1.
Cyrillic script
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The Cyrillic script /sᵻˈrɪlɪk/ is a writing system used for various alphabets across eastern Europe and north and central Asia. It is based on the Early Cyrillic, which was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the alphabet for their national languages. With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the official script of the European Union, following the Latin script. Cyrillic is derived from the Greek uncial script, augmented by letters from the older Glagolitic alphabet and these additional letters were used for Old Church Slavonic sounds not found in Greek. The script is named in honor of the two Byzantine brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet earlier on, modern scholars believe that Cyrillic was developed and formalized by early disciples of Cyril and Methodius. In the early 18th century the Cyrillic script used in Russia was heavily reformed by Peter the Great, the new form of letters became closer to the Latin alphabet, several archaic letters were removed and several letters were personally designed by Peter the Great. West European typography culture was also adopted, Cyrillic script spread throughout the East and South Slavic territories, being adopted for writing local languages, such as Old East Slavic. Its adaptation to local languages produced a number of Cyrillic alphabets, capital and lowercase letters were not distinguished in old manuscripts. Yeri was originally a ligature of Yer and I, iotation was indicated by ligatures formed with the letter І, Ꙗ, Ѥ, Ю, Ѩ, Ѭ. Sometimes different letters were used interchangeably, for example И = І = Ї, there were also commonly used ligatures like ѠТ = Ѿ. The letters also had values, based not on Cyrillic alphabetical order. The early Cyrillic alphabet is difficult to represent on computers, many of the letterforms differed from modern Cyrillic, varied a great deal in manuscripts, and changed over time. Few fonts include adequate glyphs to reproduce the alphabet, the Unicode 5.1 standard, released on 4 April 2008, greatly improves computer support for the early Cyrillic and the modern Church Slavonic language. In Microsoft Windows, Segoe UI is notable for having complete support for the archaic Cyrillic letters since Windows 8, the development of Cyrillic typography passed directly from the medieval stage to the late Baroque, without a Renaissance phase as in Western Europe. Late Medieval Cyrillic letters show a tendency to be very tall and narrow. Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, mandated the use of westernized letter forms in the early 18th century, over time, these were largely adopted in the other languages that use the script. The development of some Cyrillic computer typefaces from Latin ones has also contributed to the visual Latinization of Cyrillic type, Cyrillic uppercase and lowercase letter forms are not as differentiated as in Latin typography
2.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
3.
Romanization of Serbian
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The romanization or latinization of Serbian is the representation of the Serbian language using Latin letters. Serbian is written in two alphabets, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic and the Serbian Latin alphabet, the Serbian language is an example of Digraphia. However, Gajs Latin alphabet is very widely used in Serbia as the second alphabet. The two are almost directly and completely interchangeable, Romanization can be done with no errors, but in some cases knowledge of Serbian is required to do proper transliteration from Latin back to Cyrillic. Standard Serbian uses both alphabets currently, moreover, a survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favor the Latin alphabet whereas 36% favor the Cyrillic one. The Latin variation of the Serbian alphabet is identical to those used in Bosnian and Croatian language, the Latin alphabet, latinica, was not initially taught in schools in Serbia when it became independent in the 19th century. After a series of efforts by Serbian writers Ljubomir Stojanović and Jovan Skerlić, during World War I, Austria-Hungary banned the Cyrillic alphabet in Bosnia and its use in occupied Serbia was banned in schools. Cyrillic was banned in the Independent State of Croatia in World War II, the use of latinica did however become more common among Serbian speakers. Nevertheless, it was reinstated in a form in 1996. Article 10 of the Constitution of Serbia adopted by a referendum in 2006 defined Cyrillic as the script in Serbia. More established media, such as the formerly state-run Politika, and Radio Television of Serbia, or foreign Google News, some websites offer the content in both scripts, using Cyrillic as the source and auto generating Romanized version. In 2013 in Croatia there were protests against official Cyrillic signs on local government buildings in Vukovar. Serbian place names are spelled in latinica using the mapping that exists between the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet and Gajs Latin alphabet. Serbian personal names are usually romanized exactly the way as place names. This is particularly the case with consonants which are common to other Slavic Latin alphabets - Č, Ć, Š, Ž, Dž, a problem is presented by the letter Đ/đ that represents the affricate, which is still sometimes represented by Dj. The letter Đ was not part of the original Gajs alphabet, a transcribed Dj is still sometimes encountered in rendering Serbian names into English, though strictly Đ should be used. In Serbian, foreign names are transliterated into both Latin and Cyrillic, a change that does not happen in Croatian and Bosnian. This change also happens in some European languages that use the Latin alphabet such as Lithuanian and Latvian, the name Catherine Ashton for instance gets transliterated into Ketrin Ešton in Serbian and Lithuanian alike
4.
Serbian language
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Serbian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the language of Serbia and one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, it is a minority language in Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. Standard Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian, which is also the basis of Standard Croatian, Bosnian, the other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian. Serbian is practically the only European standard language with complete synchronic digraphia, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, who created the alphabet on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet was designed by Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in 1830, Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian, a Slavic language, of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian, Croatian, and Montenegrin and it has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian, than with Slovene. The 2011 census show that 42. 88% still declare Serbian to be their native language, Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic and Latin script. Even in official government documents this constitutional requirement is rarely enforced, Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia, a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or another, for example, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia, predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink, predominantly use the Latin script. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors the Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one and these are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the mood, there is also the imperative mood. The conditional mood has two more tenses, the first conditional and the second conditional, Serbian has active and passive voice. As for the verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive. Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to the Proto-Slavic language, there are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages, and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje in 1192 and Dušanov zakonik in 1349. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, however, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature, the most notable form being Serbian epic poetry. The epic poems were written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s
5.
