Srbija nacionalna revija - broj 46 - engleski

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Year VIII  No 46, 2014  price 390 RSD www.nacionalnarevija.com

Debts and awakenings

THE LAST SLAVIC EMPEROR

On the occasion of 900th anniversary of the birth of Stefan Nemanja (St. Stefan the Peacemaker),

EXCEPTIONAL ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPH! Old and new texts, biographies and services, poems and studies, photographs and paintings!

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Све­ти­му­че­ник­ По­ли­евкт

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Краљ Петар је у јесен 1915. са војском одступио ка Албанији. Испред колоне но­ шени су Мирослављево јеванђеље и мо­ шти Стефана Првовенчаног. Болестан, део пута превалио је у волов­ ским колима. Прошао је албанску голготу, био на Кр­ фу и вратио се као ослободилац. Упокојио се у сну, на војничком кревету, у изнајм­ љеној кући у Београду.

ПРИНЦИП ПРЕС

P r o l o g u e HOW TO SEE THE OBVIOUS

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 Editor Branislav Matić Technical Editor Aleksandar Ćosić Photography Editor Dragan Bosnić Header and cover design Jovan Željko Rajačić Associates Milovan Vitezović, jerej Jovan Plamenac, Bojan Mandić, Dragan Lakićević, Nebojša Jevrić, Olga Vukadinović, Jovo Bajić, Dejan Bulajić, Vlada Arsić, Dejan Đorić, Đorđe Srbulović, Mihail Kulačić, Dubravka Preradović, Milena Z. Bogavac, Rozana Sazdić, Vojislav Filipović, Saša Šarković, Zoran Plavšić, Lenka Šibalija Translated by Sandra Gagić & “Globe Translations“ Marketing Mirko Vujović, Irena Stolić Secretariat and placement Jelena Jović, Dragana Dimitrijević, Milenko Vasilić

Parasols in the Rain

I

t has been half a century since the great French writer Henry de Montherlant (1895–1972) openly accused a country that it was “the only one in the history of the world to manage to reduce intelligence, morality and quality of man on almost entire surface of the planet”, which constitutes a “horrible crime against humanity”. Guess which country it was.

It has been a century since the great German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) wrote for another country that “it was the only one in the world that borders with God”. Check for which one.

Nothing has really changed until today. It is only sharper, more painful. But people and peoples have inviolable right to not see the obvious, if they don’t want to. “Freedom of will gives us terrifying power to choose hell.”

This fall, Serbia again paid several historical debts toward itself and toward others, ancestors and offspring, friends and enemies: we bring reports on this, so they remain recorded, for ongoing chronicles. Of course, just like in the past eight years, we did not allow to be swallowed by the demon of politics. In Zvižd, we whistled through legends and collected images from the golden river. In Podgorina, we made rakia and jam. At the regatta from Banjaluka to Belgrade we stopped

by Sremska Mitrovica. In Vrnjačka Banja we walked down the little known roads of Dobrica Ćosić. We studied how the “Trag” from Banjaluka hounds and whose computer is occupied by stories. At the “Kult Fest” we witnessed another victory of creative youth over the instrumentalized culture. We enjoyed in the encounter of today’s children with the legacy of Mihailo Pupin. We went to the Celts in time and Azerbaijan in space. We discovered the Silicon Valley at Zvezdara Hill.

And a lot more.

You will quickly realize why you thought we have been gone for two months. 

Print “Portal”, Belgrade

Partners of the Publication:

Office for Srpska “Princip Pres RS” Aleja Svetog Save 7, 78000 Banjaluka Tel/Fax: +387 (51) 304 360

VRNJAČKA BANJA

Office for Australia “Princip Press Australia PTY LTD”, 12/24 Loch Street, 3182 St Kilda West, VIC

Cover page: Emperor Nikolai II Romanov, monument in Belgrade (from a photograph by Dragan Bosnić)

MINING BASIN ”KOLUBARA“

Magazine registered in the Register of Public Media of the Republic Serbia, no. NV000385

ISSN 1452-8371 = Serbia - National Review COBISS.SR-ID 139201804

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MUNICIPALITY OF KOVAČICA

SRBIJA  BROJ 46  2014.

MUNICIPALITY OF РУМА

THE BELGRADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

CITY KNJAŽEVAC

STUDENT HOSTELS

SREMSKA MITROVICA

CE TPP NT

Media partners:

RTS - PUBLIC SERVICE OF SERBIA

RTV VOJVODINA - PUBLIC SERVICE РАДИО ТЕЛЕВИЗИЈА ВОЈВОДИНЕ

NEWSPAPER SERBIAN PATRIARCHY

This magazine is printed with support from the Ministry of Culture

CONTENTS Panorama 04 Prologue 06 Chronicle

Road Sign 10 Album: Unforgetting 16 Freedom: 100 YEARS of the Battle on the Drina 24 Memory: The Emperor, finally, in Belgrade 28 Guide: In Zvižd, on the gold-bearing river 34 Road Sign: SERBIA around the distiller 38 Currents: In Mitrovica, at the Regatta

Culture 40 Chronicle: Dobrica Ćosić in Vrnjci 46 Fate and comments: Zorka Karađorđević 52 Sounds: Ethno band “Trag” 56 Worlds: Mihailo Gligorić, painter 60 Enterprises: “Kult Fest” in Belgrade 64 Fairytale: Lessons from the Dwarf Land

People 68 Life, novels: Aca Seltik 76 The victor: Đorđe Perišić 81 Health: Dr Ljubodrag Minić

Introducing 86 Action: “Merkur’s” “Month of Esthetics” 90 Bridges: Azerbaijan 96 Science: Technological park on Zvezdara 100 Upswing: Investments in Ruma 102 Connections: “Telekom” in the honor of Pupin 106 Studies: Belgrade Business School 110 Knowledge: “Singidunum” 114 Energy: Mine for the power of Serbia SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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P A N O R A M A

NE WS S T RE AM >> On December 1, Russia announced its withdrawal from the project “South Stream”, the gas pipeline that was to provide stable supply of Central and Eastern Europe with gas, through the Black Sea, Bulgaria and Europe. “Not only that the EU did not support the construction of this gas pipeline, but continuously, under pressure from the known origin, created unreasonable obstacles for it”, said Russian president Vladimir Putin in Ankara. >> Serbs in Northern Africa is the title of the exhibition by Dušica Bojić (Historical Museum of Serbia), opened on December 2 in the State Archives of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat. Through numerous photographs, artwork and archive materials, the visitors will learn a lot about stay and convalescence of 61,000 Serbian soldiers in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco from 1916 to 1919, after withdrawal through Albania. The opening was attended by King of Morocco, Muhammad VI. >> Serbia 1914, exhibition of the Historical Museum of Serbia and Military Museum in Belgrade, was opened in November in Stockholm. The audience will become familiar with the political, cultural and economic rise of Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century, until the outbreak of World War One, events that preceded the war (Customs War, Annexation Crisis, Balkan Ears, Sarajevo Assassination, July Crisis), as well as Serbian military achievements from 1914, the first year of the Great War, in battles on Cer, the Drina and

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Nine Hundred Years of Stefan Nemanja Ruler, Monk and Spiritual Leader – Venerable Simeon the Peacemaker and Serbian History and Culture (1113–1216) is the title of the international scientific gathering that took place this fall in Belgrade, Studenica, Podgorica and Nikšić, on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the birth of Stefan Nemanja. The jubilee of the founder of the holy Nemanjić lineage and one of the pillars of Serbian Golden Middle Ages gathered renowned spiritual leaders, artists, scientists and state officials. The organizers were Diocese of Budim and Nikšić of Serbian Orthodox Church, Institute for Art History of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Byzantine and Institute for Serbian Language of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The gathering started with the liturgy at the Chapel of St. Simeon the peacemaker in the Patriarchy, which was served by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej.

Russian Art Рос­си­й­ское ис­кус­ство. On Russian and Serbian Painting is the title of a luxurious monograph presented in November in Belgrade. Every year, Russian National Cultural Fund “Vozroždenije”, the Federal Agency for Publishing and Mass Media and Russian Literary Society are preparing a special edition dedicated to cultural dialogue of Russia with one selected country. In 2014, when we celebrate 1150 years of Slavic literacy, 400 years of the Romanovs and 100 years of the birth of the late Patriarch Serbian Pavle, this selected country is Serbia. Serbian publishing partner in this project is the Royal Order of Knights, and the monograph was presented by archpriest Nebojša Topolić, Gradimir Stanić, professor Stanislav Živković and Igor Kuzin.

Authors’ Court, a film by Indian director and screenwriter Chaitanya Tamhane was crowned by Grand Prix “Aleksandar Saša Petrović” as the bet in the official program of the twentieth Author Film Festival, which closed on December 2 in Belgrade. Best director award went to Noaz Deshe for the film White Shadow (coproduction of Tanzania, Germany and Italy). Award for cinematography went to Mikhail Krichman for the film Leviathan by Russian screenwriter and director Andrey Zvyagintsev, and the critics’ award went to Danish-Argentinean film Hauha – Heaven on Earth and (again) the Indian Court.

Kolubara. Authors are Nebojša Damnjanović, Snežana Solunac Jović and Vuk Obradović, and the coordinator is Slađana Bojković.

