KULTURA / CULTURE
City-Museum beside the Danube
When you first find yourself in this picturesque town on the Danube, you will feel as though you are walking through the centuries
BRANKO WROTE HIS FIRST VERSES while he was still attend- ing the Karlovci Gymnasium. He dedicated his poem The Parting of Schoolfriends to the nearby Stražilo- vo hill and expressed a desire for the spot to be his final resting place. The town of Sremski Karlovci celebrates Branko’s Spring Day in March and Branko’s Kolo in September, and these are all good reasons for us to lead you on a short excursion to this beautiful town, because of Branko... Encompassing an area of just a few hundred square metres, look carefully and you’ll be able to see au- thentic traces of the history of the Serbian people in this area. In the very centre of town, the original am- bience of which is fully preserved, one can feel the wear and tear of the pas- sage of time. This is the town with the
oldest ‘gymnasium’ grammar school in Serbia, which this year celebrates its 233 rd birthday and has been at- tended by greats of Serbian culture and history like Branko Radičević, Jovan Sterija Popović, Dejan Meda- ković, Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz, Vi- da Ognjenović et al. The gymnasium was founded in 1791 by Metropolitan Bishop Ste- van Stratimirović and renowned lo- cal merchant and benefactor Dim- itrije Anastasijević, with the help of the patriotic people of Karlov- ci. Today’s school building was con- structed and donated to the Serbi- an nation by brothers German and Stevan Anđelić. Under state protec- tion due to its cultural importance, the school also includes a memori- al library, representing the oldest and richest school library in Serbia,
which preserves some of the most valuable works – a phototype edi- tion of the famous Miroslav’s Gospel, the Four-volume Gospel book from Mrkšina Church (1562), the works of Zaharije Orfelin, first editions of the works of Dositej Obradović, Vuk Karadžić, Branko Radičević et al. The beauty of the court of the Patriarchate has been written about by greats of Serbian literature. Lux- urious and elegant, it was the res- idence of Serbian patriarchs until 1936, when the Patriarchate relocat- ed to Belgrade. Karlovci represent- ed the spiritual centre of the Serbs in the Habsburg Empire for more than two centuries, first as the seat of Orthodox metropolitan bishops and later patriarchs. The ground floor of the Patriarchate Court also hous- es the Treasury of the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Citi- zens of Karlovci are also proud of St. Nicholas Cathedral, the largest Or- thodox church in this small town, built in the mid-18 th century, but al- so of the beauty of the Lower and Upper Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church of the Ho- ly Trinity, which is one of the most beautiful examples of Baroque ar- chitecture in Serbia. They also mention with pride the Magistrate’s building, the local phar- macy that dates back 151 years, the Four Lions drinking fountain on the town square, which was erected as far back as 1799. And they also speak with civic pride about the plane tree that has adorned the yard of the Low- er Church for more than 140 years.
Recept za proizvodnju
bermeta poznat je samo malom broju porodica iz Karlovaca The recipe for Bermet is known
only by a few families from Karlovci
Čuveni karlovački bermet, aromatizovano crveno vino, služio se, osim na bečkom dvoru, i na „Titaniku“ Karlovci’s famous Bermet, an aromatic red dessert wine, was a favourite tipple of the Court of Vienna, but was also served aboard the Titanic
52 | Poezija » Poetry
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