Internet
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The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite to link devices worldwide. The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the United States federal government in the 1960s to build robust, the primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s. Although the Internet was widely used by academia since the 1980s, Internet use grew rapidly in the West from the mid-1990s and from the late 1990s in the developing world. In the two decades since then, Internet use has grown 100-times, measured for the period of one year, newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The entertainment industry was initially the fastest growing segment on the Internet, the Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries, the Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage, each constituent network sets its own policies. The term Internet, when used to refer to the global system of interconnected Internet Protocol networks, is a proper noun. In common use and the media, it is not capitalized. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized when used as a noun, the Internet is also often referred to as the Net, as a short form of network. Historically, as early as 1849, the word internetted was used uncapitalized as an adjective, the designers of early computer networks used internet both as a noun and as a verb in shorthand form of internetwork or internetworking, meaning interconnecting computer networks. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, however, the World Wide Web or the Web is only one of a large number of Internet services. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other web resources, linked by hyperlinks, the term Interweb is a portmanteau of Internet and World Wide Web typically used sarcastically to parody a technically unsavvy user. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, the third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks, early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks, in December 1974, RFC675, by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation funded the Computer Science Network, in 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990
6.
Priority right
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The priority right allows the claimant to file a subsequent application in another country for the same invention, design, or trademark effective as of the date of filing the first application. When filing the subsequent application, the applicant must claim the priority of the first application in order to use of the right of priority. The right of priority belongs to the applicant or his successor in title, the period of priority, i. e. the period during which the priority right exists, is usually 6 months for industrial designs and trademarks and 12 months for patents and utility models. The period of priority is often referred to as the priority year for patents, the date of filing of the first application. The Convention priority right is probably the most widely known priority right and it is defined by its Article 4 A. Article 2 paragraph 1 of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in conjunction with the Paris Convention provides a derived Convention priority right. That is, while WTO members need not ratify the Paris Convention, they should comply with Articles 1 through 12. Some priority rights are defined by a multilateral convention such as the European Patent Convention or the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The Paris Convention does not cover priorities claimed in a European patent application or in an application, as the EPC. The Paris Convention also contains rules of law concerning priority, the Paris Convention is not formally binding upon the EPO. Regarding the critical question What is the same invention, in Article 87 EPC, opinion G 2/98 prescribes a photographic approach to the assessment of priority. However, Rule 4.10 as amended with effect from January 1,2000 does not apply to all designated Offices, some priority rights, called internal priority rights, are defined by some national laws. The Paris Convention does not cover internal priority rights, see, e. g. provisional application in the US. Some priority rights also exist on the basis of bilateral agreements and these kinds of bilateral agreements usually involve at least one country not party to the Paris Convention. An example may help to understand the concept of priority right. The example presented here illustrates the case of the priority right in patent law, let us imagine the following scenario. Ms. A has invented an improved mousetrap and decides to apply for a patent on her mousetrap and she first files a German patent application on July 15,2006. If Ms. A files on July 15,2007 a patent application in the United Kingdom for her mousetrap, and if, upon filing the patent application in the United Kingdom, Ms
7.
Homograph
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A homograph is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also sound differently, if, when spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, the words are also heteronyms. Words with the writing and pronunciation are considered homonyms. However, in a sense the term homonym may be applied to words with the same writing or pronunciation. Homograph disambiguation is critically important in synthesis, natural language processing. Identically-written different senses of what is judged to be fundamentally the same word are called polysemes, for example, examples, sow – to plant seed sow – female pig The two words are spelt identically but pronounced differently. Here confusion is not possible in spoken language but could occur in written language, bear – to support or carry bear – the animal The words are identical in spelling and pronunciation, but differ in meaning and grammatical function. Many Chinese varieties have homographs, called 多音字 or 重形字, 破音字, modern study of Old Chinese has found patterns that suggest a system of affixes. Examples of homographs in Middle Chinese are, Many homographs in Old Chinese, homographs which did not exist in Old Chinese or Middle Chinese often come into existence due to differences between literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters. Other homographs may have been created due to merging two different characters into the same glyph during script reform, some examples of homographs in Cantonese from Middle Chinese are, Heterography and homography IDN homograph attack
8.
.gr
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. gr is the country code top-level domain for Greece. Registrations are processed via accredited registrars and domain names in Greek characters may also be registered, there are eight official second level domains, com. gr, for those engaging in commercial activities. Net. gr, Internet Service Providers and network providers, mod. gr, Ministry of Defence sch. gr, local education authorities, schools, primary and secondary education, community education. There are some other not official second level domains that belong to registrars offering third level domain name registrations, Greece applied for the internationalized country code top-level domain. ελ for domain names composed of letters of the Greek alphabet. Any Latin two-letter combination is or might be used for ISO 3166-1 codes, therefore, two-letter codes visually similar to Latin letters are not allowed, but three-letter codes such as. укр for Ukraine are allowed. As of 2012, the. ea top-level domain is not allocated, in 2014 ICANN decided to allow Greece to have the domain. ελ. In October 2015 the right to this top domain was handed over to Greece and it is not active as of February 2016. There is also Greek plan to use the domain. ευ for the European Union and it has also been turned down because it is too visually similar to. eu, the European Union domain. IANA. gr whois information. gr registry website Whois. gr domain name, co. gr registration policies www. domain. gr. com CentralNics. GR. COM Alternative Domain Names Registry
9.