>> Ségolène Franše d’Epere Vujić, thirty seven year old great grand daughter of the famous French general, after the very successful exhibition in May at the Serbian Cultural Centre in Paris, presented her extensive material on Serbia in the eyes of French people during World War One, announced this November that she was planning to open a permanent museum exhibition in Serbia with over two thousand exhibits. The exhibition will bear witness to the former SerbianFrench friendship and “will continue what her ancestor started in the Great War”. >> The best known global tour guide Lonely Planet proclaimed Serbia one of top ten destinations in 2015.

Review of Serbian Films Films recorded on the basis of won open calls of the Film Center of Serbia will be presented for the first time in December as a review in a series of cities in Serbia (Niš, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Gornji Milanovac...). The entrance is free, authors will be present during the projections, and the audience will be able to see animated Hat by Andrej Janevski, short feature film Grandma Wants to Go Home by Bojana Starčević, documentary Restart by Dejan Petrović, Milica by Dragan Elčić, Roots of Evil by Želimir Gvardiola and Seeing by Simo Brdar. The goal is, among other things, to popularize film genres and approaches that are less present in the public.

>> Special Hospital “Merkur” from Vrnjačka Banja presented itself very successfully this November at the World Travel Market in London, and the number of international guests in this institution exceeded 20,000 per year. >> In early December, the Bjelica River flooded settlements and farmland in the municipality of Lučani for the eighth time this year, and the Lim flooded in Prijepolje and posed a threat to Brodarevo. >> Mosaic of Original Testimonies – Serbia in the Great War is the title of the exhibition of collector Aleksandar Boričić, valley ball coach

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P A N OR A M A

Domingo in Belgrade

NE WS S T RE AM and official, opened on December 1 at the Hall of the RTS. For more than four decades, Boričić has been collecting historical letters, postcards, stamps and other materials, and with this exhibition he showed how German and Austrian propaganda represented the Balkans before, during and after the Great War. >> Approaching the centennial of the birth of famous Serbian writer Branko Ćopić, which will be next year, “Boško Buha” Theatre from Belgrade staged a production based on the novel The Donkey Years. The novel as adapted

by Milica Konstantinović, and the production was directed by Marko Manojlović. Aged Branko Ćopić is played by Zoran Cvijanović, and young one by Ivan Zablaćanski.

The premiere was in “Atelje 212”, the reprise at Belgrade Drama Theatre, because the home stage of “Boško Buha” Theatre is under reconstruction and will be reopened in February 2015. >> Road to Damascus, a play by August Strindberg from the late 19th century, recently premiered at the National Theatre in Belgrade. It was directed by Nikita Milivojević, adapted by Slavko Milanović, and one of the leading roles was played

by Tanasije Uzunović. >> “Days of the Belgrade Dance Festival” will be organized for the second time at Kinoteka from January 28 to February 1, 2015.

The audience will see a series of exclusive projections and many times awarded films that contain elements of dance, such as First

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“I am very glad that I will be performing in your big city, I hope that the wonderful Belgrade audience will also enjoy it. It is always a great pleasure for me to return to Belgrade, especially when it is

after many years like now”, said the famous Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo before his performance in Serbian capital on December 8. The interest for this extraordinary cultural event is great, and tickets for “Belgrade Arena” have been sold out for more than two week.

Dance Aleksandar An­to­ni­je­vić, for many years the soloist of Canadian National Ballet and art photographer, is the winner of the fifth Award “VIP Call”, which has been awarding by Belgrade Dance Festival every year to Serbian artists for the successful career achieved abroad.

The award will be handed out at the next Belgrade Dance Festival, in March of 2015, when fifteen productions will be presented, with participation of artists from the USA, Israel, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Norway.

Position by Bess Kargman, Kara Mena by Jiri Kylian, Realization of a Dream by Cuban National Ballet, Mirror and Music by Sabura Tešigavar, Cabaret by Bob Fosse or Flashdance by Adrian Lyne.

Farewell and Welcome “New Year’s and Christmas holidays in Belgrade will be celebrate in a series of events that will last for almost one month”, Miodrag Popović, director of the Tourist Organization of Belgrade, said recently. “With good entertainment, available to everybody, the intention is for the city to earn revenues from this celebration and this, unlike in the previous years, constitutes a sustainable economic model.”

There will be three stages mounted for the New Year’s celebration in Belgrade. In front of the Parliament, there will be performance of musicians for the “widest taste in music”.

At the Republic Square there will be a rock-and-roll stage.

The third one, it is still not known where it will be, will be focused on teenagers. In all versions, regardless of the type of music, it will be a very good quality program, said Popović.

Kopaonik, Kopaonik...

The fifth “Ski Opening Kopaonik”, from December 4 to 7, will be marked by concerts, daily and night parties, sports competitions and numerous valuable awards. It is estimated that this program will bring more people to the

best known winter tourist center than last year, when there were more than 15,000 of them. The event has been organized since 2010, modeled after the most popular European ski centers, which celebrate the beginning of the season every year. The organizers are “MK Mountain Resort” and JP “Ski Centers of Serbia”.

>> According to officially summarized data, at the last International Book Fair in Belgrade, the fifty ninth, there were 971 participants, of which 406 domestic and 77 foreign direct exhibitors.

There were 866 programs, 1022 domestic and foreign reporters were accredited, and there were 164,606 registered visitors.

>> “With this party I rounded up my boyhood dream and put an end to my career as a player. Everything is easier with you. You are the power and miracle!” said Dejan Stanković, on November 15, in front of the northern bleachers of “Zvezda” stadium in Belgrade, while saying goodbye to active football at the match “Zvezda” – “Udineze” organized on this occasion. >> Between two editions of National Review, renowned Serbian writer Voja Čolanović died in Belgrade, at the age of 92. Journalist, publisher, playwright, the first editor of the Scientific Program at the Television Belgrade, received NIN Award in 1987 for his novel Foldable Anxiety. >> Jovan Ćirilov, theatre critic and writer, for many years the director of Yugoslav Drama Theatre and Selector of BITEF Festival, passed away on November 16 in Belgrade, at the age of 84.

SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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A l b u m

DEDICATION TO THE HEROES OF THE GREAT WAR

 Serbian positions on the Sava  Serbian soldiers in artillery positions in Serbia. A little Serbian cemetery near the Vizier’s Bridge in Albania

 Vasa Eškićević: Serbian army arriving at the sea in Albania.

Fleeing of AustroHungarians across the Sava

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Unforgetting “W

e, war volunteers, were giving our best, sacrificing our lives on the battlefields. The following day, many will be killed again in the battles. But there will be wars afterwards as well. You, the young, schoolboys, pupils, when you get old enough for war and fight, maybe for some ideas different from ours, take in your hearts the self-denial of volunteers. And do not forget us.”

That is what Milan Vakanjac, Serbian officer-volunteer, wrote at the Thessaloniki Front, in a difficult moment before the decisive Serbian attack, on a paper torn from a notebook. This records, together with his other notes from the war, was later published in the book Do Not Forget Us. The title of this book was taken as the title of the exhibition that marked this fall in the Gallery of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade.

Thanks to the cooperation between the Gallery of SANU and the Museum of Novi Sad, National Museum in Šabac and Military Museum in Belgrade, the works of Serbian war photographer Risto Marjanović and war painter Vasa Eškićević were presented to the public: 60 photographs, 25 paintings and 81 sketches.

Both authors were direct participants. Both returned to Serbia immediately after the outbreak of World War One and made themselves available to the Serbian military headquarters. Eškićević, originally from Irig, came from Russia after twenty years and impeccable career. Risto Marjanović, originally from Šabac, worked in Paris as an editor for illustration of New York Herald for Europe.

What they left to us from those difficult years is precious, “true Serbian illustrated history of the Great War.” We will share a piece of this with our readers, for eternal memory of all heroes and martyrs killed for the Homeland. Memory is only a crumb of what we owe to them .  (B. M.)

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Vasa Eškićević: Serbian horsemen SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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View from Gučevo on the Drina valley

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SRBIJA  BROJ 46  2014.

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLES OF GUČEVO AND MAČKOV KAMEN IN 1914

Battle above the Clouds The amazing heroism is the eternal measure and fate of defenders of Serbia. The Battle of Drina is one of the bloodiest and most incredible ones in World War I. In difficult circumstances, lacking ammunition and equipment, Serbian warriors held off 215.000 Austro-Hungarians for two months, without rest or shifts. In five days of the almost mythical drama on Mačkov Kamen, more than 8.000 Serbs and about 30.000 Austro-Hungarians were killed. And each chapter of the Battle of Gučevo, from the distance between the battle lines to the way of providing supplies and communication, has forever become part of anthologies of warfare

Text and photo: Nenad Marković

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F r e e d o m

 Monument to Serbian soldiers on Gučevo, above Banja Koviljača

T

he achievements of the Serbian army in World War I have always deeply struck me – says Richard Carl (81), retired colonel of the American army, former professor of military history at West Point, while walking in Gučevo, the mountain where bitter fights took place a hundred years ago, famous as the Battle above the Clouds. – It is a great story only a few know about, about the fight and magnificent victory of a small nation.

