Posted on 06/08/2006 12:45:46 PM PDT by joan
Released : Thursday, June 08, 2006 9:29 AM
ZAGREB, Croatia-Thirteen years after its museum was blown up during the 1991 Serbo-Croat war, the Croatian Orthodox Church put its icons, manuscripts and other works of art on show Thursday at a new location in Zagreb.
"Like the Phoenix, this exhibit has now been reborn from the ruins of the war," said Bishop Jovan, the head of the Orthodox Church in Zagreb.
He added that the "rich and painful history" of the works exposed there should "serve the peace and the rapprochement" between primarily Roman Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs.
Croats and Serbs fought a bloody war in 1991, when the minority Serbs rebelled against Croatia's secession from the former, Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. The war ended in 1995, when Zagreb recaptured the areas the rebels seized in 1991.
As the war raged on, unknown attackers planted a bomb in the Serbian Orthodox Museum in Zagreb, causing extensive damage to the building. Rescued works of art had until now been kept in the church's vaults.
Croatian Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic attended the opening of the new museum in downtown Zagreb, saying that the Croatian government "cherishes the cultural achievements and heritage of all of its minorities."
Even though tensions between Serbs and Croats persist, relations have vastly improved in the past few years. The Croatian government also is trying to boost its protection of minority rights, one of the conditions for its desired membership in the European Union.
ping
Or at least the appearance of it, for EU approval !
Well I was in Dubrovnik last year, I was sight-seeing all the main buildings in the city, checking out the architecture. I asked one smiling young lady where the Orthodox church was. She suddenly spit on the ground and said, "I hate the Serbs."
Ummm, ok... but that wasn't my question...
Precisely.
Dubrovnik really is a beautiful city though, isn't it? (My family is from about thirty miles south of there.) And amazingly undamaged, considering the film footage of its "continual bombardment by Serb forces". My understanding was that the only major building actually destroyed during that time was the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Quite a "coincidence"!
I was taking to an American sailor( a gal by the way) Whom I am closely related to over the Memorial Day weekend and she said she did not see any damage either in Croatia when her ship put into port there over a year ago.
When she told a tour guide she wondered where the damaged buildings were,the guide confided that there were only a few SLIGHTLY damaged buildings and one badly damaged was the Serbian Church. She said her tour guide hated Serbs and said she hated their "stupid" church too.
My relative, IS by the way is a Roman Catholic and did see several RO churches in "GREAT" shape with the same guide. Guess the guide figured my relative, being a co-religionist would hate them too. But her brother is married to a gal born and raised Greek Orthodox and he is now a convert...
oh, well.. one never knows with WHOM they are "CONFESSING" do they???
Wonder why was it necessary for the Croats to destroy that Serbian museum??? A museum has valuable things and they could bring good money on the blackmarket. I guess HATE out weighs big $$$$$!!
Unusual to find such honesty there!
Im angry on Serbia goverment, and here is why:
Some months ago, a Ortodox Serb High-School was opened in Zagreb, and in Serbia, there is NONE!
We in Serbia have Soros founded goverment,m that is soooo scared of doing anything that slightly resemles to "nacionalism"!
because the damage was repaired in the 13 years prior.
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