Museum of Vuk and Dositej
Cultural monument of outstanding value - Lyceum of Dositej Obradović, 21, Gospodar Jevremova Street
By Museums of Serbia
Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia
Museum of Vuk and Dositej (2020) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
One of the best-known foundations after 1740 was the one established by Reis-ul-Kutab-Hadji Mustafa. Ottoman sources from that period record that a large house with a garden (where the Minister of Finance used to live for some time) was built on that religious property at the junction of three streets. The house has ground floor and upper floor with oriel turned to Višnjićeva Street. It is a typical oriental building divided into selamluk (on the street side), for men, and haremluk (on the garden side), for women.
Lyceum of Dositej Obradović (2020) by Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
According to the available sources, the building was most probably erected between 1739 and 1789; the period historically coincides with the re-establishment of the Ottoman rule in Belgrade after their victory over the Austrians in 1739. At the beginning, the Ottomans installed the municipal civilian authorities in the buildings that had not been destroyed. The construction of the civilian town first relied on the foundations established by individuals for general, religious and humanitarian purposes.
Lyceum of Dositej Obradović in Belgrade (18th century) by Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia - Belgrade and Photographer: Pavle MarjanovićMuseums of Serbia
The most representative part is the central hall with a living room on the upper floor. From the hall one entered the chambers and rooms with fire places. The roof covered in tiles, with deep eaves, typical of oriental architecture. The house was built in timber-frame filled with bricks and lime mortar. Towards the end of the eighteenth century it was the seat of the French consulate. In the spring of 1809 Belgrade College moved to it.
Lyceum of Dositej Obradović, Interior (2020) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
The State Council ordered that it should be repaired and, according to Lazar Arsenijević Batalaka in The History of the Serbian Uprising “it maintained its original, previous exterior design”. Three elementary school classes were on the ground floor, three rooms on the upper floor were given to the College and the remaining two to the professors. A larger room was added in 1809 because of the greater number of students. This room, added to the side façade has been preserved to the present day.
Lyceum of Dositej Obradović, Interior (2020) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
The College educated two generations in this building and completed its activity there on August 2, 1813. The newly established institutions, such as the College, disappeared with the collapse of the Uprising. The Ottomans returned to Belgrade, and both College buildings became the property of the previous owners and remained in their possession until the fourth decade of the nineteenth century. The new owners of the house were Nikola Kutula and his heirs.
Lyceum of Dositej Obradović, Interior (2020) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
After WW II the building was completely restored and presently houses the Museum of Vuk and Dositej, founded in 1949. The Museum of Vuk and Dositej is a memorial type museum dedicated to the educator and the first Serbian Minister of Education Dositej Obradović (1739/42 - 1811) and the reformer of the Serbian language, the creator of the Serbian literary language, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787 - 1864).Virtual exhibition: Dositej's lyceum.
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Vuk Karadžić (1863) by National Museum in Belgrade and Aksentije MarodićMuseums of Serbia
Aksentije Marodić (1838-1909) was one of the first academic painters from Vojvodina. He made a portrait of Vuk Karadzic immediately after arriving in Vienna when he enrolled the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He was close to Vuk's family as they cooperated on the Serbian cultural and educational planes.
Marodić painted Vuk in his older age very faithfully, with characteristic features in the form of mustaches and tarboosh. Considering Vuk's age and health a year receding his death, and knowing that the painter was a distinct copyist, the conclusion is that he used photography as a template for working on the painting.
Gusle (single-stringed traditional instrument) (19th century) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
Gusle is a traditional Serbian musical instrument usually made of maple wood, with one or two strings. Playing gusle was always accompanied by singing, which was performed in Serbia during the period of Turkish slavery (15th - 18th century) by blind traveling poets - guslars. Traveling from place to place, they sang about various topics, told about the times before Turkish slavery, about heroes who fought for freedom, about love and faith and played a great role in preserving the identity and oral heritage of the people.
Vuk's writing utensils (19th century) by National Museum in BelgradeMuseums of Serbia
Vuk Karadžić, a contemporary of the turbulent uprisings in the 19th century, recorded works of orally transmitted folk poetry that were narrated and interpreted by traveling guslars and singers. He collected lyrical and epic songs, riddles, conundrums, fairy tales, fables and folk beliefs. After the publication of these works in the vernacular and translations into other languages, Serbian epic poetry has been permanently preserved as part of the oral world heritage.
