The promotion of the book “Charisma of Emperor Dušan – History and Memory” by Kosta Nikolić, PhD, scientific advisor of the Institute of Contemporary History in Belgrade, was held in the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo, on Thursday, December 5th, 2024, starting at 6 p.m.
At the beginning of the program, Darko Gučanin, director of the National Museum Kraljevo, welcomed the attendees and expressed his satisfaction that the first promotion of Kosta Nikolić’s latest book in the country was taking place in this institution, but that there were many reasons for this, since it was the author’s hometown. In his review, he emphasized that Nikolić provides a comprehensive overview of the era of Emperor Dušan and the rise of the Serbian medieval state, as well as the duration of this cult among the people and its influence on political ideas in the 19th and 20th centuries.
After that, Nebojša Jovanović, PhD, as the book’s editor and representative of the Publishing House “Laguna”, addressed the audience. He emphasized that Emperor Dušan, as a symbol of the great victor from the past, had inspired the fight against the Turks and the restoration of the Serbian state for centuries. The emperor’s mortal remains were found in his endowment of the Holy Archangels near Prizren and were transferred from there to the Patriarchate. One of the interesting modern phenomena is that during the communist regime, their burial in the Church of St. Mark in Belgrade in 1968 caused a great stir, even though it was a ruler from the 14th century, which indirectly indicates the influence and strength of the cult of Emperor Dušan in contemporary society. Jovanović also emphasized that about 500 books were sold in the first month, making it almost a bestseller.
Finally, the author himself, Kosta Nikolić, PhD, addressed the audience and presented the reasons why, as a historian dedicated to contemporary history, he dealt with this topic, and they lie in the desire to examine the processes of historical memory and their influence on contemporary political and cultural movements. The rise of the state during the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan enabled the proclamation of an empire, the belief that Serbia would replace Byzantium and stop the arrival of the Turks. Falling under Turkish rule and losing their state, the people, in resistance to subjugation, preserved through traditions the awareness of Emperor Dušan and the glorious state of the Nemanjićs as confirmation of their existence. At the same time, this memory awakened hope in the fight for freedom. The cult of Dušan the Strong was renewed in the liberation wars of the 19th century. He also emphasized that he saw Emperor Dušan primarily as a legislator and that he considered his Codex to be the most important book after the Gospel of Miroslav. Then something extremely unusual happened, which is that we have a situation in which we have a monarchy limited by law, and this in the 14th century. Ilija Garašanin also relied on this legal document in the 19th century and used it as a model.