What Serbia accomplished then, what her soldiers-peasants achieved fighting with-

Commerce in the Trenches Austro-Hungarian troops had ammunition and equipment, however lacked food, which was difficult to supply over the fiery Drina (Serbian artillery destroyed bridges). On the other side, Serbs had food, but were short in everything else. Unusual commercial activities thus developed in Eminove Vode, where the trenches were closest to one another. Our soldiers exchanged two loafs of bread for a pair of shoes from the Austro-Hungarians.

First Serbs would throw one loaf and, when the shoes would fly from the other side, they would send the other.

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out equipment and ammunition, with love for their homeland and people, defending their homes with their lives, should be known. As a soldier, I can understand the soldier’s soul, and here I found the one that made a peasant become a soldier. In order to win a war, one must be a good man. You made that happen.

The bloodiest battles of the Serbian army in World War I took place within the Battle of Drina, especially in Gučevo above Banja Koviljača and Mačkov Kamen near Krupanj. Serbian allies were doing badly, the enemy was marching towards Paris, Russians were suffering losses in Galicia.

Serbia was therefore requested to conduct an offensive against Austro-Hungary, so that its troops would remain in this area. Fulfilling the requests, the Serbian army moved to Srem on September 5 and achieved significant successes. Meanwhile, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian forces in the Balkans Oscar von Potiorek decided to begin the second invasion into Serbia on the Drina, thereby stopping the

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F r e e d o m  Guard unit of Serbian Army on Mačkov kamen, 2014

Serbian offensive and moving towards Valjevo. The Fifth and the Sixth Army started across the Drina in the night between September 7 and 8, to confront the Second and Third Serbian Army. Standing before 215 thousand Austro-Hungarians with 500 cannons and 400 machineguns were 200 thousand Serbian soldiers with 306 cannons, 114 machineguns and lack of ammunition. The bloody battle begins.

In order to advance towards Valjevo, the enemy had to conquer Gučevo and its ridges. In the first twenty-odd days, they suffered big losses, without fulfilling the plan. Near the end of September, the front stabilizes, the armies make burrows in conquered positions and the exhausting trench warfare begins. The most severe fights took place in Eminove Vode and Kulište, defended by the strengthened Combined Division. While the aggressor forces were regularly shifted, the 6th Supernumerary Regiment endured the entire battle in Eminove Vode without any shifts.

Even today, the Gučevo woods hide trenches and craters, traces of the horrible battle. In the autumn of 1914, the mountain was almost bare from the fire effects.

If one looks carefully, he may find rusted shells, broken bayonets, parts of guns, buttons and uniform buckles. The glade with the memorial ossuary dedicated to the heroes of Gučevo has a view over the Bosnian mountain, the winding Drina and Loznica in the valley. Clouds silently move through the trees, like the spirits of heroes who left their lives here, in this mountain – the boundary stone, defending Serbia.

ON THAT STONE OF THE SERBIAN LAND During the severe fights on Gučevo, the Serbian Supreme Command orders the First Army, withdrawn from Srem, to pre-

The Prince and the Painter During the battle, Serbian regiments conducted fifteen attacks on Mačkov Kamen, as well as numerous counterattacks and attacks of lower-rank units in other parts of the battlefield.

Prince Đorđe, son of King Peter I, led the last attack of the 5th Supernumerary Regiment after its commander was killed. Holding a revolver in one and a sabre in his other hand, the brave prince jumped out of the trench commanding: “Charge, brave ones! Follow me! I am the son of your king!”

The prince was soon shot and became the first patient of nurse Nadežda Petrović, famous Serbian painter.

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vent the enemy invasion over the Sokolske Mountain. Already on September 17, Serbian forces advance to Mačkov Kamen, and conquer it two days later. The pursuit of the decimated 16th Corps is disturbed by the dark night and thick fog, which enabled the Austro-Hungarians to rearrange their troops and reestablish a ring. When the fog rose, the soldiers started fighting hand-tohand on Mačkov Kamen and Košutnja Stopa. In the following days, until September 22, the slopes of Jagodnja were alternately in the hands of the Serbian army and of the enemy forces, in a long series of bloody fights. The highest plateau, which spanned about 500 square meters, was completely covered with dead bodies.

The Battle of Mačkov Kamen is also known as the “officers’ battle”, because of great losses in the Serbian officers’ staff.

Officers, charging as leaders of their units, gave an example with their heroism of how one should fight for freedom. As many as 115 of them never returned from the battlefield and 176 were wounded. Many units were left without officers. Majors and captains took over command over regiments,

lieutenants and sub-lieutenants over battalions, sergeants over troops.

Austro-Hungarian commanders informed that the defense of Serbian officers is incredible and their charges remarkably daring. According to Austro-Hungarian reports, the fights in Mačkov Kamen were fiercer than all previous ones, while their historians noted that it was the bloodiest battle in their entire invasion on Serbia.

After taking over Serbian positions on September 22, Potiorek ordered moving into defensive position. It was such a battle that he no longer had the strength to continue the attack, which enabled the Serbian army to withdraw undisturbed. At the very battlefield, according to Austro-Hungarian sources, there were two thousand dead soldiers, thereof 800 Serbs. Their lists also state how many bodies were found as a whole, while numerous ones were torn by horrible artillery fire. Austro-Hungarians did not even refrain from firing at soldiers of both sides during their hand-to-hand combats. The “dum-dum” bullets, which the enemy used abundantly, also made terrible losses among the Serbian forces. The Battle of Mačkov Ka-

men caused the death of more than 8.000 Serbs and about 30.000 Austro-Hungarians.

NEVER SEEN BEFORE The bloody fights in Mačkov Kamen did not bring rest to the fighters in Gučevo.

Serbs tried to neutralize the actions of the superior enemy artillery by getting as close as possible to the Austro-Hungarian trenches. In some places, the sides in conflict were only about ten meters from each other.

– In order to destroy the Austro-Hungarian machinegun nests, Serbian soldiers dug a tunnel leading to the Austro-Hungarian trenches. Miners from Veles were digging so that a hunched soldier could pull a crate of dynamite. The passageway was dug between two enemy nests, then forked. When the explosive was activated, enormous quantities of soil and stone went up into the sky, while blown up soldiers in blue uniforms could be seen above the cloud of smoke. The explosion was so forceful, that the soil also fell over Serbian trenches and covered 20 people. Six of them managed to save themselves. Craters can be seen on the mountain even today – SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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tells Žarko Ćosović from the “Battle of Drina” Memorial Gallery in Banja Koviljača.

He also reminds of the story about the hunter whose dog started digging in Gučevo.

The hunter then noticed a bayonet sticking from the ground and dug out a skeleton of a Serbian soldier. In a semi-upright position, with a gun in his hand, he was covered with soil and thus remained on eternal guard.

There were so many dead people left scattered in this beautiful mountain, that, decades after the war, shepherds were discovering skulls and bones. After visiting Loznica and Gučevo, John Reed, New York Magazine reporter, wrote in his book War in Serbia 1915: “Serbian trenches were on one side of this open space, Austrian on the other. There

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was hardly ten meters between them. Both trenches were joining into enormous pits here and there, about a dozen meters in diameter and about fifteen deep, in places where the enemy was blown up with dynamite. Taking a better look, we saw a horrible thing: pieces of uniform, skulls with matted hair, from which rags of flesh were still hanging, bones with rotten hands at their end, bloody bones sticking out of military boots, were all jutting out of these mounds of dirt. A terrible smell was hovering over the entire area. Packs of semi-wild dogs ran away to the edge of the forest... We were walking over the dead. There were so many of them, that sometimes our feet would fall into pits of rotten meat, crushing the bones.

Holes would suddenly open, with gray maggots swarming over them. Most bodies were covered only with a thin layer of dirt, partially washed down by rain, while many were not buried at all. Numerous Austrians were laying as they fell in their desperate attack, packed on the ground in a position of full movement.”

FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE FUTURE UPHEAVAL Serbian soldiers saw the new weapons of the enemy for the first time in Gučevo, which often provoked horror in experienced fighters. It was difficult to remain calm while light rockets burned above their

heads, while they were shot with perfidious weapons with pneumatic pressure or those with horrible blasting, rifle grenades, exploding bullets, smoke and gas grenades.

On the other hand, Serbs were short in ammunition and equipment. In his book Battle above the Clouds, Branimir Ginić writes about the ingenuity of the Serbian soldiers in such circumstances.

“Commander of the 5th Supernumerary Regiment Nikolajević issues an order: ‘Pay attention to the enormous spending of ammunition. I order to stop aimless wasting of ammunition. Undertake measures that good soldiers continue shooting, thereby letting the enemy know that we have not languished.’ In order to compensate the lack of ammunition, they used rattles. These shots of false machineguns provoked a strong reaction and nervousness of the enemy. They were made of wooden cylinders, but so perfect in their imitation of real machineguns, that even the most experienced ear could not differentiate them from genuine shots.

Rattles were used in close-quarter fighting, with the objective to trick the enemy in their estimation of the number of machineguns and expand the enemy fire towards false machinegun nests. Thus the defenders of Gučevo succeeded in competing with the superior enemy for a long time.”

Serbian soldiers also found ways to inform the command about the situation in the frontline. They wrote messages on empty ammunition cases tin, then lit a candle and raised the cases with a stick. The messages could be read from more than a 200 meter distance.

After almost two months of resisting, the heroic fight of the Serbian army in Gučevo ended on November 6, at dawn.

