Masha Vukanovic
(Center for study in cultural development, Belgrade, Serbia)
Manner in which heritage is presented to wider audience makes it dead or alive. Heritage is not dead by default and we are all very aware of such fact. However, sometimes we forget that heritage that we research and work upon does not exist only for the sake of our scientific satisfaction.
My topic is the City. Cities that we visit make impressions that we do or do not forget. Intention of this paper is to show on particular case study how City of Belgrade makes itself unforgettable.
Belgrade is old town. Celtic tribes founded fortification named Singidunum in 4th century BC. 13 centuries after (878 AD) Slavic name of the town Bjeligrad was recorded in written sources for the first time. Fact that Belgrade was constantly devastated (averagely on every 37 years) makes the task of keeping cultural continuum a bit harder comparing with other cities such is for example Vienna. Despite Belgrade’s long and turbulent history I shall limit myself on reasonably “new” part of the city in order to show how combining heritage and ambience depictures spirit of the city in unforgettable way. Reason for such choice lies on the fact that archeology and history tell the story about Belgrade’s ups and downs, conquerors and defenders, but how fatiguing it might sound when one realizes that it happened so frequently. Yet spirit of Belgrade is still very alive and actually unforgettable. One among major attractions of the city is its bohemian quarter. Place where best times are at night-time provides vividness that reasonably gloomy past could never promise.
Therefore, point that I’m trying to make is showing that heritage, when vividly fitted in environment and even more vividly presented, make whole new experience fulfilling for both mass populous and scientists.