Culture of the Sarajevo Serbs (1468-1941)

The article presents a historical, cultural and social framework for an exhibition and a catalogue that were recently designed in a joint effort by the State Archives of Serbia and the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This exhibition and a catalogue, titled Culture of the Sarajevo Serbs (1468-1941) were based on the results of a long multidisciplinary research of the Serbian culture in Sarajevo, B&H. It covers its development over the centuries in an ever changing political, economic and social landscape of a town that will become both an administrative and a cultural heart of various provinces or states that occupied the territory of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through the turmoil of centuries long history of Sarajevo, the Serbian ethnic group represented either a majority or the most numerous minority within the city, and subsequently, its culture played an integral role in a melting pot of diverse customs, dialects, rituals and artistic styles that took unprecedented scales in comparison to many other parts of the Western Balkans. The aforementioned exhibition aimed to present a historical evolution of numerous aspects of the Serbian culture in Sarajevo, while bringing their long-term process of development in the context of the changing political and economic position of the Serbian ethnic group within the city and the surrounding regions. Lastly, this catalogue and exhibition serve as a reminder of numerous "lost worlds that once were", over the course of a long, turbulent and rather captivating history, and it tells a somewhat forgotten story of a constant change and interaction that followed the long historical and social life of one of the oldest and the most culturally diverse capitals in Europe.