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
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The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two used to write standard modern Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, the other being Latin. During the same period, Croatian linguists led by Ljudevit Gaj adapted the Latin alphabet, in use in western South Slavic areas, using the same principles. As a result of this joint effort, Cyrillic and Latin alphabets for Serbo-Croatian have a complete one-to-one congruence, with the Latin digraphs Lj, Nj, and Dž counting as single letters. Vuks Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in Serbia in 1868, and was in exclusive use in the country up to the inter-war period. Both alphabets were co-official in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and later in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in Serbia, Cyrillic is seen as being more traditional, and has the official status. It is also a script in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, along with Latin. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was used as a basis for the Macedonian alphabet with the work of Krste Misirkov, Cyrillic is in official use in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian language in Croatia is officially recognized as a minority language, however, Cyrillic is an important symbol of Serbian identity. In Serbia, official documents are printed in Cyrillic only even though, according to a 2014 survey, Glagolitic appears to be older, predating the introduction of Christianity, only formalized by Cyril and expanded to cover non-Greek sounds. Cyrillic was created by the orders of Boris I of Bulgaria by Cyrils disciples, the earliest form of Cyrillic was the ustav, based on Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and letters from the Glagolitic alphabet for consonants not found in Greek. There was no distinction between capital and lowercase letters, the literary Slavic language was based on the Bulgarian dialect of Thessaloniki. Part of the Serbian literary heritage of the Middle Ages are works such as Vukan Gospels, St. Savas Nomocanon, Dušans Code, Munich Serbian Psalter, the first printed book in Serbian was the Cetinje Octoechos. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić fled Serbia during the Serbian Revolution in 1813, there he met Jernej Kopitar, a linguist with interest in slavistics. Kopitar and Sava Mrkalj helped Vuk to reform the Serbian language and he finalized the alphabet in 1818 with the Serbian Dictionary. Karadžić also translated the New Testament into Serbian, which was published in 1868 and he wrote several books, Mala prostonarodna slaveno-serbska pesnarica and Pismenica serbskoga jezika in 1814, and two more in 1815 and 1818, all with the alphabet still in progress. In his letters from 1815-1818 he used, Ю, я, Ы and Ѳ, in his 1815 song book he dropped the Ѣ. The alphabet was adopted in 1868, four years after his death
10.
Delta (letter)
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Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4 and it was derived from the Phoenician letter dalet
11.
Be (Cyrillic)
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Be is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced bilabial plosive /b/, like the English pronunciation of ⟨b⟩ in bee and it should not be confused with the Cyrillic letter Ve, which is shaped like Latin capital letter B but represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/. The Cyrillic letter Б is romanized using the Latin letter B, both the Cyrillic letters Be and Ve were derived from the Greek letter Beta. In the Early Cyrillic alphabet the name of the letter Be was бѹкы, in the Cyrillic numeral system, the letter Be had no numeric value because the letter Ve inherited the Greek letter Betas numeric value. The Russian small letter б is similar in shape to the digit 6, in the Serbian and Macedonian alphabets, the lowercase letter б has a different form used in printing, as is shown in the illustration to the side, which shows both the standard and variant forms. Its lowercase form also resembles a lowercase letter B, the letter to which it corresponds in the Latin alphabet. After all, lowercase letter B developed from scribal alterations to the capital letter B, on the World Wide Web, <span lang=sr>б</span> and <span lang=ru>б</span> must give different results. Since Unicode does not provide the difference, OpenType locl support must be present. Programs like Mozilla Firefox, LibreOffice, as well as a few others, starting from CSS3, web authors also have to use this, font-feature-settings, locl. Of course, font families like GNU FreeFont, DejaVu, Ubuntu, Microsoft C* fonts from Windows Vista, the cursive form of the lowercase letter Be resembles the lowercase Greek letter Delta, but they are slightly different in their upper portions. In Russian and Bulgarian, the letter Be generally represents the voiced bilabial plosive /b/, before a palatalizing vowel, it represents /bʲ/. In Macedonian, the letter represents the sound /b/, but it is in the position of the word, it is pronounced as /p/. In Mari, it may represent either /b/ or the voiced bilabial fricative /β/. Β β, Greek letter Beta В в, Cyrillic letter Ve B b, Latin letter B Ƃ ƃ, Latin letter Ƃ The dictionary definition of Б at Wiktionary The dictionary definition of б at Wiktionary
12.
.rs
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. rs is the Internet country code top-level domain for Serbia. The domain name registry that operates it is the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry, the letters rs stand for Republika Srbija/Република Србија. It is intended to be used with few restrictions, and it is used in Serbia. Because of English words ending with the letters rs, this domain is used in the construction of domain hacks. The former Serbia and Montenegro used the. yu domain when still called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in June 2006 Serbia and Montenegro split into two separate countries. On 8 July 2006 the Serbian Ministry of Science and a group of 34 interested organizations founded the National Internet Domain Registry - RNIDS, on 26 September 2006, the ISO3166 Maintenance Agency decided to allocate RS as the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Serbia. IANA assigned. rs as the ccTLD for this country, the delegation of name servers by IANA started in September 2007. Registration of the. rs domain names commenced on 10 March 2008, in 2007 ICANN also resolved that RNIDS, the operators of the new. rs domain registry, should temporarily operate the former. yu domain until its eventual abolition on or before 30 September 2009. This allowed a transition period for existing. yu names to transferred either to. rs for Serbia or to. me for Montenegro. The. yu domain finally expired on 30 March 2010, the top level domain is intended for all interested users. RNIDS – Serbian National Internet Domain Registry List of Accredited Registrars. rs Domain Whois
13.
Constitution of Serbia
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The current Constitution of the Republic of Serbia was adopted in 2006, replacing the previous constitution dating from 1990. The adoption of new constitution became necessary in 2006 when Serbia became independent after Montenegros secession, the proposed text of the constitution was adopted by the National Assembly on 30 September 2006 and put on referendum which was held on 28–29 October 2006. After 53. 04% of the supported the proposed constitution. The Constitution contains a preamble,206 articles,11 parts, among the constitutions two hundred other articles are guarantees of human and minority rights, abolishment of capital punishment, and banning of human cloning. It assigns the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as the script, while making provisions for the use of minority languages at local levels. Among the differences between the current and previous constitution are, Only private, corporate and public property is acknowledged, foreign citizens are permitted to own property. Full independence is granted to the National Bank of Serbia, as part of a process of decentralization, the granting of municipal properties ownership rights to local municipalities. The province of Vojvodina is granted limited financial autonomy, the constitution mentions European values and standards for the first time. The constitution assigns the Serbian language and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as the language and alphabet in use. The adoption of the anthem, Bože pravde. Special protection for the rights of consumers, mothers, children, according to writer Noel Malcolm, the 1903 constitution was still in force at the time that Serbia annexed Kosovo during the First Balkan War. He elaborates that this required a Grand National Assembly before Serbias borders could be expanded to include Kosovo. Constitutionally, he argues, Kosovo should not have become part of the Kingdom of Serbia and it was initially ruled by decree. Constitutional amendments 1355 of the Serbian Empire Dušans Code Dušanov Zakonik amendments to the constitution from 1349
14.
