The promotion of the journal “Our Past” 22, the scientific and professional journal of the National Museum Kraljevo and the Historical Archives Kraljevo, was held in the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo, on Friday, February 21st, 2025, starting at 6 p.m.
At the beginning of the promotion, the editor of the journal “Our Past” 22, Tatjana Mihailović, PhD, museum advisor to the National Museum Kraljevo, welcomed the gathering and introduced the participants of the promotion.
She reviewed the issue as a whole, which brings a total of eight papers, two each from the fields of the Middle Ages and art history, while the remaining papers are related to recent history and archival studies. In addition, the latest issue of the journal also contains four contributions. The first contribution is a review of the collection of paper “Publicism in the Development of Society and State I. From Newspaper Report to Objective History: Karanovac-Kraljevo in Serbian Newspapers: 1835-1918” written by Radomir Popović. The other two are reviews of the books “Yugoslavia, the Last Days: 1989-1992.”, by Kosta Nikolić, and “Getting Over Europe”, by Zoran Milutinović, written by Miloš Timotijević, PhD. In her presentation of the new issue of the journal, the editor specifically referred to the In memoriam to Professor Dragan Pešić, technical editor of almost all publications of the National Museum Kraljevo over a period of two decades, who was most responsible for shaping the visual identity of the entire publishing activity of this institution. She stated that the back of the journal features a portrait of Dragan Pešić, which his student Lazar Dimitrijević, an associate professor at the Faculty of Philology and Arts of the University of Kragujevac, created using fonts designed by Pešić.
Gordana Gavrić, advisor to the director of the Foundation of the Holy Monastery of Hilandar and a long-time associate and director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Kraljevo, presented the first two papers related to the medieval period. These are the paper of archaeologist Marina Bunardžić from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia in Belgrade, entitled “Graves in the Foundation of Prince Miroslav of Hum, According to the Results of Archaeological Research” and the paper of Milorad Obradović, curator of the National Museum Kraljevo, “Old Mining Toponymy of the Right Bank of the Ibar River, from Ploče to Rucmanec”. Although significantly different, both papers were praised for their multidisciplinary approach and because they can be a starting point for future research on these topics.
Ana Kostić Đekić, PhD, associate professor at the Department of Art History of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, presented the paper of Anita Marković from the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Smederevo, “The Figure of Jovan Kursula, the Greatest Megdandžija of the First Serbian Uprising, in Serbian Art and Visual Culture of the 19th and First Decades of the 20th Century”. This paper deals with the culture of remembrance of the figure and work of the prominent hero of the First Serbian Uprising who lived in the village of Cvetke near Kraljevo. She then presented the paper by Dragana Frfulanović and Aleksandra Jevtović entitled “Ideology and Aesthetics of Socialist Realism in Sculpture. Monument of Resistance and Victory in Kraljevo” which tells the story of the life of the monument by Lojza Dolinar, which as a memorial to resistance to Nazism did not meet the changed criteria of the state ideology and was moved from the Jajince Memorial Center to the park next to the Kraljevo train station.
Miloš Timotijević, PhD, museum advisor to the National Museum Čačak, at the beginning of his presentation praised the quality of the content and design of the journal. In his presentation of the paper by Darko Gučanin entitled “Establishing Friendship and Permanent Cooperation between the Cities of Łódź and Kraljevo 1990-1991”, he highlighted the historical circumstances under which this interesting twinning of Kraljevo and the Israeli city took place. Regarding the paper by Aleksandar Lazović from the Historical Archives Kraljevo, “Digitization of Cultural Heritage and Software Solutions in Archives”, he emphasized the importance of this kind of work in today’s times, which, in addition to comparisons with countries whose archives have advanced significantly in this process, brings a number of solutions to this important issue. Regarding the work “Photo Albums in the Historical Archives Kraljevo” by Aleksandar Berežnov, Miloš Timotijević said that the Kraljevo archive keeps about 7,500 negatives and positives and a number of photo albums and that the work contains a section dedicated to the development of photography, a list of all albums, but also a list of all Kraljevo photographers. Finally, he presented the paper by Veselinka Kastratović Ristić and Silvija Krejaković, “Dragoslav Pajić, the Life and Work of Vojislav M. Pajić (1901-1971) – Echo of Trauma: Kraljevo in October 1941.” which is categorized as edited historical material. Timotijević emphasized that this paper is much more than that and that it represents a cross-section of private life that partly touches on the most tragic event in the history of Kraljevo.
At the end of the promotion, editor Tatjana Mihailović, PhD thanked all collaborators and emphasized that this is the first issue published without the participation of Dragan Pešić, and she reflected on the editorial team’s efforts to maintain the journal’s recognizable appearance, in accordance with the conceptual solutions he devised.