Exhausted defenders had to withdraw.

However, the Battle of Drina, especially the horrific combats on Mačkov Kamen and Gučevo, enabled the counterstrikes which were about to take place. Serbia greeted the end of 1914 free, without a single enemy soldier in its territory. 

 Centennial: Honoring the shadows of heroes on Mačkov kamen, this fall

Treacherous Attack Not far from Mačkov Kamen, there is a place from which wounded Serbian soldiers were transported to Krupanj. In the moment more than 70 of them were waiting for the horse carts to start off, Austro-Hungarians noticed them and opened artillery fire. Paramedic Milutinović, who survived the treacherous attack, raised a monument in the form of a cross there, to honor his comrades.

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ZORKA KARAĐORĐEVIĆ (PETROVIĆ), CROWN PRINCESS OF MONTENEGRO AND PRINCESS OF SERBIA

Bridge in the Noble Heart

A daughter of the great Serbian ruler and poet, for Russia, where she studied, brought back in her eyes reflections of golden domes and a different sense of time. From the mountains of her homeland, where one can touch the sky, she saw far. She knew what she was doing, and she smiled. Petra recognized and grew fond of her. She tied with herself two flows of Serbian modern history, so that t hey would become one again. Today, those who betrayed everything would sometimes mention her father, but have no courage to remember her By: Hristina Plamenac

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ruly, I am not tired of life, but of this... half-life.” In thoughts, reclining in the old comfortable armchair, Petar wearily glanced at his watch. The clock on the Paris square just showed 18:00. The follow-

ing day he packed and went to Cetinje, himself surprised with this decision.

He was forty. He traveled around Europe, from city to city, followed by stories from the court of Milan Obrenović, both true and false, SERBIA  NO 46  2014

 Portrait from a wedding

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At Dawn, Under the Snow She was born in late December, snow had been falling in Cetinje for days, the sky and the earth became one, and the first edition of Orlić featured a poem by Jovan Sundečić, who had been invited by King Nikola to Cetinje to be the editor of the first publication of this annual: “It dawns, it dawns, the white dawn. / Clad in the first snow, / is entire Montenegro, / the pride of the Slavic South...”

 Zorka, hen she was already Karađorđević

 Return from horse riding: Zorka, still a girl, before the court in Cetinje

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on the brink of poverty, trying to find himself and his place in the historical events of that time. Somehow, he had never seen himself as a king, but this idea forced upon him still made him feel good. While he was approaching the building that the Montenegrins even today like to call the “King Nicholas’ Court”, this idea seemed increasingly real and comfortable.

Nikola, who was known for good politics and diplomacy, had his daughters returned to him from studying in Russia. They had left naively honest, prepared with Montenegrin traditional clothes, with their hair neatly tied, and returned powdered, perfumed, with feathers, hats, cashmere, experienced, but not for a moment losing that decency that every princess must have. Already then Knjaz knew that his daughters would be of more use in his politics than all the sons of this world.

Watching them strut up and down Cetinje, he remembered the first years of his reign and marriage with princess Milena, who was only thirteen and a half years old when she became his wife. When she was sixteen when she gave birth to Zorka, his favorite child, not only because she was the first born, but also because she irresistibly resembled her father. Big black eyes, dark blond hair and

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pronounced cheekbones left an impression of melancholic but authoritative personality.

Zorka spent her childhood, until she was eleven, on Cetinje, honestly devoted to her parents. That is how she carried the title “father’s son”. But still, although she physically resembled her father very much, Zorka’s character was like the one of her mother, princess Milena, who was, for her kindness and care for people, known as the “national mother”.

MARRIAGE AND DAYS OF HAPPINESS Petar’s arrival in Cetinje caused great reactions in Belgrade and Vienna, and even Nikola was not indifferent: “What is he doing here?!” Little is known about the encounter between Zorka and Petar. Whether love or politics was decisive in that relationship, or both? It is certain that Petar with his appearance could not come close to his brother Arsen, who was cheerful, tall, with white complexion. Petar was skinny and his character was more subdued, but he had clear and cheerful eyes, in which Zorka saw the entire world. Her world. She saw herself next to him, saw that he was the one who would make her a woman, mother and queen, but she also saw and understood the words of her father: “All that glitters is not gold, / nor is throne a resting place, / believe me, my child, there is / little or no happiness there. / Flash of a crown reflection often hides / the thorns growing underneath, / of a perfectly happy king / we would not recall from a story...” That was probably the reason why she liked Petar, he was a perfectly unhappy king. And he was extremely kind toward her, a true gentleman: “Here you are... I kiss your hands, milady ... would you like anything?” Nobody had ever asked her before if she wanted anything.

Since she came back from Russia, she was spending all her free time riding horses.

Those were the moments when she felt free, alone and herself. When Petar wanted to join her, she didn’t mind.

– Do you need help? – he asked while she was trying to mount a horse.

– No, I will do it myself! – she said, realizing that instant that it was a wrong answer, and that a princess is always expected to have others doing things for her. She shyly gave him her hand. That is how their walks around Cetinje turned into a marriage proposal, and the person who was actually expected to say the fateful “yes” was actually knjaz Nikola.

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Marriage like any marriage, only this was a royal one. The marriage took place in the Monastery of Cetinje, officiated by metropolitan Visarion (Ljubiša). A dining table was set for two thousand guests, diplomatic corps and representatives of foreign forces. Everything that was able to move gathered at the foothills of Lovćen and in front of the monastery. That same day, followed by cheering of gathered people, the bride and groom left to Paris. Those were the day of happiness.

AND THE DESCENDENTS BROKE THEIR VOWS In October the following year, her daughter Jelena was born, and two years later Milena, who died after one year and eight months. Zorka has never recovered from the loss of her child. According to Montenegro customs, she never stopped wearing black. Only a few months later she brought into the world prince Đorđe, and Aleksandar a year later. Happiness for giving her husband an heir and incessant mourning for her lost child alternated in her face, while she kept remembering her father’s words: “... But happiness, my son, is a true one / when in your own corners, / you can work in peace, walk like a human, / down the holy path of God.” Those words were like an ointment on her wounds.

Tired from her husband’s ideals, continuous race for the throne, she was finding her peace in helping the poor, establishing cultural institutions and, of course, laughter of her children that echoed in their house. On the other hand, Petar, from the moment when Zorka was pregnant for the first time, was restless. His excessive concern was giving birth to a suspicion in her. And he could not get a word out of Petar, moody by nature. The story goes that a reason for this was a prophecy of a woman from Vienna, who had foretold great future for Petar, and that he would become a king, but that his wife would die at childbirth. Two years after Aleksandar was born, Zorka gave birth to prince Andrija. Soon after giving birth she fell ill from peritonitis and died, and soon afterwards her newly born prince followed.

As at the moment of her death only she and Petar were at home, the people started spreading rumors. While she was walking in the royal garden, a cuckoo cried three times above her.

An elderly woman afterwards warned the household members to beware, because three

members of Zorka’s household would die.

Her brother-in-law died first, Petar’s brother Đorđe, then Zorka, and then young Andrija.

People were saying that Petar had pushed Zorka down the stairs in an argument. On the other hand, they say that she died with the following words on her lips: “He will be the king!”

And really, thirteen years later, in 1903, her father Nikola I congratulated his son-in-law Petar I for his ascension to the throne in the following telegram: “Our like-mindedness and blood ties that connect us are the guarantee to Serbian people of eternal and inseparable brotherhood between Serbia and Montenegro. This brotherhood will remain for centuries bright, sacred, unstained and redeeming for our people. For this brotherhood, souls of our Serbian martyrs are praying before the throne of the Almighty; this brotherhood and unity will be guarded by the angelic soul of my Zorka, your wife, whose blood and love will forever tie your sons and mine.”

Decades later, the sons split nevertheless, in such a manner that their fathers would not be proud of. And the image of the Montenegrin princess and princess of Serbia, wife of king the liberator and mother of king the unifier, it seems, has been completely forgotten.

Hasn’t it? 

 With Petar and children in Cetinje

 One of the last portraits of Zorka Karađorđević

Despite Everything The entire world was against this marriage. Austro-Hungary saw a conspiracy against it, and for Serbia it meant the fall of the Obrenović dynasty. However, according to some accounts, Nikola offered to Milan Obrenović to be the best man. They say that the other one got nervous attack. At the end, the Russian emperor was the best man in the image of his emissary, count Orlov Denisov.

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“TRAG”, ONE OF THE BEST ETHNO BANDS IN SRPSKA, WITH US FOR TEN YEARS

Music

Heritages of the Balkans

“Trag” (“Trace”) of the trace. In the depths of time and memories, in forgotten treasuries, they reveal our golden musical threads and we hear them in ourselves again. They adjust it to modern arrangements and sensibility, showing that tradition is not anachronous but timeless and that we always have to return to the ancient in a young way. They amazed Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and revealed the most to ourselves By: Ljubiša Trivić

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radition and cultural heritage can tell different stories about a nation.

In Serbian lands, folk songs, as a unique historical manuscript, are sometimes the best way to find out about lives and dreams of our ancestors. If we listen to those songs more carefully, if we feel their rhythm and energy, we’ll see that they speak about our ancestors as much as they speak about us.

