The Matica srpska

Founded in 1826 in Pest, during the liberation of Serbia from centuries of Ottoman occupation and the strengthening of awareness on the need to fully include Serbian people in modern European trends, and maintain their cultural identity at the same time. Matica’s actions were, from the very beginning, aimed at presenting Serbian culture to Europe and at enlightening the people. For that purpose, Matica developed a rich publishing activity. The basis of this activity was the famous Letopis (Chronicle), first published in 1824. Later on, numerous other editions were published, among them was one with particularly educational role, appropriately named Books for the People. During the 1840s, Matica created conditions required for scientific work. It was then that a library containing literary and manuscript collections from various scientific fields was formed.

 

In 1864, Matica Srpska relocated its headquarters from the Tekelijanum palace in Pest to the Platoneum palace in Novi Sad. It was then that the city of Novi Sad became known as the ’Athens of Serbia.’ The city was given this nickname because Matica Srpska was considered as the gathering point of the wisest and the most educated people. That connection became even more emphasized in the future. Matica Srpska became a symbol of civil society, culture, education, enlightenment, and charity. However, Matica always had, and still has the character of a people’s institution. Its founders (a young Ph.D. holder, Jovan Hadžić, and wealthy businessmen: Đorđe Stanković, Josif Milovuk, Jovan Demetrović, Gavrilo Bozitovac, Andrija Rozmirović, and Petar Rajić), as well as its first contributors, lived in different regions, from Vienna to Timisoara, and from Dubrovnik to Pest. They belonged to different social strata. Among the benefactors and members of Matica Srpska were the ruler of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović and his brother Jevrem, noble Sava Popović Tekelija, Baron Jovan Nikolić of Rudna, ruler of Montenegro Petar II Petrović Njegoš, members of the Karađorđević Royal family, writers, people’s tribunes, world famous scientists such as Mihajlo Pupin, and some of the less known citizens which supported Matica Srpska’s aim of enlightenment with their contributions. What brought them together was a noble idea of creating a single, unique „beehive“ and the attitude that it is an honor to serve the prominent Matica Srpska. This thought was followed by thousands of people. Among them were those who came from different nations. It was because of this widespread support among the people, that Matica was the richest endowment institution in Hungary for a period of time. Capital projects of great significance for the standardization of the Serbian language and the development of different scientific disciplines were financed from its funds. At the same time, Matica oversaw the education of gifted students and scholars, and thereby the creation of a Serbian intellectual elite.

 

Today, Matica Srpska has almost 2.000 associates. They are included in one of the dozens of scientific and development projects within the Department for Literature and Language, Department of Lexicography, Department for Social Sciences, Department for Natural Sciences, Department for Fine Arts, Department for Performance Arts and Music, and the Manuscript Department. Associates prepare articles for Matica’s ten periodical publications and work on the preparation of publications of great significance for Serbian culture and science, such as the Serbian Encyclopedia, Serbian Biographic Dictionary, the Dictionary of Serbian Language, Orthography… The Matica Srpska Library has over 3,500,000 books, and the Matica Srpska Gallery houses a rich collection of Serbian eighteenth and nineteenth century paintings. The Publishing Center continues the tradition of the former Matica Srpska Publishing Company, whose editions were, for decades, recognizable throughout Southeastern Europe by the emblem MS, which signified high-quality and carefully selected literature from various fields Matica Srpska annually awards worthy accomplishments in various fields of culture and science.

 

Matica Srpska has been an example to many Slavic nations. Based on this model the following institutions were established: Czech Matica in 1831, Illyrian Matica in 1842 (in 1874 renamed to Matica Hrvatska); Matica Lužičkosrpska in 1847, Halych-Russian Matica in Lviv in 1848; Moravian Matica in 1849; Matica Dalmatinska in Zadar in 1861; Slovak Matica in 1863; Slovenian Matica in 1864; Matica Opava in 1877; Matica in the Teschen Princedom in 1898. (from which Silesian Matica came to be in 1968); Polish Matica in Lvov (1882); Educational Matica in the Teschen Princedom in 1885; Educational Matica in Warsaw in 1905; Bulgarian Matica in Constantinople in 1909 and the new Bulgarian Matica in 1989.

In the meantime, Matica Srpska has developed cooperation with many institutions and individuals from around the world.

