"This gang needs to be broken to the end," said Minister Nikola Selaković about the employees of the Republic and other institutes for the protection of cultural monuments in front of the councilors and the cameras that directly broadcast the session of the Serbian Parliament on January 14. He accused them of taking away the status of a cultural property from the Žiča monastery so that certain persons could be given permission to build a tourist complex with an Olympic swimming pool, aqua park, bungalows and a hall for celebrations, and that because of them the works on the renovation of Studenica have been stopped for two years, and then they should not worry about Mileseva, finally, as the Minister of Culture said, "they are the biggest brakemen of the protection of cultural properties". He continued in that direction in the following days, appearing almost daily on pro-regime media.
This and such an attack by Selaković is happening at the same time as the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime is investigating the "General Staff" case in which Nikola Selaković is one of the four defendants, and whose first hearing is scheduled for February 4.
The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (RZZSK) has evidence that nothing Selaković said is true, and they see the reason for the attack precisely in the approach of the aforementioned main trial. Because of the minister's accusations, employees in the protection service suspect that the Ministry of Culture will initiate the abolition of the Republic Institute, especially since it was precisely thanks to the reports of the conservator of the RZZSK that the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime opened the "General Staff" case.
We talk about this with Nemanja Smiciklas, recently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, who was a conservator and restorer at the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments for 30 years.
"WEATHER" Is it true that Studenica was not included in the plans of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments for two years?, as Minister Selaković said?
NEMANJA SMIČIKLAS: It is true that conservation and restoration works have not been carried out in the Studenica monastery for several years, but for that, responsibility should not be sought in the RZZSK, but in the Ministry of Culture itself. Studenica Monastery is included in the Institute's work plan and program, but a few years ago the state did not provide funds for the planned works. Studenica is not an isolated case. The number of cultural assets that are planned to be restored and conserved is large. It is impossible to enumerate them. The fact that every year in the work plan proposal in June, for the next year, the Institute asks the Ministry for certain funds, several hundred million dinars, for works on cultural assets, and then receives only a few tens of millions of dinars from the Ministry speaks volumes about this. Very often, the allocated funds are received too late in the current year so that the works can be carried out smoothly. In the last two years, not even the money that was approved by signing the contract with the Ministry of Culture has arrived, because the Institute does not receive approval from the Ministry of Finance for public procurement of more than two million dinars. The funds requested and approved for Sopoćani, Studenica, Manasija, monuments in Kosovo and Metohija, Ravanica... and other cultural assets have been reduced ten times or more or have not been approved by the Ministry of Finance. That's why the works take years instead of being completed in a few seasons. This has a negative impact on the quality of the works, but also on the image of the Institute in the eyes of the owners of cultural assets.
To clarify: the care of cultural assets depends not only on the Republic Institute but also on two ministries?
Yes. All projects that come out of the RZZSK must have the consent of the Ministry of Culture, and for the execution of works that exceed the value of two million dinars, the consent of the Ministry of Finance must be obtained in order for the funds to be spent. These agreements are largely absent.
One of the examples of this state practice is the archaeological site Caričin grad, which the minister also mentions in his presentation. Carica's town was declared a capital project for a period of three years, 2023-2025, for which large funds have been allocated. A detailed plan of activities for that period was drawn up, projects were written for which the consent of the Ministry of Culture was obtained, all protection institutions competent for that location were involved, and in the end - the consent of the Ministry of Finance was not obtained to spend the funds for this purpose. Instead of conservation works, the state financed projects in Tsarica's town that had no direct connection with protection, such as the construction of a visitor center, again without the consent of the protection service and understanding of the needs of the site itself. More than 70 percent of the funds had to be returned to the budget of the Republic of Serbia. It should be noted that the Republic of Serbia intends to nominate this locality for inclusion in the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List, and that this behavior is only moving away from that. It is interesting to mention, and as an illustration of the state leadership's lack of interest in preserving cultural heritage - Prime Minister Đuro Macut visited the visitor center at the Tsaričin grad site, but did not find it necessary to climb to the site itself, where experts from our protection institutions and fellow researchers from France and Germany were waiting for him. It certainly shows the attitude of the state towards heritage.
Nikola Selaković said that Manasija and Sopoćani were given large funds. Does this mean that the Ministry directly cooperates with them?, past RZ or territorial institutes that take care of these monasteries? Is that legal?? Does that mean that the monasteries themselves?, by choice, they choose contractors?
This is a precedent that has not happened so far, or has happened but on a smaller scale and with less potential consequences. Monasteries receive funding directly from the Ministry of Culture. They conclude contracts without conducting the public procurement procedure. They determine their own priorities, which are mainly the increase of accommodation capacities, and not conservation works to protect cultural heritage. Is that legal? It's basically not. The Ministry of Culture would have to allocate money for the protection of cultural heritage, not for the construction of lodgings in monasteries, while the cultural property itself, the reason for which it was declared a cultural property, is deteriorating and being suffocated by new construction. The Ministry of Culture does not give money to the owners of cultural assets that are not of a sacred nature, and they have to invest the funds themselves without any help. About 70 percent of immovable cultural property is privately owned, and only a part of it is owned by the SPC. On the basis of which criteria is chosen which monastery will be given money and for which works? Who does that? A minister at will and at his discretion? SPC is not qualified to decide on protection priorities, as well as on the quality and expertise of the performed works. Examples of this practice are certainly the monasteries of Žiča, Sopoćani, Manasija, where either new architectural interventions risk their removal from the UNESCO list (Sopoćani) or their candidacy for that list is permanently prevented. Many of these questions and actions are also something that TOK should and must examine.
