Serbian History 101

 From the Serbian Kingdom during 1879.  Do you know who the Serbian ruler was then?  How could you find out?  Who came before him?  Who came after?  What else did you learn?

This is from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, previously called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  Note the 3 different crests inside the double-headed eagle.  King Alexander was called the UNIFIER and the PEACEMAKER.  He was on a peace mission when he was shot in Marseilles, France on October 9, 1934.  When you hold a coin like this in your hands, you can learn a lot of history if you wanted to. 

Go ahead, do some research in the libraries and read about how from 16 airplanes with long, black banners flying behind, and how flowers were sprinkled over the path his funeral entourage took.  Every village sent representatives to his funeral wearing the native costumes from those areas.  For these beautiful accounts, you have to find newspaper articles on the day after.... Oct. 10, 1934. Almost every paper in the world had many photos and beautiful write-ups of this tragic event.  These would be reading FIRST HAND accounts of the events.

Here is a FIRST HAND account of what happened when the King landed in Marseilles.  There was a huge crowd to meet him.  The streets were lined with excited people all the way from the boat dock to the  middle of the city.  All the lamp posts were strung with flowers to welcome the King.

 The three images shown above are from some lovely  coasters I purchased several years ago, produced by the Serbian Numismatic Society.  This banknote again shows the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's crest of the three constituent peoples who made up the Kingdom: Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

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 Although not a coin, a valuable piece of history.  This is a medal marking the placing of the Cornerstone of St. Sava's HRAM in Belgrade in 1939!  The construction was stopped during WWII, and only started again in the 1980's.  Our group was there at the HRAM by seredipity when the roof which was raised for a month, was lowered, and finally locked into place, the Tuesday before the 1989 June 28 600th Anniversary of Kosovo.  We sang "Ziveli!" and "Uskliknimo" once we realized what the countdown had been all about.  Afterwards, the workmen gathered on top of the roof for an unforgettable picture!

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Here's a WONDERFUL website to learn more about the Serbian rulers and the paper money that was printed during their rules.  I selected the period of King Peter to King Alexander's time for a start, but you can also move BACK in time, or FORWARD, as you wish.  There are some beautiful banknotes here for you to see!

 http://www.numismondo.com/pm/yug/index11.htm

Here's an example from there:

Probably the very BEST place to learn more about Serbian coins throughout history is on the Serbian Unity Congress BLAGO site.

 http://serbianunity.net/culture/history/

Here's the SERBIAN HISTORY THROUGH COINAGE series from the Serbian Unity Congress' website.  You can find information here on the earliest Republic of Venice coinage, and King Stefan Uros I Nemanjic all the way to King Marko, and Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic to the Ostojic Dynasty, to the Coinage of Dubrovnik, and then Serbia and Montenegro coinage from the 19th-20th centuries with Prince Mihailo Obrenovich III, King Milan Obrevovic IV, King Aleksandar I Obrenovich, King Petar I Karadjordjevic to King Nikola I Petrovic Njegos.  All of this wonderful information was generated by Radmilo Bozinovic. 

The work involved was tremendous and I'm very appreciative of all the time and talent it took to create.  Thank you to Radmilo and the S.U.C. for sharing this treasure so generously with others!

Want even more?  Then try this RUDNIK Numismatic site.

There is a beautiful painting of King Alexander of Yugoslavia at the Heinz History Center. He was a numismatist, meaning, he loved collecting coins and paper money items.

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If you do a search for Serbia and Coins, you'll find a lot of good information. Here's an example from the Wikipedia site. I'll bet you know who's on the obverse, right?

The front of the coin in called the OBVERSE.  The back of a coin is called the REVERSE!

Did you kniow that among other things, Nikola Tesla was also a NUMISMATIST? 

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Look at this Serbian Woman's costume on display at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade.  Her "apron" piece is LOADED with Serbian coins, a real sign of great wealth, similar to Kuna Indians of Panama, wearing their gold and silver necklaces and earrings to show the family was in good stead!

Close-up look! Click on the photo, and it should enlarge!

This necklace was also a real eye-opener!

And how about this Beauty?  Click on photo to enlarge.

This necklace somehow reminds me of THE SILENT KOLO.  Did you ever hear of that?  When the Turks took away the Serbs' music and song (along with so many other things, including their young boys!), there were always smart, defiant Serbs who kept alive the Serbians' desire for freedom.  In the evening the Serbian youth would go high in the hills and dance the kolo without any musical accompaniment, just the stomping of their dancers' feet and the bouncing of the ladies' coins gave the kolo its rhythm.  This was one wonderful way to keep their hopes for FREEDOM alive!  I first saw this kolo performed by Nick Jovich's dancers from New York at the Serbian Unity Congress meeting in New York City.  I never forgot it!  It haunts me all the time, flooding my mind with great memories of the night!

August 24, 2008

This Bulletin shows when we were at the Museum!

The Kosovo Men's Choir from Cleveland, OH appeared in concert with the famous First Choral Society of Belgrade, which celebrated 150 years of existence.

 To view the wonderful Ethnographic Museum's website in Serbia and see MORE folk costumes, click here on this site.

 You will see costumes from all Serbian regions, including that of Serbia proper, Vojvodina, Kosovo and Methohija, Montenegro, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia!

It would be best to visit the area in person, as they have 160,000 items of interest. 

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