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He started his high school education in Subotica, and ended up in Budapest. In Budapest, he also finished law school. He was a prominent member of the United Serbian Youth, and president of the Youth Assembly in Zrenjanin, Kikinda and Novi Sad from 1868 to 1870. In addition entrusted with the youth and edit newsletters Young Serbs. When the Hungarian government for Vršački Assembly in 1871 ordered that the members of Youth may be just the Hungarian Serbs, then Hadzic tried in vain to convince the authorities of the various applications that such a society can not be so limited. He had a special contribution to the development of Serbian theater, especially the Serbian National Theatre (SNT) in Novi Sad. Together with Jovan Subotic prevented the collapse of the theater after the departure Jovan Djordjevic 1868 in Belgrade. He became manager of the Serbian National Theatre. He has developed an artistic game in carcasses, while the spectators waking patriotism and love for the theater. There was revealed about 50 original and translated dramatic works from the repertoire of the SNT. The volumes of 185 Serbian Chronicles is given a good overview of his literary work. Under his direction the SNT in Novi Sad is elevated to a height at which it could have performed the most complex and dramatic works.

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Antonije Hadzic (Subotica, November 20 / December 2, 1831 - Novi Sad, 17 January 1916 (the National Encyclopedia 1917)) was a writer, director of the National Theatre (Novi Sad) and the president of Matica srpska.
Date of birth: 
Friday, December 2, 1831
Place of birth and location: 
Subotica
Serbia
46° 6' 1.9692" N, 19° 39' 54.2124" E
Date of death: 
Monday, January 17, 1916
Place of death and location : 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 16' 1.686" N, 19° 50' 0.78" E
Gender: 
Мушки
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Year of birth: 
1871
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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Jovan Djordjevic was born in Senta, a town on the bank of the Tisa river in the region which eventually became Serbian Vojvodina, on 13 November 1826 (Julian Calendar) to merchant Filip and Ana Djordjevic. Jovan was baptized on 17 November of that year in the Serbian Orthodox Church of Archangel Michael, officiated by Very Reverend Georgije-Djuka Popovic, one of the most erudite clerics of his day in that region of Potisje, and author of Put u raj (The Road to Heaven), a book in praise of moral principles. The acting bug bit hard when he first appeared as a teenager in Hungarian and Serbian amateur theatricals in his hometown of Senta. He started his schooling in Senta, Novi Sad, Segedin, Temisvar, and Pest, where he was a Tekelijanum scholar (having received a stipend from the Sava Tekelija Endowment). Throughout high school (gymnasium) and university he pursued his chosen career as a professional actor and manager, appearing in hundreds of plays he himself organized in which he received a reputation of high versatility and originality. The 1848 Revolution interrupted his university education and he left Pest for Sombor where Grand Zupan Isidor Nikolić Dzaver (1806–1862) of Bačka first appointed him secretary of the town's municipal court house, and then a position of judicial clerk at Lugos. In 1852 he was appointed professor of a high school in Novi Sad. There Djordjevic came to loggerheads with the school's administrators, who were against Vuk Karadžic's language reforms, and left his teaching post to become secretary of the Matica Srpska and editor of the learned society's magazine Letopis Matice Srpske in 1857. Two years later (1859), Danilo Medakovic appointed Djordjevic to position of co-editor (with Djordje Popovic) of Srpski Dnevnik. He eventually relinguished his position to Svetozar Miletic in 1861 and joined Dr. Jovan Andrejevic Joles on their long, overdue project – the construction of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. With the new theatre Djordjevic showed his interest in Serbian drama through the productions of plays by Djordje Maletic, Jovan Sterija Popovic, Matija Ban, Joakim Vujic, and others. In 1868 he founded the Serbian National Theatre in Belgrade, where he offered increasingly elaborate contemporary productions of Serbian and foreign playwrights and dramatists, like Stevan Sremac, Milorad Popovic Sapcanin, Milovan Glisic, Svetislav Vulovic, Kosta Trifkovic, Branislav Nusic, Imre Madách, József Katona, György Bessenyei, Schiller, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, Émile Augier, Jules Sandeau, Eugène Marin Labiche, Victorien Sardou, Ivan Turgenev, Gogol, Maksim Gorky and other greats.

Belgrade at the time had a competing theatre, the Theatre on Djumruk, where Jovan Sterija Popovic first produced his play "Death of Stephen Uros III Decanski of Serbia" in 1841. Djordjevic also established the prestigious Academy of Dramatic Art first at the Serbian National Theatre before the school eventually moved to its present location, now accredited by the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Dramatic Arts. The teaching staff at its inception was composed of Jovan Djordjevic and Aleksa Bacvanski, an international actor who also went by the name of Sandor Varhidi. Today it is regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in Eastern Europe, and one of the oldest drama schools in the Balkans, having been founded in 1870.