In his work, Vuk used writing utensils common in the 19th century. A steel pen inserted in a wooden handle dipped into the ink held in the inkpot. On his travels, Vuk used a travel inkpot (divit) - an easily portable inkwell from which ink could not be spilled.
Vuk Karadžić (1894) by National Museum in Belgrade and Đorđe JovanovićMuseums of Serbia
Đorđe Jovanović (1861 - 1953) was one of the first Serbian educated sculptors. He acquired his knowledge at academies in Vienna, Munich and Paris. He was one of the founders of the Association of Serbian Artists Lada and a member of the Serbian Royal Academy. In addition to numerous public monuments, a large part of his sculptural opus consists of realistically shaped portraits, busts, medals and plaques. He made a bronze plaque of Vuk Karadžić during his stay in Paris in 1894.
Serbian Dictionary, 1818.
After moving from Serbia to Vienna, young Vuk Karadžić, at the instigation of Jernej Kopitar, the court librarian and censor for Slavic languages, began to collect and write down words and expressions from the Serbian vernacular. The first edition of the Serbian Dictionary, interpreted with German and Latin words, was published in 1818 with 26,270 words that were used by the people, all translated into German and Latin.
Dositej Obradović (19th century) by National Museum in Belgrade and Novak RadonićMuseums of Serbia
Novak Radonić (1826 - 1890), along with Đura Jakšić and Stevan Todrović, was the most completely educated Serbian artist of the Romantic era. In addition to national-historical and allegorical themes, he distinguished himself as a highly sought-after portraitist. These works, as well as a couple of self-portraits, are featured by the importance of color, the use of blue-gray shades and night lighting.
One of Radonić's portraits is the portrait of the Serbian writer, philosopher, educator and first Minister of Education, Dositej Obradović. It is possible that it was modeled on Dositej's portrait, the work of the painter Arsenije Teodorović from 1819.
Dositej Obradović (1911) by National Museum in Belgrade and Ivan MeštrovićMuseums of Serbia
Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962) made a bronze medal with the figure of Dositej Obradović in 1911 on the occasion of marking the Serbian writer and educator’s death centenary. The central place on the medal is occupied by the profile of Dositej Obradović framed by the Cyrillic text: "Dositej Obradović, Serbo-Croatian educator”.
Letter to Haralampije (1783) by National Museum in Belgrade and Dositej ObradovićMuseums of Serbia
A transcript of the Letter to Haralampije (Haralampius) was printed in 1783. It is an enlightenment manifesto that presents Dositej's basic ideas about the reform in literary expression and the application of civic Cyrillic in writing, as well as the introduction of the vernacular into literature. Dositej Obradović presented his programmatic manifesto in the form of a letter addressed to his friend Haralampije, a priest from Trieste.
Life and Adventures of Dimitrije Obradović (1783) by National Museum in Belgrade and Dositej ObradovićMuseums of Serbia
Life and Adventures of Dimitrije Obradović, named in his monastic life as Dositej, written by him and published as such is the autobiographical work of Dositej Obradović, which marks the beginning of modern Serbian literature in the vernacular. It is Dositej's first book published in 1783 in Leipzig in three hundred copies.
Dositej wrote his autobiography in two parts; in the first he talks about his childhood, and in the second he describes his travels in the form of letters. This work is not only a testimony to the life of the writer, but also to the Serbian society of the 18th century, which Dositej critically observed and analyzed.
Dositej Obradović (1911) by National Museum in Belgrade and Rudolf ValdecMuseums of Serbia
The sculpture - a sketch for the monument to Dositej Obradović by the Croatian sculptor Rudolf Valdec (1972 - 1929) was the competition winner in the selection of a free space sculpture on the occasion of marking the centenary of Dositej's death in 1911. This is one of the significant works from the artist's oeuvre, which is considered the originator of modern Croatian sculpture. Rudolf Valdec was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts, and a member of the Croatian Artists Society.
In this sculpture, Dositej Obradović is presented in motion, with a hat, books in his left hand and a stick in his right. A part of the coat discreetly crosses the stick, whirling as if a breeze was following his movements. This European traveler is slightly looking into the distance and into the future.
Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia
Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute of Belgrade
Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia - Belgrade
National Museum in Belgrade
The narration was provided by: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade and Eliana Gavrilović, museum advisor.