Coat of arms of Serbia
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The coat of arms of Serbia is a re-introduction of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbia adopted by the Republic of Serbia in 2004 and later slightly redesigned in 2010. The coat of arms consists of two heraldic symbols which represent the national identity of the Serbian people across the centuries, the Serbian eagle. The Emblem of the Socialist Republic of Serbia was adopted the same time as the flag and it was designed by Đorđe Andrejević-Kun. The traditional shield of arms of Serbia with 4 fire steels, the cross which has always been included shield of arms was removed for ideological reasons of socialist atheism. It was placed above a rising sun with a cog wheel symbolizing the workers and surrounded with a wreath of wheat and oak leaves. A red ribbon with dates 1804 and 1941 which refer to the dates of the first Serbian uprising against the Ottomans, the socialist coat of arms remained in official use long after the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia and after the red star was removed in 1992 from the flag. The National Assembly recommended usage of the old symbols of the Kingdom of Serbia on August 17,2004, the recommended usage was made Law on May 11,2009 thus officially replacing the socialist heraldic Coat of arms. The principal field stands for the Serbian state and it consists of a white double-headed eagle on a red shield, its body and wings in white, and tongues, beaks, legs and claws in gold, between two golden fleur-de-lis. The inescutcheon stands for the Serbian nation, in a red shield, all of the letters face horizontally outwards. A blazon in heraldic terms is, Gules, a bicephalic eagle Argent armed Or, overall an escutcheon Gules, a cross Argent between four firesteels Argent. All crowned with a royal crown, the design on the inescutcheon has been used by Serbian states and the Serbian church since the Middle Ages. The four shapes around the cross are a stylized form of letters. Although Serbia is now a republic, the coat of arms features the crown of the former monarchy. The lesser arms is used frequently, appearing on passports, identity cards, drivers licenses. The use of the eagle dates back to the late Byzantine era. The double-headed eagle can be more often on inscriptions, medieval frescoes and embroidery on the clothes of Byzantine. Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja was among the first in Serbia who used the symbol, the survived golden ring of Queen Teodora has the symbol engraved. The Nemanjić dynasty coat of arms was the double-headed eagle, during the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan, the double-headed eagle can be seen on everyday objects and state related documents, such as vax stamps and proclamations
15.
Flag of Serbia
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The flag of Serbia is a tricolor consisting of three equal horizontal bands, red on the top, blue in the middle and white on the bottom. The same tricolor, in altering variations, has used since the 19th century as the flag of the state of Serbia. The current form of the flag was adopted on 11 November 2010. The state flag bears the coat of arms, centered vertically. The flag ratio is 2 to 3, with three horizontal bands of red, blue and white, each taking one third of the height. Recommended colors are, ^α Only used on the greater arms ermine mantling and it is described as vexillum unum de zendato rubeo et blavo—a flag of fabric red and blue, zendato being a type of light, silky fabric. This is the oldest known attestation of colours of a Serbian flag, in 1326, Dečanski sent a delegate to the Mamluk Sultanate in Alexandria and sought a flag in yellow colour, to be used as a war flag. The Byzantines mention that there were several war flags hoisted by the Serbs at the Battle of Velbuzhd, Stefan Dušan was crowned Emperor in 1346, Dušan also adopted the Byzantine tetragramme with four fire-steels, which afterwards became an element of the Serbian flag until today. A flag in Hilandar, seen by Dimitrije Avramović, was alleged by the brotherhood to have been a flag of Emperor Dušan, it was a triband of red at the top and bottom and white in the centre. Emperor Dušan also adopted the Imperial divelion, which was purple and had a cross in the centre. Another of Dušans flags was the Imperial cavalry flag, kept at the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos, during the First Serbian Uprising, various flags were used. Among the early flags, the one described by Mateja Nenadović could be connected with todays flag, regular armies of the uprising usually had light yellow flags with various symbols, while voivode flags were often red-white, and with a superimposed black two-headed eagle. There were also flags of other colors, including red-yellow, red-white-blue and red-blue and this variety of colors was followed by variety of symbols on the flags, most often taken from Hristofor Zhefarovichs book Stemmatographia of 1741. The most common symbol on the flags were the Serbian cross, followed by coat of arms of Tribalia, most of the flags were made in Sremski Karlovci, designed by Serbian painters Stefan Gavrilović, Ilija Gavrilović and Nikola Apostolović. The 1835 Sretenje Constitution described the colors of the Serbian flag as bright red, white, the constitution was criticized, especially by Russia, and the flag was specifically singled out as being similar to the revolutionary flag of France. The colors are the reverse of those on the flag of Russia, an example, Serbia used the red, blue and white tricolor continuously from 1835 until 1918 when Serbia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as Yugoslavia. After World War II, Yugoslavia was reformed into a socialist federal republic, composed of six republics, each republic was entitled to its own flag on the condition that it contained the socialist red star. 1992 Serbian constitutional referendum asked the voters to choose between the flag with and without the star, with red star gaining the majority of votes, however not the absolute majority of voters
16.
