This Thursday at the Cultural Center of Serbia in Paris, I moderated the round table discussion "Castles of Serbia: Protection of Cultural Heritage". It was part of the project of the same name that Serbia presented to France.
It all started two years ago, with my bicycle tours around Vojvodina that were forced by the pandemic and the ban on traveling abroad, during which I discovered that in many places in Vojvodina or in the wastelands and forests between them, there are numerous castles and summer houses of exceptional historical and architectural value. which in most cases are in extremely bad condition.
Then the Foundation for the Protection of Cultural and Historical Heritage was established, and the Facebook page "Heritage without protection" was launched so that people from all over Serbia would start sending photos of castles, summer houses and historic houses from their surroundings that are formally under the protection of the state, but in reality - they just about collapsed. Currently, on that Facebook page, which has over 1.000 members, there are over 150 albums with photos of formally protected and neglected buildings throughout the country.
Fantasy Castle
Two years ago, immediately after the appointment of the Government, the Working Group "Castles of Serbia: Protection of Cultural Heritage" was established, whose first task was to count all the castles, manors, summer houses and villas in Serbia that are under the protection of the law (118 of them) and to determine which some of them are state-owned, some are privately owned, and some are in the process of restitution.
During that time, I presented this project to the French ambassador in Belgrade, Jean-Louis Falconi, and we agreed that his country's experiences in this field could be of great help to Serbia. We also created a web portal www.dvorcisrbije.rs which contains all the information about 118 objects from the list of the Working Group.
In June of last year, the Minister of Culture and Information, Maja Gojković, met in Paris with the then French Minister of Culture, Roseline Bachlot Narkan, to discuss, among other things, the possibilities of implementing the "Castles of Serbia" project. At the suggestion of the French side, they agreed to create a priority list of 25 buildings for reconstruction, as well as to determine, with the support of French experts, the best way for this historical, cultural and touristic potential of Serbia to come to life. Also, the French minister offered to help find EU funds to restore castles in Serbia.
Sokolac Castle Bowling Alley
Participants of the round table were Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, born in one of the buildings that are under (inadequate) protection today, Jelena Medaković, director of the Museum of the City of Belgrade, and Danijela Vanušić, assistant to the Minister of Culture and Information for cultural heritage and digitization. Images of Serbian castles, summer houses and villas alternated on the big screen.
I watched our French guests, first of all Frédéric Mitterrand, a member of the French Academy and former Minister of Culture of France and nephew of the famous François Mitterrand, as well as Laurent Alberti, an architect and urban planner from the Center des monuments nationaux.
As they said afterwards, they felt admiration for the cultural heritage of Serbia, but also shock and disbelief due to the state in which some of the buildings are.
Frédéric Mitterrand said that there are 2.000 families in France that have their own castles, and that in most cases the state helps maintain them. Some of the castles are owned by the state.
Baba Pusta Castle
"In any case, for the long-term and sustainable use of these facilities, close cooperation between the state and the private sector is necessary," Mitterrand said.
Loren Alberti announced the imminent arrival of experts from his institution to Serbia (postponed several times due to the pandemic) in order to carry out the first analyzes of the state of the castles and to receive proposals on how to restore them and what their future purpose should be.
Before the start of the round table, the Minister of Culture and Deputy Prime Minister Maja Gojković gave the example of the Karačonji Castle in Novi Miloševo, which is one of the largest in Serbia and from 1980 to 2000 was converted into a chemical industry factory. Instead of tourists and museum exhibits, it still houses the tanks of the factory, which has since gone bankrupt.
The evening before the round table, Nataša Marić, the ambassador of Serbia in Paris, held a reception in her residence with a courtyard overlooking the Eiffel Tower. This probably the most beautiful and valuable foreign building owned by our country is certainly one of the "Serbian castles", although it is not on the list of 118 - but it is an example of how valuable cultural heritage needs to be maintained regardless of whether it is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower or in the wastelands of Banat.
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