Later, Djordjevic became professor of general history at Belgrade's Grande École. In 1893 he served for a short time as Serbia's Minister of Culture under the Jovan Avakumovic Administration, and Alexander I of Serbia's tutor. He wrote poetry and translated and adapted many plays for the theatre. He compiled and prepared a Latin-Serbian, Serbian-Latin Dictionary, which he had worked on from 1882 to 1886. His best work is a theatrical allegory Marko's Sword and the text (lyrics) to the hymn Boze pravde, with music by Davorin Jenko.

He died in Belgrade on 9 April 1900.

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Personal information: 
Jovan Djordjevic was a Serbian writer. He is the founder and director of the National Theatre in Belgrade, manager of the Serbian National Theatre (1863-1868), professor of history and the Minister of Education. He wrote the Serbian national anthem.
Date of birth: 
Saturday, November 25, 1826
Place of birth and location: 
Senta
Serbia
45° 55' 33.6468" N, 20° 4' 41.1384" E
Date of death: 
Sunday, April 22, 1900
Place of death and location : 
Beograd
Serbia
44° 47' 11.6448" N, 20° 26' 56.1192" E
Gender: 
Мушки
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Year of birth: 
1826
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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He was educated at high school in Vinkovci and Novi Sad and the he studied Law in Graz where he graduated in 1876. Next, in 1877, he returned to Novi Sad and until 1901, he was pofessor of languages and literature in Novi Sad (Latin, Greek, Hungarian, German and Serbian) .He wrote a large number of grammar, vocabulary and literature review that was adopted in the Serbian education as the standard text books.

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Jovan Grcic (October 19, 1855, Vukovar - February 5, 1941, Novi Sad) was a Serbian historian, a lawyer, a translator and a worker in a number of areas of cultural life.
Date of birth: 
Friday, October 19, 1855
Place of birth and location: 
Vukovar
Serbia
45° 20' 42.8568" N, 19° 0' 3.672" E
Date of death: 
Wednesday, February 5, 1941
Place of death and location : 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 16' 1.686" N, 19° 50' 0.78" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Делокруг рада: 
Institution: 
Year of birth: 
1855
Country of Birth: 
Croatia
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Milan Jovanovic (Jarkovac, April 24, 1834 - Belgrade, 6 July 1896) was a Serbian doctor and writer. He was a professor at the Great School and a professor of the Military Academy in Belgrade. Milan was a first professor of hygiene in Serbia.
Date of birth: 
Thursday, April 24, 1834
Place of birth and location: 
Јарковац
Serbia
45° 14' 3.1848" N, 20° 45' 3.168" E
Date of death: 
Monday, July 6, 1896
Place of death and location : 
Београд
Serbia
44° 47' 1.2984" N, 20° 27' 7.488" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Institution: 
Year of birth: 
1834
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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Ilija Ognjanovic was born on 30th April (12th May) 1845 in Novi Sad. He comes from very old farming family. In Sremska Kamenica graduated from Elementary school, and afterwards goes to german Border school in Petrovaradin. In 1866/67. he went to Faculty of medicine in Budapest and graduated in 1872 in Vienna, and specilize surgery in 1873. The same year he went back to Novi Sad and started to work; at the same time he was a personal doctor of Marija Trandafil. 1888 he was a supervisor of Hospital`s delivery sector. Also he was a poet and editor of magazine "Zolja" in age of 16, and year after "Đački venac". He wrote medical–instructed columns. All of known illnesses at the time he translated and described on Serbian, Hungarian and German. Because of his work he was awarded with many honours. He was member of Literature department of matica srpska, Backa Eparchy Bureau, Serbian Scholar Men Society (1883), honorable member of Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts. His life wasn`t easy. In early years of his life he became an orphan, dependent from generosity of whealty people and institutions, and often of his labour. He suffered from heart weakness and last three years from diabetes. He went to Austrian hospital for treatment (Dobelbad, 1900) and instead of getting better the illness grew stronger. He decides to go back to Novi Sad. A day after, he went to sanatorium in Budim where he died. It was on 8th (21st) August, in his 55th year of life. The body was transported to Novi Sad and buried on Almas cemetery, on 10th (23rd) August 1900.