Regalia of Serbia
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Serbia, like most former monarchies of Europe, has had crowns once worn by its rulers. The various Serbian principalities and kingdoms were organised around a number of different royal dynasties, many of these invested in symbols of royalty which has led to a number of distinctive crowns, jewels and other treasures of incredible wealth surviving to the present day. As far as is known, there are four royal crowns once worn by Serbian kings or princes that have survived to the present day, the Nemanjić Crown Jewels are the oldest of the surviving pieces of Serbian royal regalia. They were used in the ceremonies of members of the medieval House of Nemanjić. The 14th Century Crown of King Stephen III is kept at Cetinje Monastery in the Republic of Montenegro, another crown which had once belonged to medieval Serbian rulers is kept in the Royal Treasury museum in Vienna, Austria. Also, at the Vienna Royal Treasury are found two further crowns once worn by members of the medieval Nemanjić dynasty, one of which was attributed to Prince Stefan Bockaj. Together with these is a mantle of unknown origin which is believed to have been captured by the Serbs from the Ottomans at Brasov. The Karađorđević Crown Jewels were created in 1904 for the coronation of King Peter I, the pieces were made from materials that included bronze taken from the cannon Karađorđe used during the First Serbian Uprising. This gesture was symbolic because 1904 was the 100th anniversary of that uprising, the regalia was made in Paris by the famous Falise brothers jewellery company and is currently the only Serbian crown kept in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The Royal Mantle is made of velvet, embroidered with gold. History of Serbia List of Serbian monarchs Kingdom of Serbia Serbian Empire Official Website
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Serbian heraldry
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The use of heraldry in Serbia or by Serbs is used by government bodies, subdivisions of the national government, organizations, corporations and by families. Serbian heraldry belongs culturally to the Byzantine tradition, as in some other European heraldic traditions, the most prominent among the animals is the eagle. The most prominent symbols is the Serbian eagle and the Serbian cross, the history of Serb heraldry goes back to the medieval Serbian principalities, Bosnia). The current Coat of Arms of Serbia has origins in several other Serbian coats of arms, on 11 July 2006, A Golden seal of Strojimir of Serbia dated to 855-896 was bought by the Serbian state from an auction in Munich, Germany, by an unnamed Russian citizen. It was sold for EUR20,000, outpaying the Bulgarian offer of EUR15,000, the earliest such armorial was the so-called Ohmućević Armorial, dated to between 1584 and 1594, which survives in a 1595 copy. The serbs of Hungary, Austria & Austria-Hungary had their own noble and this heraldry can be seen most importantly in Vojvodina. The war flags of the first and second Serbian uprisings are in several types, the seal of the Serbian parliament had the Serbian cross and the Triballi boar. The Principality of Serbia, Principality of Montenegro, Kingdom of Serbia, derived from the traditional shield of arms of Serbia with 4 fire steels. The Serbian cross was removed for reasons of socialist atheism. It was placed above a rising sun with a cog wheel symbolizing the workers and surrounded with a wreath of maize and oak leaves. A red ribbon with dates 1804 and 1941 which refer to the dates of the first Serbian uprising against the Ottomans, republika Srpska & Federal republic of Yugoslavia that broke up into Republic of Serbia & Republic of Montenegro. The principal field stands for the Serbian State and it consists of a double-headed eagle on a red shield, its body and wings in silver, and tongues, beaks, legs and claws in gold, between two golden fleurs-de-lys. The inescutcheon stands for the Serbian Nation, in a red shield, a blazon in heraldic terms is, Gules, a bicephalic eagle Argent armed Or, two fleurs-de-lys Or. Overall an escutcheon Gules, a cross Argent between four firesteels Argent, all crowned with a royal crown. The design on the inescutcheon has been used by Serbian states, the four letters around the central cross are commonly thought to be the letter, C. This comes from the well known Serbian phrase, Само Cлога Србина Cпасава or Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava which translates to English as, many more scholarly schools of thought believe these letters to be the Greek letter B from the phrase, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣΙΝ. Although Serbia is now a republic, the new coat of arms features the crown of the former Serbian monarchy. While unusual for republics, it is not unprecedented, as can be seen with the Republic of San Marino, the Serbs have used the eagle as a symbol since the Byzantine Palaeologos dynasty
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Serbian eagle
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The Serbian eagle is a double-headed heraldic eagle, a common symbol in the history of Serbian heraldry and vexillology. The double-headed eagle and the Serbian cross are the heraldic symbols which represent the national identity of the Serbian people across the centuries. It originated from the medieval Nemanjić dynasty, the eagle, defaced with the cross, has been used in the contemporary design of the coat of arms of Serbia following the tradition established by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882. The Order of the White Eagle was an order awarded Serbian and Yugoslav citizens for achievements in peace or war, or for special merits to the Crown. The double-headed eagle was adopted in medieval Serbia from Byzantine culture, the Byzantine heraldic meaning was that the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the emperor and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and West. This type of Nemanjić eagle developed between the 12th and 15th centuries and it was very different from the German eagle, two necks, no collars, tail is leaf-shaped, heads are lower than wings, four toes, unspread wings. Beginning in the 14th century, the eagle can be seen more often on inscriptions, medieval frescoes. The survived golden ring of Queen Teodora has the symbol engraved, during the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan, the double-headed eagle can be seen on everyday objects and state related documents, such as wax stamps and decrees. In 1339, map maker, Angelino Dulcert, marked the Serbian Empire with a flag with a red double-headed eagle, other Serbian dynasties also adopted the symbol as a symbolic continuation, like the Mrnjavčević and Lazarević. Prince Lazar, when renovating the Hilandar monastery of Mount Athos, the Codex Monacensis Slavicus 4 has richly attested artwork of the Serbian eagle. The double-headed eagle was used in coats of arms found in the Illyrian Armorials. The white double-headed eagle on a red shield was used for the Nemanjić dynasty, a Nemanjić eagle was used at the crest of the Hrebeljanović, while a half-white half-red eagle was used at the crest of the Mrnjavčević. The Serbian cross, with four fire-steels came into use as another symbol of Serbs as it also was used in the Middle Ages. The emblem has mostly been depicted as a white eagle since 1804, the Serbian Revolution resurrected the Nemanjić tradition, and the white double-headed eagle became the symbol of Serbia as the coat of arms following independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian cross has been used as the shield with the Serbian eagle in the design of the coat of arms of Serbia. It was part of the coat of arms of both Serbian dynasties, the Obrenović and Karađorđević. The Order of the White Eagle was an order awarded Serbian and Yugoslav citizens for achievements in peace or war, or for special merits to the Crown. Serbia national football team, nicknamed the Eagles Golden Lion of the Republic of Macedonia Atlagić, određivanje nacionalnih heraldičkih simbola na primjeru Srba i Hrvata
