a possibility to combine them into one with 250 seats, by moving the sliding partition wall. It currently has over 500 computers. In addition to this, there are four other amphitheatres, more than 20 classrooms, nine internet classrooms, library (with more than 10,000 titles), a reading room...

Based on all parameters, Belgrade Business School is, in its field, one of the most attractive in the Balkans.

ADVANTAGES OF INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES – The number of foreign students, from regional but also other European countries, is growing every year. We have 7,500 active

 Professor Ilija Samardžić, PhD, Director of Belgrade Business School

Education for Life The ceremonial academy celebrating the anniversary of Belgrade Business School was also attended by Prof Dr Slavica Đukić Dejanović, President of the National Assembly of Serbia. Sincerely congratulating for successes achieved thus far, she emphasized: – This school does not produce staff for diplomas, but for economy. It teaches students how to resolve business problems in life, it educates those who can do this.

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Professor Milan Bjelić, PhD, General Secretary of Belgrade Business School

students. Based on the number of students, we are currently one of the biggest colleges in Europe – says Director Samardžić. – We have an idea to establish an academy of vocational studies, which is enabled by our laws. We have prepared a preliminary project with German universities, which is partially already being realized. We have excellent cooperation with Stuttgart University. During their work in Germany, our students showed exceptional knowledge and animated local students who are now coming here to learn. We also have good cooperation with the Ministry of Education. I hope that all our plans will be realized soon and that the vocational college in our country will become reality.

True Example of Success – Serbia is a part of European educational area and it is therefore doing everything to improve its educational system for the purpose of its future development – says the Minister of Education and Science, Prof Dr Žarko Obradović at the ceremonial academy celebrating the anniversary of Belgrade Business School, announcing the adoption of new Law on Higher Education when Serbia gains the status of a candidate for membership in the EU. – Former colleges that successfully underwent the process of accreditation have become vocational colleges, institutes of higher education based on contemporary concept of curriculum and organization.

There are currently 65 thousand students in Serbia. I hope that solution in the future law will be in the interest of high education, increase in the number of people with high education and developmental perspectives of our country. Belgrade Business School is a true example of successful organization and our efforts to improve the system of education in accordance with modern European standards and developmental needs of our society.

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Within international cooperation of Belgrade Business School, according to the Memorandum on cooperation with Canadian State College “Algonquin” from Ottawa, successful exchange of students and professors takes place. Cooperation with University “Johannes Kepler” from Linz (Austria) is similar, with University of Stavanger from Norway, Aristotle University from Thessaloniki (Greece), University “Vasilie Goldis” from Arad and Serbian gymnasium “Dositej Obradović” from Temisoara (Romania)... There are also plans for Republika Srpska.

– Belgrade Business School has been present in the territory of Srpska even in the most difficult times, when this Republic was being formed – says professor Milan Bjelić, PhD, General Secretary of Belgrade Business School. – Courage and self-sacrifice of teachers and staff of Belgrade Business School were coming to the fore in those difficult times when they were trying, despite all hardship, to maintain the activities of higher education. In addition to their presence in Novi Grad at that time, the educational activity was being realized later in the municipalities of Gacko and Sokolac. Numerous unbreakable bonds and friendships from these times between the citizens of Srpska and the staff from Belgrade Business School have remained until this day. We will try, in accordance with positive regulations of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska, and in the spirit of the Agreement on Special Parallel Relations, to restore our presence in the territory of Srpska, convinced that we will be welcomed warmly by our friends.

Experts who are wisely managing Belgrade Business School emphasize in the interview for National Review that they are signatories of the Global Accord of the United Nations, the most numerous voluntary association of companies dedicated to harmonization with ten university principles of corporate social responsibility.

They are also proud of numerous awards and recognitions, among them the Order of Vuk Karadžić of the 2nd order, which was awarded to the school in 2006 by the president of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marović for the results achieved in education of professional staff, as well as the prestigious Discobolos award for the project “Business intelligence as process measurement tool”. s

The Republic of Serbia

HOTEL MANAGEMENT SCHOOL Of vocational studies

AGEMENT • GASTRONOMY N A M RANT U A T ES T• R N E AGEM N A M L HOTE THE COLLEGE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT, the best school on the Balkans in 2011, enrolls in the first year of undergraduate vocational studies 390 new students, who will gain high education and 180 ESPB points, within accredited study programs in academic year 2012/2013: • Hotel Management (Hotel Manager, bachelor.appl) – 140 students (30 financed from the budget + 110 self-financing) • Restaurant Management (Restaurant Manager, bachelor.appl) – 80 students (30 financed from the budget + 50 self-financing)

Kneza Višeslava 70, 11000 Belgrade Phone: +381 11 25 45 787 Fax: +381 11 2547 884 E-mail: info@vhs.edu.rs Site: www.vhs.edu.rs

• Gastronomy (Gastronomy Manager, bachelor.appl) – 170 students (30 financed from the budget and 140 self-financing) > Submission of documents for the first enrollment period: June 25-27, 2012 > Entrance exam: June 28 and 29, 2012 > Results: June 30, 2012 > Enrollment: July 5 and 6, 2012 More detailed information, enrollment guide, useful tips: www.vhs.edu.rs