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Abukazem
Personal information: 
Doctor and writer. Cooperate of Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj. Born in Novi Sad and died when he was 55. A personal doctor of Marija Trandafil.
Date of birth: 
Wednesday, April 30, 1845
Place of birth and location: 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 9.774" N, 19° 50' 21.2964" E
Date of death: 
Friday, August 10, 1900
Place of death and location : 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 0.3276" N, 19° 51' 3.3192" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Institution: 
Year of birth: 
1845
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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Teacher, social and cultural worker. Born on 1st Jan.1844. in Velika Kikinda, died on 18th Jun 1922. in Novi Sad. He graduated from Elementary school and Imperial-Royal Elementary Real School in Velika Kikinda, Trading school in Pesta, and afterwards Teaching School in Sombor and in 1864. he became a teacher in Velika Kikinda. Most important parts of his work is connected to Novi Sad. In 1874. he was a techer and principal in Novi Sad`s Female High school. In 1889. he founded Serbian teachers` Convict for children of teachers from Novi Sad. He founded Techers`association "Natosevic". Elected for Secretary of "Srpkinja Novosatkinja" charity. 1886. founded "Ženski svet" (Woman`s World) and edited it until the WWI. At the beginning of the war, on his iniciative a hospital was founded. On 1910-1911 was a Secretary of Matica srpska. On 1910 he edited a calendar of "Zenski svet" and from 1921 he began to work on Teacher`s news (Učiteljski vesnik). Associate on "Srpsko kolo" i "Branik", and few other magazines. Elected for senator in 1892 on the teritory of Sent Miklus. He was married to Beta (born Stefanovic) and had a doughter Vida (married Vulko).

Personal information: 
Born: 1st Jan 1844 Velika Kikinda Died: 18th Jun 1922 Novi Sad
Date of birth: 
Monday, January 1, 1844
Place of birth and location: 
Velika Kikinda
Serbia
45° 50' 1.7628" N, 20° 27' 53.2188" E
Date of death: 
Sunday, June 18, 1922
Place of death and location : 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 7.2396" N, 19° 50' 37.3632" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Institution: 
Year of birth: 
1844
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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( Date of birth is not defined)

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Dušan Popov was born in Mokrin, his education took place in Novi Sad and graduated from Faculty of philosophy in Belgrade with PhD diploma. He became a journalist in 1945, in „Slobodna Vojvodina“ (today „Dnevnik“) and „Glas omladine“ papers. In „Dnevnik“ he went from young associate to vice-chief editor. As a young journalist he became a chief editor of "Tribina mladih" cultural institution. In 1972. he became the first chief editor of the new Novi Sad television. For many years he was a member of board of directors and executive committee of Matica srpska, and three times elected for it`s secretary. In "Sterijino pozorje" he was a chief secretary. He was awarded with the highest city honor "The February award of Novi Sad" for his work on city`s historical heritage and culture.He is an author of „Enciklopedija Novog Sada“, the capital work of 30 volumes, and the city commission announced that Novi Sad is one of the very few cities that has it`s own Encyclopedia.

 

 

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Personal information: 
Born in Mokrin. Died in Novi Sad 03.07.2014.
Place of birth and location: 
Mokrin
Serbia
45° 56' 4.9992" N, 20° 24' 15.9984" E
Date of death: 
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Place of death and location : 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 0" N, 19° 51' 0" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Institution: 
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
Title: 
Protocol of Matica srpska from 1st of January to 31st of December 1851.
Name of the original: 
Записник Матице српске
Type of language of cultural artefact: 
Slavic
Period: 
Prose
Institution: 
Date of the document: 
01.01.1851.
Year of the document: 
1851
Date of records creation : 
23.09.2014.
Material: 
Paper
Type of cultural artefact: 
Book
Place of origin of the cult. artefact: 
Novi Sad
State of origin of the cult. artefact: 
Serbia
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Biography: 

Zmaj was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, on 24 November 1833. He finished elementary school in the town, and secondary school in Preßburg (today Bratislava), later studying in Ofenpesth (Budapest), Prague and Vienna. In 1870, he returned to Novi Sad to work as a doctor, motivated by the fact that his wife and children were suffering from tuberculosis. His family was an old and noble family. In his earliest childhood he showed a great desire to learn by heart the Serbian national songs which were recited to him, and even as a child he began to compose poems.