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Serbian cross
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The Serbian cross is a national symbol of Serbia, part of the Coat of arms of Serbia, flag of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is composed of a symbol with four stylized letters S on each of its corners. The Serbian tradition attributes the symbol to St. Sava, 12th century metropolitan of Žiča and Archbishop of Serbs, creation of the motto from those four letters. The actual origin of the symbols is with the Byzantine Empire. The double-headed eagle and the cross are the heraldic symbols which represent the national identity of the Serbian people across the centuries. Crosses with firesteels have been used since Roman times, as symbols, some historians connect it with the labarum, the Imperial flag of Constantine the Great. In the 6th century the cross with four fields, tetragramme, the symbol was adopted by the First Crusaders since the first event, Peoples Crusade. Michael VIII Palaiologos adopted the symbol when he resurrected the Byzantine Empire, with the initials of the motto of the Palaiologos dynasty, King of Kings. It was used in flags and coins, as Alexander Soloviev writes, the use of letters in western heraldry is non existent. Stojan Novaković argues that the use of the Serbian cross, as a national symbol, began in 1397. It was possibly derived from the Dečani polijelej, Serbian historian Stanoje Stanojević argues that it entered its use in 1345, with Stefan Dušans elevation to Emperor. In the Middle Ages, both the Greek style, with closed fire-steels, and the Serbian syle, with open fire-steels, were used in Serbia, a 1439 map by Gabriel de Vallseca used both the Serbian cross and eagle when depicting Serbia. According to Mavro Orbini, it was used by Vukašin Mrnjavčević, next, it is found in the Belgrade Armorial II, the Fojnica Armorial, the Armorial of Stanislaus Rubcich, and Stemmatographia, while still continuing to be used in foreign heraldic sources. The Metropolitanate of Karlovci, established in 1691, adopted it in its seal, during WWII, The Serbian cross was used in the Nazi backed puppet government, Government of National Salvation Flag. Miloš Obrenović adopted the Serbian cross as the flag when forming the first units of the regular army in 1825. The Serbian cross symbol has been used in Serb heraldry. The memorial park in Tekeriš, where the first battle of the Great War was fought, the cross with symbols S as heraldic symbols. Archived from the original on May 21,2013, određivanje nacionalnih heraldičkih simbola na primjeru Srba i Hrvata
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Serbian cuisine
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Serbian cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Balkan country Serbia, sharing characteristics with the rest of the Balkan nations. The national dishes include pljeskavica, ćevapi, and Karađorđeva šnicla, the national drink is the plum brandy šljivovica or Homemade rakija. Serbian food is characterized not only of elements from Serbia, peasantry has greatly influenced the cooking process. In recent times, the Serbian diaspora has spread the cuisine across the world. William, archbishop of Tyre, who visited Constantinople in 1179, described the Serbs, They are rich in herds and flocks and unusually well supplied with milk, cheese, butter, meat, honey and wax. The first published cookbook in Serbia is The Big Serbian Cookbook, the best known Serbian cookbook is Patas Cookbook, written by Spasenija Pata Marković in 1907, the book remains in publication even today. An old Serbian legend says that during the time of the 14th-century Serbian Empire, under the rule of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, meals in the Serbian palace were eaten with golden spoons, historians say that mediaeval Serbian cuisine mainly consisted of milk, dairy produce and vegetables. Not a lot of bread was eaten, but when it was, the rich ate bread made from wheat, the only meat consumed was game, with cattle kept for agricultural use. Most people in Serbia will have three meals daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner, with lunch being the largest in the Mediterranean fashion, however, traditionally, only lunch and dinner existed, with breakfast being introduced in the second half of the 19th century. It has a mix of various traditions, Serbian confectioneries often offer koljivo, baklava, nut roll. A number of foods which are bought in the West, are often made at home in Serbia. These include rakija, slatko, jam, jelly, various pickled foods, notably sauerkraut, the reasons for this range from economical to cultural. Food preparation is a part of the Serbian family tradition. Breakfast in Serbia is an early but hearty meal, although before breakfast most people take a cup of coffee. The most common are simple pottages made of beef or poultry with added noodles, fishermans soup and lamb soup are considered to be delicacies. Grilled meats are the main course dishes offered in most restaurants. They are often eaten as fast food and they are traditionally made by holding the meat to the wind and cold air and only later smoked. A traditional Serbian welcome is to offer the guest with just bread and salt, some people believe that it is sinful to throw away bread regardless of how old it is
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Gibanica
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Gibanica is a traditional pastry dish from Serbia popular all over the Balkans. It is usually made with cheese and eggs. Recipes can range from sweet to savoury, and from simple to festive, a derivative of the Serbian verb gibati, meaning to fold, sway, swing, rock, the pastry was mentioned in Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžićs Serbian dictionary in 1818. It is traditionally served for breakfast with kefir or plain yogurt, other than in the Balkans, Gibanica can be found worldwide in restaurants serving Serbian cuisine. It is one of the most popular and recognizable pastry dishes from the Balkans, whether served on festive occasions, in Serbia, the dish is often consumed at traditional events such as Christmas, Easter and Slava. There are also word derivatives like the Serbo-Croatian word gibaničar/гибаничар The word gibanica was first mentioned in the Balkans in the 17th century as a last name, the Serbian word gìbanica/гѝбаница was included in the Serbian dictionary, written in 1818 by Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. Karadžić traveled widely in the Balkans and recorded interesting facts relating to Serbian tradition and he explained that gibanica is a pie with soft cheese between the dough mixed with kaymak, milk and eggs. In 2007, the Gibanica officially became a brand of Serbia. At the Brand Fair in Belgrade, the food industry Alexandria presented a half-baked, the original recipe for Gibanica included traditionally homemade phyllo dough and cows milk cheese. Homemade cheese can be feta or sirene, the pie is usually made as Gužvara, so the phyllo dough in the middle is crumpled and filled. Besides cheese, the fill contains eggs, milk, kaymak, lard, salt, also, stuffing may include