Ethno band “Trag” is an example of young guardians of tradition. For an entire decade now, they have been dedicating their artistic work to traditional music of the Balkans and its preservation. They do it in the most beautiful manner – by singing and representing it, very successfully, to people around the world.

They performed with the band “Vrelo” in Kusturica’s opera Time of Gypsies, with

the Teofilović brothers, Biljana Krstić and “Bistrik”, “Istočnik” octet, the band “Iva”, Ivana Žigon, “Kosovski Božuri”, as well as world famous names, such as Russian singers Inna Zhelannaya and Marina Devyatova, Bulgarian ensemble “Angelita”, Tuvin ensemble “Hun Hur Tu”, Divna Ljubojević and “Melod”...

Members of this vocal and instrumental ensemble were brought together, according to their words, by Serbian folk art.

The band was formed by several enthusiasts from the Cultural and Artistic Society “Slavko Mandić” from Laktaši, while, as they say, Goran Ćetojević takes most credits for it. At the time such music was not as popular, he had the will and energy to engage in it, and to bring together several people in love with the Balkan cultural heritage.

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S o u n d s Photo: “Trag” Archive

– When we started a whole decade ago, people were skeptical at first. It took a long time to break the prejudices, especially of young people, that the music we are engaged in is outdated, meant only for older generations. Today, after years of efforts and faith in our work, we are happy to see full concert halls everywhere in the region – says Valentina Milekić, art director of “Trag”.

The idea was born, says Valentina, from the wish to save folk music from oblivion and bring it closer to the ear of modern audience. They embedded traditional rhythms and melodies into their own arrangements, emphasized old instruments, such as old percussion instruments, fiddles, pipe organs, caval. Supported with classic and modern instruments, their performances of old folk songs become unique.

They are modern, yet they hold within everything that makes them cultural heritage.

HIDDEN JEWELS OF THE NATIONAL TREASURY – We are happy to be able to do what we love and to have the opportunity to present to the world all the best our nation has: our folk music, authentic classics of the Balkan area. Wherever we performed, people were amazed with out folk melodies and rhythms – adds Valentina Milekić.

During the years of working together, the love towards tradition and Serbian cultural heritage brought the members of the band closer in a special way. They like to say that “Trag” is a big music family. Their sound is now recognized around the world, they are invited to big world festivals, and their music has become very popular. They believe that one of the main reasons for it is the incredible musical richness of the Balkans, on which they base their work.

– We noticed different reactions to music from different parts of the Balkans,

Loving and Living – You don’t only love ethno music, you live it. Most of us have been engaged in this kind of music from our childhood, in the family or cultural and artistic societies. Only great love towards it, despite the obstacles of this profession, has made “Trag” survive all these years – underline the members of this vocal and instrumental ensemble.

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depending on the place we perform in and the type of audience. Sometimes the audience is intrigued by the rustic bass of Krajina songs, permeating from our arrangements; sometimes it’s the specific Macedonian and Kosovo melodies, sometimes unusual Bulgarian rhythms…

Balkan music is so varied and interesting, that people have never been indifferent to it – says Valentina.

The band has published two albums, excellently accepted by both critics and audience. The first album, “Sounds of the Balkans”, was published in 2008, and the second “Legacy” was officially presented in July this year, marking one decade of their work.

– The greatest challenge is to select songs which have never been performed before. The tendency of new ethno bands is to play already heard and known songs, in order to make their program more attractive. It’s good and nice, but we mustn’t forget that the national treasury is full of jewels hidden under layers of time and history.

One of our tasks is to find already forgotten and lost songs, and to try to save them from oblivion – emphasizes Valentina.

FUTURE RELATED TO THE PAST In their work, they use ethnomusicology material and recordings from radio archives. It’s more difficult and requires more effort, but the pleasure is, they say, incomparably bigger. “Trag” is the first ethno band which revived the music of Lijevče Polje, the area they originate from, because these sounds were officially processed in ethnomusicology and presented as authentic only in 2007.

– We tried to present the sound of Lijevče songs, perhaps a bit raw and rough for our times, in a new manner. To bring them to the level of the beautiful songs of Kosovo and Macedonia, which are, due to their melodies, more suitable for performing – says Valentina Milekić. It’s a true pleasure, she says, when they reveal a song from their country, for which even they didn’t know it existed, to people around the Balkans.

During the previous few years, “Trag” has been making a series of successes throughout Europe. They are the first ensemble from Srpska given the opportunity to perform at the Day of Slavic Literacy and Culture in Moscow, one of the biggest Rus-

sian state and religious holidays. The central event, the gala concert, has been held for years now in the Moscow Kremlin, in the presence of the highest state and church officials.

They had successful tours in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland. At these performances, they were especially amazed by the fact how much power Serbian and Balkan music, as well as the emotions embedded in it, has to connect the seemingly distant and incompatible areas.

The future of “Trag” is mainly related to the past and searching for new songs and sounds. They hope that they’ll be able to take out numerous jewels of Serbian and Balkan old folk music from the depths of time and save it from oblivion. 

Honor – It was a great honor for us to perform at the Day of Slavic Literacy and Culture in Moscow, before thousands of viewers, together with their great ensembles, such as the Russian State Symphonic Orchestra, Russian State Folk Chorus, leading singers of the Russian opera, ballet and national theater. Having the opportunity to present your traditional music in such an environment is truly something extraordinary – emphasizes Valentina Milekić, art director of “Trag”.

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MIHAILO GLIGORIĆ GLIŠA, PAINTER IN THE HEIGHTS OF STYLIZATION

The Art of Wonders, Festivity and Joy In order to be able to stylize, one must know classical principles well. He is a seeker, an art nomad. From his spiritual journeys he brings back visionary images, as well as graphical sheets in which energy streams are whirling. He is never reduced down to the level of a witticism, entertainment and hollowness. His angelic landscapes are seen from above, subordinated to the scenes that have attributes of a ceremony. He knows his origin and his path. It is time to open the door that used to be closed for him By: Dejan Đorić

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is artistic point of origin is Šabac, one of the most important art centers of Serbia. He has become recognizable on Serbian and Yugoslav art scene first for his drawings that used to aattract the attention of the audiences already

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in the 1970’s at group exhibitions of ULUS. Nudes by Mihailo Gligorić Gliša drawn in pencil, figures and horses painted by brush and black ink, are characterized by unique appearance, between realism and expressionism, dominance of the linear in the

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composition and bold stylization. Gligorić stylizes every image, which is, according to Mihailo Đoković Tikalo, a higher form of artistry than mere copying of reality. In his mentally and technically complex revaluation of a realistic image he is using deformation, that old artistic method, favorite among fan tactic painters. In order to be able to stylize and deform for the purpose of creating an image different from the real one, and so develop one’s own style, one must know classical principles well – drawing from a model, anatomy, perspective and composition.

“VIRUS OF DRAWING” AND “MAGICAL THREADS” A painter starts from the simplest, thinking, like the experimental estheticians, that art is only a repetition of the basic forms on a higher and more complex level. Having mastered the drawing, he could, thanks to the acquired knowledge, embark on different forms of art, those that are created from the art of drawing.

Artist Želјko Đurović wrote about the “virus of drawing” and art historian Tatjana Marković about the line or “magical thread” that Gligorić has discovered in his original way. By using linear multiplication, networking and spreading, striving to expand the linear beyond the format of work, Gligorić has mastered graphical techniques of dry needle, engraving, etchings and aquatint, as well as aquarelle painting, oil and airbrush painting. He gave his signature to each of these types of art presentations, expression of his personality, because the character of an artist is something that penetrates most deeply and defines not only the artwork. Numerous individual and group exhibitions, as well as awards, show that the audience and critics have been discovering this artist over and over again, especially because, in each of these techniques, he has produced a bigger number of works and complex thematic units within them.

“TRAVELING EYE”, “SEER OF THE WORLDS” Gligorić is an explorer. He is not, like many, an artist who has successfully mastered one type of presentation n and continued to exploit it limitlessly. He is an art

nomad, the “traveling eye”, as Alberti would say. Seer of the worlds. From his spiritual and daily journeys, from numerous art colonies where he participates, as a witness and participant, he brings visionary images or graphical sheets in which energy flows are whirling, threatening to demolish the composition. He is striving to master the most complex, fantastic and visionary, without letting down the real; maybe that is why his angelic landscapes seen from above, covered with church three-mullioned windows, subordinated to the scene that gas attributes of a ceremony. He respects traditional creative principle of the art as miracle, celebration and joy for the eye, and not only, as Matisse thought, a comfortable armchair for resting and enjoying in the observation. That is why Gligorić’s work, except for taking into account realistic creative conditions, is also defined by spirituality or the fact that they ask certain questions from the viewer, forcing them to think. Works of this drawer, graphic artist and painter are never reduced to the level of a witticism, entertainment and hollowness. As an artist, he pays attention to the content and format of the work.

If we properly observe the quality, volume and diversity of artwork of Mihailo Gligorić Gliša, his figuration, landscape and animalistic portrayals, which he has mastered, we will agree that he is still one of insufficiently discovered artists, maybe even neglected ones. It is good that he has more frequent exhibition activity before him, and not only before the Belgrade audience. Because, in several decades of work, he has created a series of artworks that deserve to be independently exhibited by subject and technique. We believe and we hope that it is his way toward a place in Serbian art history that he deserves for the content and significance of his opus. 

