On Saturday, March 12nd, 2022, Slavoljub Slavko Maržik, M.Sc., retired geology engineer and author of six books related to the history of Kraljevo, a longtime associate of the National Museum Kraljevo, passed away in Belgrade.
Slavoljub Maržik was born in 1930 in Kraljevo, in a famous family of Czech origin, to father Vladislav and mother Marija Maržik. He graduated in geology in 1954 and specialized in engineering geology and hydrogeology, after which he completed his postgraduate studies and received his master’s degree in 1964. Except for the first few months, when he worked at the Geological Survey in Skopje during 1955-56, he spent his entire working life in the company “Energoprojekt” – Belgrade (1956-1991). For more than twenty years, he worked on the design of hydropower facilities, as a leading engineer and head of the geological group. In the organization of joint work for mining of this company, he led the group for operations and engineering in geology, mining, and research. He was the director of the mixed company “Sidco” Ltd. in Zambia, which was engaged in the exploration of metallic raw materials at its concessions in Coperbellt. As an engineer he worked on many projects in the country such as Batlava, Drenica, Basic project of the West Morava, Ibar, Drina; on the dams Otavica, Vodoča, Foča, water systems Studenica, Rugovo and others. He has also worked on numerous projects abroad: in West Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Zambia, Guinea, Peru, Angola, Iraq. He was awarded the Order of Labor with a silver wreath in 1982, while “Energoprojekt” presented him with an award for success in research in Zambia and overall activity in the profession.
After retiring in 1991, Slavko Maržik devoted himself to writing, and the National Museum Kraljevo was his publisher. First of all, he wanted to repay his family, enlighten their lives and share family memories, both of his famous grandfather Dr. Josif Maržik, a Czech military doctor who decided to settle permanently in Kraljevo with his wife Eleonor after the First World War, and with his father Vladislav, the first academic painter from Kraljevo and the first conservator of the National Museum Kraljevo, and mother Marija. That is how the book “Maržikovi” was created. After that, he published “Journey by Danish Royal Train” dedicated to the memories of growing up and schooling in Kraljevo. However, Slavko Maržik’s greatest undertaking is the preparation of collected articles, news, and notes on Karanovac and Kraljevo published in the press of the Principality / Kingdom of Serbia in the period from 1835-1918, collected in four volumes. Slavko did it in a unique way so far: although in his later years, he copied articles in libraries with his own hands, and then typed them with a typewriter. The National Museum Kraljevo recognized the potential in that and started from the first book, by scanning the typed pages, and in 2021, as part of the fourth and its author, an international scientific conference “Publications in the Development of Society and State I: Karanovac – Kraljevo in Serbian Newspapers 1835-1918.” which will continue this year. Thus, one great service of Slavko Maržik to his family and homeland ended, together with his rich life.