spinach, meat, nettle, potato and onion. In order to speed up preparation, phyllo dough from a store can be used, Gibanica is a round-shaped pastry with crispy golden-brown crust. The inside is multi-layered, and includes crumpled dough with small pieces of cheese between each layer, Gibanica can be served hot in the morning and is commonly accompanied by yogurt. From the basic recipe, many local specialties have evolved, prekmurska gibanica, for example, is a fancy multi-layered cake from Prekmurje in Slovenia, served as a dessert course on festive occasions. Međimurska gibanica, from the neighbouring Međimurje region of Croatia, is a related but simpler. Another gibanica variety, called Prleška gibanica, is known from Prlekija to the west of the Mur River, for example, a similar dish known as Shabiyat is part of the cuisine of Syria and Lebanon. Gibanica is one of the most popular and recognizable pastry dishes from the Balkans, whether served on festive occasions, in Serbia, the dish is often consumed at traditional events such as Christmas, Easter and Slava. According to the Serbian media, the largest Gibanica ever made was in the town of Mionica in 2007 and it weighed over 1,000 kg, and was applied for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records
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Slivovitz
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Šljivovica, Slivovitza, Schlivowitz, or Slivovitsa is a fruit brandy made from damson plums, often referred to as plum brandy. Slivovitz is produced in Central and South-East Europe both commercially and privately, primary producers are in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. In the Balkans, Slivovitz is considered a kind of Rakia, in Hungaria Pálinka and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia Pálenka, for example, Czech meruňka apricot → meruňkovice apricot brandy, broskev peach → broskvovice peach brandy. The primary producers are Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, during the production process, the plums and their ground kernels are crushed and pressed, yeast, starch, and sugar may be added to the juice. The mixture is allowed to ferment. There may be one or more stages, depending on the desired final product or region of production. Some producers have obtained a Hechsher certifying that it is kosher for Passover, imitation slivovitz is made by flavouring spirits with prune juice and artificial oil of bitter almonds. In Bulgaria, the Troyan plum brandy has been distilled in the Troyan Monastery by the monks since the founding of the monastery in the 14th century, the original recipe included 40 herbs, and was passed through the centuries from abbot to abbot. In 1894 the Monasterys brandy was presented at a competition in Antwerp, Belgium. It is considered best distilled to a level between 39 and 41 degrees. Some celebrities who have tasted Troyan plum brandy are Pope John Paul II, patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria celebrated his 95th birthday in 2009 in the Sofia Metropolitanate with Troyan plum brandy. In cooperation with the Bulgarian government, the Czech distillery Rudolf Jelinek protected the brands Troyanska slivova, however, the Czechs reduced the alcohol content to pay less duty. The production of Vinprom-Troyan is mainly for export, for the past 18 years, Troyan has a special holiday, The Festival of Plum. This holiday is celebrated at the end of September in Troyan, the plum has always been an essential produce in this region. Since the beginning of the 20th century plums have been made into marmalades, pesto, dried prunes and it is primarily produced in the southern and eastern provinces of Moravia and in Vysočina, where the country retains its rural character. The production was introduced by immigrants from the Balkans since the 16th century. Although illegal, traditional home distilleries still exist, the majority of production moved to certified local community-owned distilleries to prevent errors during the distillation process. It also allows state authorities to collect their respective taxes based on the proof of the product, however there are tax-reliefs for private, the usual proof of private-produced slivovice is over 50% of alcohol in the final product, commercially available mass-produced drinks are mostly lower proof
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Studenica Monastery
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The Studenica Monastery is a 12th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery situated 39 kilometres southwest of Kraljevo and 40.9 kilometres east of Ivanjica, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb Orthodox monasteries, Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the medieval Serb state, founded the monastery in 1190. The monasterys fortified walls encompass two churches, the Church of the Virgin, and the Church of the King, both of which were using white marble. The monastery is best known for its collection of 13th- and 14th century Byzantine-style fresco paintings and it is the largest and richest of Serbias Orthodox monasteries. Its two principal monuments, the Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King, both built of marble, enshrine priceless collections of 13th- and 14th-century Byzantine painting. The monastery Studenica, dedicated to the Presentation of the Holy Virgin, is the mother-church of all Serbian temples and it was constructed over a quite long period of time. The first stage of works were completed by the spring of 1196, when he later left for Hilandar, his son and successor Stefan took over the care of Studenica. Nemanja died in Hilandar in 1199, Nemanjas third son Rastko, after reconciling with his brothers Stefan and Vukan, moved Nemanjas relics to Studenica. Under guardianship of Sava, Studenica became the political, cultural and spiritual center of ´medieval Serbia, Studenica enjoyed continual care by the members of the Nemanjić dynasty. King Radoslav added a splendid narthex to the church in 1235, King Milutin built a small but lovely church dedicated to saints Joachim and Anna. Since the fall of the last of the medieval Serbian states in 1459, the first of the significant restorations of the damage took place in 1569, when the frescoes in the Church of the Virgin were repainted. In the early 17th century, an earthquake and a fire befell the monastery, and historical documents, the Virgins Church is a domed single-nave basilica. At its eastern end there is an apse, while an extended narthex faces west, there are also vestibules on the north. In the 1230s, a large exonarthex was added, the facades were built with slabs of white marble, inside, the church is revetted with tuff blocks. Externally, the Church harmoniously reconciles two architectural styles, the Romanesque and the Byzantine, the blending of these two styles eventually produced a particular style of architecture known as the Raška School. Northwest of the Church of the Virgin there is the church of saints Joachim and Anna, the church was constructed in 1314, in the form of a compressed cross, with the exterior structure of an octagonal dome. It is built of stone and tuff, with plastered facades, the complex of the Studenica monastery includes the Church of St. Nicholas, a small single-nave church frescoed inside with works from the 12th or possibly early 13th centuries. Between the Church of St. Nicholas and the Kings Church are the foundations of the dedicated to St. John the Baptist
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Stari Ras