His father, who was a highly cultivated and wealthy man, gave him his first education in his native city. After this he went to Ofenpesth, Prague, and Vienna, and in these cities he finished his studies in law. This was the wish of his father, but his own inclinations prompted him to take up the study of medicine. He then returned to his native city, where a prominent official position was offered him, which he accepted; but so strong were his poetical instincts that a year later he abandoned the post to devote himself entirely to literary work.

His literary career began in 1849, his first poem being printed in 1852, in a journal called Srbski Letopis ("Serbian Annual Review"); to this and to other journals, notably Neven and Sedmica, he contributed his early productions. From that period until 1870, besides his original poems, he made many translations to Serbian from Hungarian of works by Sándor Petőfi and János Arany, two of the greatest Hungarian poets, from Russian of the works of Lermontov, as well as from German of several German and Austrian poets. In 1861 he edited the comic journal, Komarac ("The Mosquito"), with Đorđe Rajković, and in the same year he started the literary journal, Javor, and to these papers he contributed many poems.

In 1861, he married, and during the happy years that followed he produced his admirable series of lyrical poems called Đulići, which probably remain his masterpiece. In 1862, greatly to his regret, he discontinued his beloved journal, Javor, a sacrifice which was asked of him by Svetozar Miletić, who was then active on a political journal, in order to insure the success of the latter. Politically engaged, he sympathized with the ideas of the United Serbian Youth, a movement which attracted a number of influential figures in Serbian public life in the period of the 1860s to 1870s. These include the politicians and writers Jevrem Grujić (1826–1895), Jovan Ilić (1823–1901), Svetozar Marković, Sava Grujić, the historians Stojan Novaković, Milovan Janković (1828–1899), Vasa Pelagić (1833–1899), and the political writer Vladimir Jovanović.

In 1863, he was elected director of the Tekelianum, at Ofenpesth (Budapest). He now renewed the study of medicine at the university, and took the degree of doctor of medicine. Meanwhile he did not relax his literary labors. He also devoted himself greatly to education of Serbian youth. During his stay in Ofenpesth he founded the literary society, Preodnica, of which he was president, and to which he devoted a large portion of his energies. In 1864 he started his famous satirical journal, "Zmaj" ("The Dragon"), which was so popular that the name became a part of his own. In 1866, his comic play "Šaran" was given with great success. Since 1870, Zmaj has pursued his profession as a physician. He was an earnest advocate of cremation, and has devoted much time to the furtherance of that cause.

The end of the poet's long life was saddened by domestic sorrows. The loss of his wife in 1872 was followed by another great pain of losing the only child who outlived her mother, out of his five children. How much these misfortunes affected him is plainly perceptible from the deeply sad tone of the poems which immediately followed. In 1873 he started another comic journal, the Žiža. During the year 1877 he began an illustrated chronicle of the Russo-Turkish War, and in 1878 appeared his popular comic journal, Starmali. During all this period he wrote not only poems, but much prose, including short novels, often under an assumed name. The best of these is probably Vidosava Brankovićeva. In that period he published a great many charming little poems for children. He died on 1 June 1904.

His country mourned him with almost royal pomp, and his remains, after lying in state followed to the ceremony of Sremska Kamenica by a vast cortège, including the royal princes and all the great officers of the state.

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Nickname: 
Zmaj
Personal information: 
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, 24 November 1833 – 1 June 1904 was one of the best-known Serbian poets. He was a physician by profession, like his literary predecessor writer Jovan Stejić (1803–1853). He wrote in many of the genres of poetry, including love, lyric, patriotic, political, youth's, etc. But he is best known for his children's poetry. His nursery rhymes have entered the Serbian national consciousness and people sing them to their children even without knowing who wrote them. He also translated the works of some of the great poets, Russia's Lermontov and Pushkin; Germany's Goethe and Heine; and America's Longfellow. His nickname Zmaj (Змај, meaning "dragon") derives from May Assembly date, 3 May 1848, in Serbian Cyrillic: 3.мај / Змај.
Date of birth: 
Sunday, November 24, 1833
Place of birth and location: 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 0" N, 19° 51' 0" E
Date of death: 
Tuesday, June 14, 1904
Place of death and location : 
Sremska Kamenica
Serbia
45° 13' 14.0016" N, 19° 50' 21.0012" E
Gender: 
Мушки
Epoch: 
Institution: 
Important locations: 
Novi Sad
Serbia
45° 15' 0" N, 19° 51' 0" E
Year of birth: 
1833
Country of Birth: 
Serbia
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