Migration of the Serbs

The Synod of Serbian Orthodox Church, headed by Patriarch Georgi Brankovic, hired Paja Jovanovic, one of the most famous artists, to paint a monumental composition Migration of Serbs under Arsenij III Carnojevic in 1690, for the purpose of exhibiting at the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest in 1896. By organizing this exhibition, the Hungarian government intended to mark the millennium of christianisation and the arrival of Hungarians in the Pannonian Plain. By representing the most important event in the past of the Pannonian Serbs, it was necessary to emphasize the privileged position and permanence of the presence of the Serbian church and people in this area. The version kept in the National Museum of Pancevo conveys the original idea of the author, by showing a portrait of the Serbian society of that time, while striving for historical authenticity, at the same time it has a heroic note. Members of the church hierarchy, warriors and ordinary people fleeing with cattle are represented. The work was painted in 1895-1896., before the completion of corrections to the monumental composition that is kept in the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. The artist then sold it to Zagreb art dealer Petar Nikolić with the right to reproduce it for fifty years. In the form of lithographic reproduction, the painting reached many homes and eventually became a national icon. The National Museum of Pancevo, with the help of the city authorities, purchased the work from Marija Radojčić from Pancevo in 1971. The painting authentically testifies to a crucial historical event as well as the historical moment of the work's creation, the development and situation in Serbian art and culture, and therefore represents a very valuable work of national importance.