Is the city of Lazarus in Kruševac being renovated by the RZZSK?? Why did you say N1 looks like Disneyland?
I said that its "reconstruction" would resemble Disneyland, given the absolute lack of material archaeological and architectural data, and that it is impossible to achieve an ideal reconstruction, both now and in the future, because the archaeological layers over the centuries and new construction have been disturbed and therefore unreadable. The absolute reconstruction of an object implies that there is clear evidence of what that object looked like. If they do not exist, actions are undertaken in accordance with conservation-restoration principles and ethics in order to reconstruct the missing parts of the building, those for which there is no evidence of how they looked, in some way. The Minister mentions Golubac Fortress as a fantastic example. It is true that it was reconstructed, but it should be taken into account that there was more data for it, and that deciding on the missing data was a discourse of the professional public for more than twenty years until a consensus was reached. The projects that came from the Kruševac museum, in which Goran Vasić (acting director of the RZZSK and one of the defendants in the "General Staff" case) was the director for many years, were basically a completely fictional reconstruction without a minimum of reliance on the real situation and archaeological finds. My personal assumption is that the reconstruction of Lazarev town should have been a reward to Goran Vasić for his help in canceling the status of cultural property of the General Staff buildings.
The minister stated that a building was erected next to Lazarev town. Is the area around Lazarevi grad protected??
Within the institution, an expert team was formed that deals with all the details related to the city of Lazarev. As for the facility in the vicinity, in the past two months, not a single case through the unified procedure of CEOP has reached the RZZSK, so neither did the request for a facility near the Lazarev grad locality, and the RZZSK could not even give approval for that facility, as the minister states.
Namely, as far back as 1947, the Church of Lazarica and the Lazarus Tower were determined by a decision to be cultural monuments. At that time, protection zones were not even determined. Then, in 1979, the Church of St. Stefana - Lazarica with the town of Kruševac. Decisions on categorization did not define protection zones at that time, so currently the RZZSK is working on revising this education in order to determine protection zones - in 1979, it could not even be assumed that some future government would bypass the procedures in favor of investors, when it comes to cultural monuments and their surroundings.
As I unofficially learn, Goran Vasić is putting pressure on the team working on the protection study, which is the basis for the revision of the earlier decision, to propose the removal from the surroundings of Lazarev grad of all buildings that were created in the 19th and 20th centuries, and even those that have monumental properties. It is his wish that the city of Lazarus and the Donjon tower be rebuilt by heart, because there are no records of what they once looked like. It is completely contrary to all the principles of the protection service. The team working on the study will, despite all the pressures, stick to the basic postulate of protection - the reconstruction stops where the assumption begins.
You mentioned the monasteries of Kosovo a little while ago; What is happening to them?, Is anyone restoring them??
Monasteries in Kosovo are on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage. Given that the author and applicant of the nomination file for inclusion in the UNESCO list of world cultural and natural heritage is the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, the cultural monuments in Kosovo and Metohija are also the concern of the Republic of Serbia. The Institute has finished projects for several works on monuments in Kosovo and Metohija. At the insistence of the Ministry of Culture, these works were not included in the annual work plans because it is almost impossible to provide the conditions for experts from Serbia to work on Dečani, Ljeviška, Patriarchia, let alone state institutions. The work plan includes only the Banjska monastery, where work will continue. Otherwise, the question for the state leadership is what is happening with the monumental heritage in Kosovo and Metohija and why are our experts not allowed to carry out conservation and restoration work on them? If we look at the current political situation and the state's attitude towards our southern province, I think the answer is self-evident.
The minister's accusations that the protection service is not doing anything give the impression that they are working on abolishing the RZZSK. Why would the state do that??
photo: marija janković...
First, Minister Selaković's exposé is an unforced attempt to divert attention from his criminal responsibility and replace it with some other affair, of course non-existent, as we are already used to from our politicians. That speech in the House of the National Assembly was actually a general rehearsal of the presentation of the defense before the prosecution and the discrediting of the Institute's experts who, among other things, are witnesses in the "General Staff" case. Every word spoken was a twist of the truth and a spin of the facts. It must be clear that the RZZSK without the consent of the Ministry of Culture is completely paralyzed and cannot implement a single decision. Therefore, the responsibility lies with the Ministry. The fact that the violation of the Law and the Constitution and other irregularities in the work of the Ministry were pointed out by the institute's experts automatically places them in a position unfit for this regime.
It is clear that the current political elite in the Republic of Serbia does not need strong institutions with experts of integrity who unquestioningly respect the laws and defend the Constitution. And neither did the RZZSK, because, we must not forget, all, absolutely all the experts of that institution took a clear position and stood in defense of the cultural heritage in the Republic of Serbia. Because of such "non-cooperation" they must be punished and we are all sure that the state of Serbia, through the Ministry of Culture, is preparing retribution, regardless of the fact that it could be disastrous for the cultural heritage, but also for the state itself.
The Protection Service, that is, the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, is a rare institution and a rare profession that continues to conscientiously perform its work and has not agreed to blackmail and threats. By abolishing the protection service, the government would open the way for itself to destroy and demolish more cultural assets and to cede or sell those lands to "investors". If there was no protection service, imagine what would have already been demolished in Belgrade and other places. At the site of the Fair, we would already have Belgrade on the water, at the site of the General Staff a hotel with casinos...