Roads and Freedoms Mihailo Gligorić Gliša (Osečina, 1952) graduated history of arts at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade , He is a member of ULUS and International Association of Professional Artists of Europe, as well as other associations. He has exhibited at more than 250 group exhibitions in Serbia, Europe and North America.

He has had 30 independent appearances in the country and in Europe. He has participated at exhibitions in Austria, Italy, Greece, Germany, Poland, Belgium and France, as well as more than 30 art colonies. He has received several awards. He lives and works in Šabac and Belgrade as a freelancer.

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ALEKSANDAR PETROVIĆ, ACA CELTIC, FRONTMAN OF “ORTHODOX CELTS”, EXCLUSIVELY FOR “NATIONAL REVIEW”

Towards the Heights of the

Holy Despot He was growing up by the relics of Dušan the Great and always used to greet warriors-guards in front of Ružica. He remembers one issue of “Svetosavsko zvonce” and some yards of Palilula, likes Hugo, Pushkin and a whole bouquet of Serbian poets. He reached the ancient layers within us with music, heard our relatives in time and anticipated deep connections, beautiful and mysterious. He spent only two hours in Dublin, yet remained there forever. His heart gave him a yellow card back then, and he is a wise player.

He remained enchantingly common, “a true anti-star”. He does not play important, he is important

By: Branislav Matić

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ou think you have Merlin’s school friend before you, Lancelot’s magical lute player or the boatman of Avalon. And it isn’t. It is our Aca Celtic, vivid Belgrade citizen, a sprout of deep Celtic layers within us. He was born on St. Thomas day in 1969. His father is from the Timok area, from Zagrađe in Zaječar, and his mother a merge of Moravska (in the Czech Republic) and Belgrade, “with a Valjevo branch”. His ancestors were teachers and soldiers, aristocrats and musicians. He is a musician too, frontman of a famous band, radio presenter, editor in Radio Beograd Children’s Program.

You meet him and ask: “Where are you, Aca?” He joyfully replies: “Eeeverywheeere!”

And already passes around the corner, like a bird.

However, he was willing to be caught into the net of this conversation.

White City. Belgrade... Ha, my Belgrade is somewhat more peaceful, calmer, with rivers flowing slower than in the one we have today. Yes, there are a few places which always stir up my feelings, sometimes even trigger a few tears.

Interestingly, my sacral places in Belgrade are truly sacral.

Church of St. Mark. The Chivalric Church in which Emperor Dušan dreams his eternal dream. His sarcophagus has always provoked my imagination, returned me to the book Magical World of Đorđe Lobačev.

I also remember priest Gvozden from the small Church of St. Sava, before the Big Church began rising. One Sunday, I think, he brought Svetosavsko zvonce. Even today I have this magical book with golden-purple covers somewhere in my home.

As I was growing up, my Belgrade views were growing wider. My parents used to take me to a morning walk through Belgrade on weekends. It was often the two of us, my father and I, while my mother stayed at home, so that we could have a proper lunch afterwards, “with a spoon”,

 Near Ružica Church at Belgrade Fortress

Literature and Music – At one point, Orwell’s “1984” truly disturbed my image of the world. I was, I think, about 14. Some would say: too early for such a book. But I chose it for “free reading” and wrote a tractate on eight pages. My teacher didn’t believe I wrote it myself. Then came other great writers. My favorite was and remained Victor Hugo (“The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, “Les Misérables”...).

Music has always been an inseparable part of my being, and this part is very crowded. But, let’s say that Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden and The Pogues always meant more to me than others.

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 Aca Seltik as a little boy and as an adult, already with colorful eyes

 With his wife in Manasija, summer of 2012

as our people say. In “Kališ”, a boy simply gets dizzy from all those towers and cannons. My favorite place, even today I like to go there with my children, was another chivalric church, Despot’s Ružica. To say hello for the hundredth time to the warriors guarding its entrance, to stop at the Church of St. Petka for a glass of spring water and to, at the bend on the road between the two churches, greet major Dragutin Gavrilović and his heroes. (...)

There are certainly other places which were important in my life as well.

I was able to enter KST (Club of Technical Faculty Students) whenever and however I pleased, even though entrance was permitted only to those above 18. The father of my “club friend” Goranče was the Faculty janitor and they lived in an apartment next to KST. I spend half of my life in KST, it was the place I met my wife. We rushed every Saturday to Dom Omladine to “Hit of the Week”. The crème de la menthe of Belgrade rock and roll came to the garden of SKC. At one point, “Akademija” was second on the list of the best European clubs.

I could also tell you about some dear “common places”, some yards in Palilula, passageways in Vračar, paths and roads then known only to my generation. But it would take long. And we should also leave something for later.

Cities I relate to. There are two more cities in which I literally feel at home. I

Studies – I studied inorganic chemistry at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, but I never envisioned myself in a lab and white coat. It was the family inertia pulling me to study the same thing your parents had. However, life arranged it differently. After the army, I entered Radio Beograd and stayed there until the very day.

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went to Thessalonica every year, sometimes even twice a year. If we exclude what was constructed during the last fifteen years, I know it as the top of my palm.

I had one of the strangest feelings when I first went to Paris. As the bus entered Paris, after twenty-five hours of making our way through half of snow-blocked Europe, a thought just passed my mind: “I arrived home!” Even now I cannot explain it, at least not rationally. I had that feeling only when I came to a leave from the army, after six months of being away. I woke up at the entrance of Belgrade, saw the “Genex” tower in New Belgrade and, as if in a trance, put my face against the glass with tears coming from my eyes. But, ok, nobody saw. A soldier doesn’t cry!

Later I related it with the manner the center of Belgrade was constructed, looking after the Paris triangles, and the fact that both Belgrade and Paris are the cities of Virgin Mary. Perhaps this explanation is “too metaphysical” for some, but either way, the fact is that in both of those cities I feel as if I were at home.

How Baš Čelik was tampered. We were growing up in a fortunate time, when you had to put an effort to get to something that really matters to you. Sacrifice something.

Not everything was at the reach of our hand or “a click away”. You couldn’t cancel an already scheduled meeting, you couldn’t immediately hear a song that interests you, but had to wait for the record or patiently hunt it on the radio. You had to tell people things eye to eye. This taught us patience and responsibility. It taught us to plan and think, finally to respect each other.

We all read, listened and watched.

This today, this “instant society”, in which everything is told by typing on the keyboard, has nothing to do with it. Every time has its postulates and its values, but it seems to me that this generation gap is a bit wider than the previous one.

Contemporary poets’ society. I discovered poets much later than prose writers.

I guess that’s how it goes in life. The entire palette of Serbian poets is important to me.

From the long gone, unknown ones, who sang all those epic poems that have fed me since my childhood, to the later ones who preserved the national identity and patri-

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otic enthusiasm and never refrained from expressing it. I have been reading again Dučić in the past few months, I know I will also return to Rakić, Đura, Dis, Laza Kostić, Zmaj, Branko...

And here is where suddenly He comes up! More than a poet, much more. A role model. Holy Despot Stefan Lazarević!

As for the foreign ones... Um, he’s not foreign to me, he is mine! The one and only, the most loved of all poets: Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin!

Fatherland. Serbia is my Fatherland. It is a great gift in the XXI century to live in a country you can call Homeland and Fatherland at the same time. Not a single American lives in his Fatherland, nor has the right to call his country that, except for a few Indians that survived. And instead of being proud of our Fatherland, we undermine it. We are foreigners in every other place of the world. This is our only home.

In the constellation of the Celts. The legend says that my first word was: Celtic.

It was during the Champions Cup finals “Celtic” – “Feyenoord”. At least that’s what my dad claimed. And it wouldn’t be logical if it were different.

My introduction into the world of the Celts simply had to happen. Later it spread in many directions, mainly artistic and historical. From the subconscious vigorous reaction to the melody and meaning of the strange music from the “Dubliners” records, John Renbourn, “Jethro Tull”, the famous third album of “Zeppelin”, to my later serious fascination with “The Pogues”. Their appearance had a crucial influence on everything that later happened with me.

This is where the images of brave, joyful Celtic jokesters emerged before me, voracious and good drinkers, great naggers, restless and quarrelsome people, yet endlessly loyal and committed to their families, friends and finally their country, faith and heritage. In brief: the Celts.

Of course, this was only the beginning of the road which I took and reached the place we are at the moment.

Reflections, relations. Echoes of a long gone past, which I certainly had to explore, reached me through these songs.

The Call – Besides all those places I’ve already mentioned and often visit, there is another place magically attractive to me: Rtanj. As if it calls me to come. Roots are deep.

Then, along the way, you meet Miloš Crn Stefan janski and his thoughts about that mystiwith gusle on cal Serbian-Celtic similarity; Tolkien and Kalemegdan.

Lord of the Rings, a book in which you unJovana with a mistakably recognize the echo of Serbian guitar in her room. mythology and old faith. Then you meet Aca in Trieste Ranka Kuić, whose epochal work on 5.000 with James pages about the Serbian-Celtic parallels Joyce, 2010 nobody here found a reason to publish, still standing somewhere in Wales (luckily, the short version, published under the title Red and White, did find its way to those interested in it)... You also meet many others who feel that there is something more than pure consideration towards a geographically so distant, yet so close nation.