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Old Ras was one of the first capitals of the medieval Serbian state of Raška, and the most important one for quite a long period of time. Located in todays region of Raška, the city was positioned in the center of the medieval state. It was founded before 9th century and got deserted sometime in the 13th century, today the fortress of Ras lies in mostly unenclosed and unprotected ruins. However, there are plans for reconstruction of the site. In the close vicinity of Ras there is group of medieval monuments consisting of fortresses. Serbian medieval Monastery of Sopoćani near Ras is a reminder of the contacts between Western world and the Byzantine world, Stari Ras and Sopoćani World Heritage site is not far from another UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serbia, the magnificent medieval monastery and churches of Studenica. The 6th century Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul is one of the oldest early medieval churches in Serbia, Stari Ras was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia. With the arrival of Slavs in 6th century and the collapse of Byzantine rule in Dardania at the beginning of 7th century. To newly settled Serbs, old Arsa was known as Ras and it soon became a peripheral place for Serbia. In the early stages of Serbian statehood it was the easternmost town, bordering the First Bulgarian Empire, in the time of emperor John I Tzimiskes, Byzantine rule was briefly restored in the region of Ras, and protospatharios John was appointed as governor of Ras. After the victories of emperor Basil II and the restoration of Byzantine power in Southeastern Europe, Ras became the political, in the imperial charters of Basil II from 1019 and 1020, rights and jurisdictions of the autonomous Arcbishopric of Ohrid were established. One of the bishoprics in its jurisdiction was that of Ras, with the seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter, during the Hungarian-Byzantine War, the Serbs fought on the Hungarian side, re-conquering Ras which had been under Byzantine rule. In the next war the Byzantines seized Ras again, a late 12th-century cave monastery existed in the region north of the Studenica monastery. During the 14th century there was an important market-place below the Stari Ras, Trgovište, by the mid-15th century, in the time of the final Ottoman conquest of the region, another market-place was developing some 11 km to the east. The older place was known as Staro Trgovište and younger as Novo Trgovište, the latter developed into the modern city of Novi Pazar. The oldest early medieval church-building in Serbia, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter, according to tradition, Serbian Prince Petar Gojniković was entombed in this church
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Gamzigrad
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Gamzigrad is an archaeological site, spa resort and UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serbia, located south of the Danube river, near the city of Zaječar. It is the location of the ancient Roman complex of palaces and temples Felix Romuliana, the main area covers 10 acres. In the vicinity of Gamzigrad lie the ruins of a huge Roman complex called Felix Romuliana, early explorers believed the ancient ruins to have been a Roman military camp, because of their size and numerous towers. Systematic archaeological excavations conducted since 1953 revealed that the site was, in fact and it was conceived and built by one of the Tetrarchs, Emperor Galerius, the adopted son and son-in-law of the great Emperor Diocletian. Galerius started construction in 298 to mark the place of his birth, the name Felix Romuliana was given in memory of his mother Romula, who was also a priestess of a pagan cult. The complex of temples and palaces served three main purposes - a place of worship of his mother’s divine personality, a monument to his deeds as emperor, Romuliana survived until it was plundered by the Huns in the mid 5th century. Later the site became a settlement of farmers and craftsmen. The structures were first evaluated in 1835 by Baron von Herder, later the German mineralogist August Breithaupt also wrote an article about the constructions. “Gamzigrad is one of the most magnificent monuments of the past. ”. “one of the largest and best preserved monuments of Roman architecture in Europe” -F, kanitz The enthusiasm for Gamzigrad disappeared by the end of the 19th century. The real history of the complex was yet to be researched, the interest was revived in the 1950s during the period of Neo-romanticism of Serbian archaeology. Vekoslav Popovic, Director of the Town Museum of Zajecar initiated the archaeological research in 1953. The academic professor Dr. Dragoslav Srejovic was in charge of the research in 1970, the complex was demystified in 1984, when in the south-west an archivolt with the inscription of FELIX ROMULIANA was discovered. The construction started in 298 AD near the birthplace of Galerius, Galerius was of Thracian and Dacian stock, descendant of tribes ruling parts of the Balkans prior to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC. Several valuable hoards of Roman gold coins have been unearthed at the site, pilasters of Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, Licinius, Maximinus and Constantine are among spectacular finds. In the two mausolea on the Magura hill Romula and the founder Galerius were buried and deified, among the most important finds from the site are portraits of Roman emperors made from the Egyptian purple stone called porphyry and coins that help to accurately date the complex. Alongside the Latin inscriptions throughout the complex, several Greek inscriptions are found, the remains include a high podium, cross-shaped crypt, stairway and sacrificial altar. It was dedicated to goddess Libera The architrave, doorposts, podium and pillars were made of green sandstone, the palace consists of an octagonal premise, three peristiles and a smaller bathroom. The vestibulum is preserved with marble plate and pillars of green serpent brecha, the floor of the vestibulum is completely covered by a mosaic carpet with a labyrinth in its center and geometric motives
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Medieval Monuments in Kosovo
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The construction was founded by members of Nemanjić dynasty, the most important dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. The sites are located in the territory of Kosovo. In 2004, UNESCO recognized the Dečani monastery for its universal value. Two years later, the site of patrimony was extended as a serial nomination, in 2006 the property was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to difficulties in its management and conservation stemming from the regions political instability. There is a controversy over Kosovos bid to join the UNESCO. These monuments have come under attack, especially during the violence in 2004, during Kosovos UNMIK rule. In October 2015 Kosovo was recommended for membership by the UNESCO Executive Board, the bid for membership was voted at the UNESCO General Conference in November 2015. Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia, posted at his YouTube channel a video about the destruction of churches, isa Mustafa, Prime Minister of Kosovo stressed the positive campaign that Kosovo is leading for its UNESCO bid. He condemned the Serbian leadership for their string of attacks that have nothing to do with the truth. Mr. UNESCO has not accepted Kosovo as a member, the failed to gain a two-thirds majority at the organizations General Conference in Paris on November 9,2015. The church is subject to constant looting - even of its construction material, specifically valuable lead has repeatedly been stolen from the roof