Medieval heritage of the Balkans
Project Director: Valentina Živković, PhD
The research theme Medieval Heritage of the Balkans includes comparative and interdisciplinary research on society, culture, arts, and religion in the Balkans in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period (IX–XVIII centuries). The phenomena, processes and ideas that have formed spiritual, social, intellectual, and cultural models are analyzed in a broader historical context and geographical framework. Special attention is paid to the following themes: artistic circumstances, religious and cultural practise on the eastern Adriatic coast, the relationship between mental and visual images, Catholic culture on the Adriatic coast, Cyrillic scriptoriums in the Balkans and South Slavic scribes, the formation of new and renewal of old cults of saints in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period, historiographical writings of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, socio-economic and cultural history of the Orthodox Church, its monasteries and believers under Ottoman rule. Collaborators on the theme of Medieval Heritage of the Balkans participate in several domestic and foreign projects.
Project members:
Valentina Živković, PhD, principal research fellow, fields of research: Roman Catholic art, religiosity, cults of saints and the worship of relics in the late Middle Ages and early modern times in the Bay of Kotor; cultural ties between the two Adriatic coasts; testamentary legacies for the salvation of the soul (pro anima); the Dominican Observant and Post-Tridentine Reforms in Dubrovnik and Kotor.
Marija Vasiljević, PhD, research associate, fields of research: Orthodox cults of saints and the worship of relics during the Ottoman conquests in the central Balkans; historiographical writings of the late Middle Ages and early modern period; the ruling ideology of Serbian dynasties; collective memory in the late Middle Ages.
Ognjen Krešić, PhD, research associate, fields of research: social and cultural life and legal status of the Orthodox population in the Ottoman Balkans in the 18th century; Orthodox monasticism in the Ottoman Empire; history of the Hilandar monastery in the 18th century.
Dubravka Preradović, PhD, research associate, fields of research: cultural shrines and relics in Byzantium and Slavic countries, history of Serbian medieval architecture and sculpture, history of research of Serbian medieval heritage.
Nebojša Šuletić, PhD, research associate, fields of research: religious and ethnic identities in the early modern century; migration movements, demographic, and economic structures in the Ottoman Balkans of the 16th–18th centuries; The Serbian Orthodox Church and models of religious tolerance in the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy of the 16th–18th centuries.
Milena Davidović, Ma, research assistant, fields of research: medieval scriptoriums and libraries in the Balkans; connections, reciprocity, and influence among the Balkan peoples in the field of Slavic, Cyrillic literacy; poetic studies of medieval literary texts; editing editions of medieval Serbian manuscripts; examining new possibilities of publishing text in relation to digital palaeography.