To make a long story short, it is enough to say that the Serbian and Gaelic languages have about 4.000 words and toponyms in common, from Tara, Juhor, Avala, Dunav, to Era. We share some archetypical rhythms and melodic structures characteristic only for the areas we populate. Of course, we also have in common the famous saying that we love to “eat, drink and make three points for an away win”. Finally, half of Serbia lives in Celtic cities. And don’t forget, we are both afraid of only one thing: of the Sky falling on our heads!

My “Fellowship of the Ring”. I like to say that the “Orthodox Celts” band was put together by St. Patrick, Irish St. Sava, personally. How else could you explain that so many different people, at the time when people didn’t know much about Ireland in Serbia, gathered around a single common point: Irish music? And we gathered for a simple reason – it was our way of expression. This is where we felt safe, this is what we were and remained. This goes for everyone that passed through “Orthodox Celts”, and not many band members changed, only when really necessary.

I mentioned already that we are all different. Completely. From the music we like to political views and gastronomy. But that’s the point. Each of us brought a part of ourself into the “Celts” and built it into SERBIA  NO 46  2014

 In the colors of “Celtics”: Chess with green pieces Concert at “Beer Fest” in Belgrade, 2014

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N o v e l s our unique sound. They say there is no such thing as the best guitar player, best singer, best band... There are only those you recognize always and everywhere. And they say that you cannot mix up “Orthodox Celts” with any other band playing such kind of music. That’s our greatest success.

Two hours in Dublin. Sounds strange, perhaps even incredible, but I spent only two hours in Ireland! It’s even stranger than those two hours were more than enough for me to confirm everything that made me fall in love with it. Two hours of wandering in the Dublin port and its surrounding were more than three days of riding in some other place. And yes, the confirmation of my earlier conviction that blood is thicker than water came from there!

Anti-star. Nick Cave once said: “I’m Nick Cave on the stage, but when I come down, I’m Henry’s dad!” I’m somewhat different: even on stage I’m Stefan’s and Jovana’s dad.

The greatest temptation is to remain on stage as you are away from it, not to permit the cheering of the mass elevate and corrupt you. In fact, I’m a real, authentic anti-star. I persistently refuse to admit that I’m different from the others only because I’m on stage and watch them from it. These are only moments. However, I’m the same person at the green market, in the schoolyard when we play football, when I take my kids to kindergarten and school, when I’m in a city bus... I do whatever most other people do. It’s sometimes unpleasant when you think you cannot take a walk through Knez holding your wife’s hand without being noticed, but that’s how it is.

The few seconds of taking a quick photo means a lot to someone, so who am I to deprive him? And that’s it: the temptation to remain normal, healthy and upright, with both feet firmly on the ground, and the gift that enables you to do what you love most.

Novel – I’d like to find time and write a novel which has been in my mind for years, but I’m aware I’d have to be alone and in peace as long as necessary. What awaits me until then, I cannot even imagine.

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I’d change, if I could. I don’t think so!

Whatever I changed in my life willingly, life itself returned me to complete the lesson. I think that everything that happened was supposed to happen. Finally, if I played differently, it wouldn’t be me.

My heart stroke me. Yes, literally, on stage. It snapped. Still, I think it’s only a “yellow card”, a sufficient warning to a smart player. It’s not that I’m afraid of going to the other side. But, I know that, if I go too early, my loved ones will be deprived of some things they should not be. Therefore I don’t intend to repeat this episode.

What new did it bring into my life? Before all, the knowledge that others depend on you much more than you wanted to admit before, that you’re not almighty and that such things don’t happen to “someone else”. That’s why I removed from my life everything that brought me to the border, hoping that I will see that border again in about a hundred years at least. Then we’ll talk about it.

“The talking box”. “The radio is the last thing you hear”. The national radio is the first and last voice of a state. If Radio Beograd disappeared, we’d know that the state had disappeared as well. And, heeey, I’ve been in that Radio Belgrade for a quarter of a century. Longer than the “Celts” exist. As much as I’m part of the Radio, after everything we’ve been through, the Radio is also a part of me. I think it can be heard in my shows. That is where I feel at home.

Literally. I’m sorry television has become dominant in the speed of launching news, because the radio is naturally a faster media. But this is also coming to its place, just wait. Nine days’ wonder.

Reasons for hope, despite everything.

Some say that I’m an immoderate optimist and that I’m always positive. I guess that’s my nature. What else could we do? I draw it from everything around me. Life is wonderful, the world is wonderful if we see it that way and take the right point of view.

At home, at work, on stage... I do what I love most, in a way I find most convenient, as sincerely as possible, with all my strength, without any reserves, without compromise, I’m surrounded by people I love. What else could one ask for? 

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COLONEL DR. LJUBODRAG MINIĆ, A NEUROSURGEON AT THE MILITARY MEDICAL ACADEMY IN BELGRADE

Helping is a Great Privilege He specialized summa cum laude, seventeen days before the breakup of Yugoslavia and outbreak of the war. He remembers many difficult cases and great challenges. From Serbian boys from Slavonija and Vukovar, through young guardsmen killed in the beastly bombing of Serbia in 1999, to a six-year old girl from Užice for whom he secretly cried. He specialized in brain and spinal cord surgeries, and he also has his special method. His team is also ready for the using of stem cells, they are only waiting for the approval of the Ethics Committee

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eople entrust him with the most precious thing they have: their own life. He operates on brain and spinal cord, probably the most delicate human organs. He saved lives to many, and enabled many to live pain-free. There is hardly a

By: Jagoda Plavšić bigger satisfaction and better statement about a professional than this.

Neurosurgeon colonel Dr. Ljubodrag Minić is the head of the Second Department of the Clinic for Neurosurgery of the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade. A SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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man of exceptional energy and remarkable knowledge of his trade, with interests that go far beyond the medicine. He bravely faces professional challenges, likes to transfer knowledge and share experiences. Two days can fit into one of his. He is constantly in touch with latest medical knowledge, as well as with awareness that it is necessary to get to know every patient, inspire hope that is medicinal, give comfort.

One poster is hanging on the wall of his study, among paintings and numerous books.

It shows the movement of a bullet through a person’s head, before it would be taken out.

– I am especially proud of this – tells us Dr. Minić. – The poster was displayed at the World Congress of Neurosurgeons in Berlin in 1995 and it reminds of a difficult story from those evil times. The Sava River valley, Christmas Eve. A two and a half years old boy was hit by a stranded bullet while he was sitting in his grandfather’s lap.

Biography – I was born in Rožaje, but I am originally from Mojkovac, from Podbišće. That is where my great-grandfather came after the Congress of Berlin.

He graduated in the first generation of alumni from the Medical Faculty in Kragujevac. He graduated from the School of Reserve Officers of sanitary service, did his internship at the Guard Brigade.

He has been working at the VMA from 1986. He passed his specialist exam in neurosurgery with summa com laude, seventeen days before the civil war officially began in Yugoslavia. He was forged at his hospital, and outside. He also worked at the Hospital of the headquarters of the Army of the Republic of Srpska in Sokolac.

He had advanced trainings in Moscow, Prague, Ljubljana. He published a large number of research papers. He has been decorated and awarded. He is an honorary citizen of Mojkovac.

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He sustained a penetrating head injury, in temporal region, on the left. The bullet was stuck in the posterior cranial fossa, behind the cerebellum. The boy was taken to the Emergency Centre in Belgrade, and was taken care of there. He got better, was able to walk, went home, but the bullet stayed.

At St. George’s Day his condition suddenly deteriorates. The bullet was no longer in the posterior cranial fossa, but in the region of the so-called third cranial fossa. After a long time the boy was taken to the VMA. We managed to remove the bullet, without damaging anything. The boy went up, started neurological recover, ophthalmologist and professor Branislav Đurović solved the problem of the eyeball. The boy completely recovered. Today he is a young man, he came to me last time when he was sixteen.

ABOUT HONEY AND BILE There are many more horrifying stories that the doctor keeps inside him, like the one about a Serbian boy from Vukovar, injured in grenade explosion.

– The mother tried to protect two sons with her body. When she stood up, she realized that one of them was killed, and the other sustained head and brain injury in the occipital region. She also sustained wounds all over her body. Their rescue was dramatic, but successful. The survived boy stayed at the Clinic for a longer time only because he didn’t have where to go after the therapy.

That is also war: not having where to go.

Another personal drama that doctor Minić remembers is the tragedy of young

guardsmen in 1999, when the North Atlantic Pact bombarded Serbia.

– Six of them were still alive when they brought them in. Somebody tipped of the enemy that those children were located in two parked trucks at the entrance into the guard brigade. The explosion was so strong that it damaged the nearby maternity ward and hospital “Dragiša Mišović”. Only one of those young men, actually still boys, had both legs when they were brought in.

One was thrown away by the explosion in the nearby rose garden; in the middle of the wound in his hip, on the place of his chopped off leg, a red rose was stuck. Of six of them, we managed to save only two.

Already during specialization he took care of many heavily wounded people. In one war day he would have to do as many as five surgeries.

– We have all been sent here by God to do something, more or less important.

We all have a serious obligation toward life and our people. When people are in jeopardy, we must make ourselves unconditionally available. And it is God’s will how long and how someone will live. I see it as a gift and privilege that my education enabled me to help someone. Painters, sculptors and pets create beautiful work, but few of them can enjoy the result of their work as doctors can. To be proud for helping someone to survive, changed their fate, brought them back to their family. But even here, as we know, “a glass of honey” is accompanied with a “glass of bile”. As much as success may lift up a doctor, the failure may bring him down. Even only one single

disappointment, one sorrow, can question all the previous successes.

IN STEP WITH THE WORLD The saying that “the battle is not waged by shining weapons, but by the heart of a hero” does not fully apply to medicine. Modern medicine is to a high degree dependent on technology, emphasizes Dr. Minić. Still, the “human factor” can never be replaced with anything.

– Only people working in neurosurgery may fully realize how vast an area it is and what its abilities to help are. Therefore our specializations within the area. In the past years, for example, we have made the biggest breakthrough at the VMA in the spinal column surgery. We have reached those that are the best in this area, we are doing very serious highly specialized things.

Great results, of course, require a team.

It is true strength when there is sufficient number of those who can transfer knowledge, establish a school, a standard.

– Exactly. Then you are surrounded with three or five of them who can definitely do

Mozart and Other Influences – I have three sons: Nikola, Miloš and Marko. I am a grandfather to one Katarina, who is four years old. I am a hunter, but the last time I had a chance to go hunting was a year and a half ago.

I like listening to classical music, in the OR and outside. (I think that Mozart has especially good influence on neurosurgeons.)

And not only music, art in general refines people, makes them whole. And when wholeness and meaning are there, the man stands upright and free.

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H e a l t h very complex things. A great advantage of the VMA is that I can invite any of my colleagues for consults and assistance. Knowledge, team work and good organization bring results for which this house is famous.

He believes that he succeeds to transfer his knowledge. The story about truth, about secrets, trade, about continuous following what the others are doing. Those who have chosen this profession, he thinks, are not ordinary people. They must be forged in certain way and have special strength.

And the special method in treatment of spinal column injury, we are told at the VMA, was introduced exactly by Dr. Minić.

– It is a specific surgical treatment of gunshot injuries of the spinal cord – he explains. – In this, we are using mesenterium from the abdomen, as a multi-potent organ, which has the ability for the growth of blood vessels. We introduce it into spinal channel, at the place prepared after the trauma, and we wrap the spinal cord in it... This method was completely original in this part of the world when we introduced it here about twenty years ago. It has produced certain results. It is significantly an important intermediate step between the previously applied method of electrical stimulation and the current method of stem cell transplant.

In the surgery of spinal cord, an organ with low functional reserve, there is no strict determination up to when it is necessary to do a certain thing in order for the recovery to be successful. Dr. Minić still emphasized the importance of the first hour, the “golden hour”, important in all emergency conditions in medicine. Just like it is important in cardiology, for example.

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Brain and Limits – They have gone a long way in organ transplantation. Heart, kidneys and other organs, it is now being done almost routinely.

But brain transplantation will hardly ever be done. Even if it would, it would no longer be the same person. There we reach that limit as to what can and what cannot be applied on a man, until when the man is what he is and when he stops being that. I also speak about those who are applying a certain method and those on whom the method was applied – Dr. Ljubodrag Minić says.

– Yes, because all this has to do with vascularization, with feeding of the tissue, blood supply of blood, sugar and oxygen into certain tissue. If absence of that nutrition lasts for a longer time, the endangered organ is irreparably damaged.

SOON THE USE OF STEM CELLS Professor Bela Balint, Dr. Minić tells us, has already mastered the method of stem cell separation. Its use in cardiology and neurology has already begun at the VMA. – We have already prepared patients with spinal cord injuries for the use of stem cells in treatment. We have technical means and personnel abilities, and we are waiting for the approval from the Ethical Committee.

If people praise themselves, they spoil themselves – Dr. Minić believes. That is why we had to learn from other people in his institution that for the past quarter of a century he has by far the biggest number of admittances, examinations and completed surgeries. And this is the burden that is not easy to carry. Many wait for months to be operated on by him. Both success and failure leave traces.

– Half a year ago, I was visited by the father of a little girl from Užice, six years old, who had a tumor on the brainstem.

They had been everywhere, and then they came to me. The thing was so horrible that, when I finished the conversation, I asked the nurse not to let anyone in. I cried, and I didn’t want to be seen.

When he does everything he knows and can, he says, he is at peace. He is also doing this line of work because only in this way he can help. His entire being is imbued with this idea.

– When I turn around, I see that I did not waste my time. 

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SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOLOGICAL PARK “ZVEZDARA” – A NEW SERBIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Silicon Valley in Zvezdara Forest

In the business incubator on Zvezdara hill, at the Scientific-Technological Park, the conditions resemble those in American companies “Apple” and “Google”. Everything is designed in such a way to stimulate development of economy based on knowledge and revive the ties between economy and universities.

Within this framework, defined in the government’s Strategy of scientific and technological development of Serbia from 2010 to 2015, the Project Management Unit also operates. A new opportunity has just been presented for those who are interested secure their space in this center By: Dragan Veličković SERBIA  NO 46  2014

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Photographs: Dragan Bosnić

he idea to build a large ScientificTechnological Park on the outskirts of the Zvezdara Forest, which would represent a center of scientific innovative development for the economy of that time, appeared more than twenty years ago.

Construction of the first buildings within the part started already in 1989. However, because of disintegration of the country, the project was suspended shortly afterwards. Five buildings were built in the first phase, but the construction was interrupted after the completion of concrete works.

Semi-finished buildings were thus covered by overgrown weeds, and the project was practically forgotten until 2011. Then they concluded that with relatively little financial resources the buildings could be refitted for their original purpose. The construction was resumed with funds obtained from the loan of the European Investment Bank. Realization of this project was defined in the agreement on financing and managing the construction of Scientific-Technological

Lease In December 2014, another open call was published for further lease of commercial space in Scientific-Technological Park “Zve­zda­ra”. Such open calls were also published in February and May, and after them four preliminary agreements on lease of business premises were signed. The price of lease is determined in public auctions, and the initial price is defined based on the reference price for the lease of business premises defined in the decision of the municipality of Zvezdara.

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Park “Zvezdara” between JUP “Research and Development” and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. In only two years, the Project Management Unit (JUP) built the park.

CONNECTING SCIENCE AND ECONOMY Scientific-Technological Park “Zvezdara” is conceived as an incubator for companies that are involved in development of ideas and their technological application. The goal is to stimulate development of economy based on knowledge and to revive the ties between the economy and universities.

The building is designed as an open-space office facility. The Scientific-Technological Park should become a self-sustainable center based on knowledge and new technologies, in accordance with the latest scientifictechnological achievements in the public sector. It is also the way to an increased number of newly employed people with high education who will remain in Serbia.

In close connection with universities and the rest of the scientific communities, the Scientific-Technological Park “Zvezdara” should provide infrastructure support to companies based on innovations that are results of scientific research, as well as on realization of joint projects between scientists and interested companies.

Complex of the Scientific-Technological Park “Zvezdara” consists of five modular buildings, common entrance lobby and

connective structures and gangways that connect modular buildings. Total surface area of the complex is about 14,000 square meters, of which office space occupies 8,000 square meters.

This magnificent building is characterized by the standard open-space design, possibility to partition the space as requested by the client, highest international standards of design and quality, suspended ceilings with smart lighting, IT support, centralized airconditioning, ventilation and heating system, natural light in the business area...

PROJECT MANAGEMENT UNIT The government of Serbia founded the Project Management Unit (JUP) as a support to the Project “Research and Development in Public Sector”, pursuant to financial agreement with the European Investment Bank from March 2010. By adopting the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of Serbia from 2010 to 2015, the government initiated investment in scientific and technological infrastructure. Funds in the amount of about 400 million Euros were secured through financial agreements with the European Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, grant from the European Union (IPA) and through budgetary funds on the state, provincial and local level.

The goal of this project is to improve the scientific-technological infrastructure of Serbia and raise it to a level that is accept-

able for the European Union. The project implies construction of modern scientifictechnological buildings, revitalization of the existing infrastructure for scientific-research activities in faculties and institutes, as well as purchase of capital equipment and consumables for scientific-research activities and improvement of scientific potentials. One of more important segments of the project also includes construction of apartments for young scientists.

In addition to Scientific-Technological Park “Zve­zda­ra” and apartments for young scientists in Block 32 in New Belgrade, construction of numerous infrastructure buildings was also completed (or the works are in the final stage), as well as other projects relevant for the Republic of Serbia.

In addition to managing the projects of construction of scientific infrastructure, JUP also implements the Program of modernization of schools and Regional housing program. 

Tenants Both local and foreign legal entities have the right to lease: institutes of higher education, scientific-research and innovation organizations, high-technology and medium-technology companies that are involved in scientific, research-development or production activity (including start up and spin-off companies)... The goal is also to achieve their connection sin the space of Scientific-Technological Park “Zvezdara”, primarily in applying new technologies, creating and placement of new products and services in the market.

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Ми производимо више од половине електричне енергије Србије We generate more than half of Serbian electricity

ПД ТЕРМОЕЛЕКТРАНЕ „НИКОЛА ТЕСЛА“ www.tent.rs

CE THERMAL POWER PLANTS “NIKOLA TESLA”