Dejan Medaković ( sr-cyr, Дејан Медаковић; 7 July 1922 – 1 July 2008) was a
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
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, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
n art historian, writer and academician. Medaković had served as President of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS).
The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...
from 1998 to 2003, as Dean of the
University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy
The University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy (), established in 1838 within the Belgrade Higher School, is the oldest Faculty at the University of Belgrade. The Faculty building is located at the meeting point of the Čika-Ljubina with the ...
(1971–1973) and was a member of the
Matica srpska
The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Матица српска, Matica srpska, ) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national institution. It was founded on June 1, 1826, in Pest, ...
as well as other scholarly associations.
Life
Dejan Medaković was born on 7 July 1922 in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
(then the
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
(now
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
) in an ethnic Serb family. His father, Đorđe Medaković, was an economist; his mother, Anastazija, a housewife. His paternal grandfather, Bogdan Medaković, had been a political leader of
Serbs in Croatia
The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Хрватски Срби, Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in ...
Sabor
The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor is composed of 151 members elected ...
from 1908 to 1918. Dejan Medaković's great-grandfather Danilo had lived in the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...
and held various positions in the administrations of princes
Miloš
Miloš, Milos, Miłosz or spelling variations thereof is a mainly male Slavic given name and a surname. It may refer to:
Given name
Sportsmen
* Miłosz Bernatajtys, Polish rower
* Miloš Bogunović, Serbian footballer
* Miloš Budaković, ...
and
Mihailo Obrenović
Mihailo ( sr-cyr, Михаило) is a South Slavic masculine given name. It is a variant of the Hebrew name ''Michael'', and its cognates include Mihajlo and Mijailo. Common as a given name among Serbs, it is an uncommon surname.
Notable peopl ...
. On his mother's side he was a descendant of Austrian military nobility.
Medaković finished his lower gymnasium education on the island of Badija near
Korčula
Korčula () is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk. The populat ...
on the southern Adriatic coast, before moving to
Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci ( sr-Cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka Districtautonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danube, from Novi Sad. According to the 202 ...
, where he finished his higher gymnasium studies. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he lived in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
as a refugee. From 1942 to 1946 he worked as a volunteer-assistant in Prince Pavle's Museum in Belgrade (today the
National Museum of Serbia
The National Museum of Serbia () is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square (Belgrade), Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three stree ...
). He graduated in 1949 and later got his doctorate in 1954 at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, in the Art History Department.
He became a member of the faculty at the
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
in 1954, where he would remain until his retirement in 1982. Between 1971 and 1973 he was also the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. He was elected as a corresponding member of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS).
The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...
(SANU) in 1972 and was promoted to a full member in 1981. He was also a member of the
European Academy of Sciences and Arts
The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, ) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 38 Nobel Prize laureates. The European Academy of Sciences and ...
in based in
Salzburg
Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
, the Austrian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ÖGE 18), the Leibniz Society in Berlin, member of the
Matica srpska
The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Матица српска, Matica srpska, ) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national institution. It was founded on June 1, 1826, in Pest, ...
Council in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...
and the president of the Vuk Karadžić Foundation Assembly.
He held various positions at SANU: he was the Secretary of the Department for Historical Sciences (1981–85), the Secretary General of the Academy (1985–94) and in 1999 Medaković was elected President of SANU, a post which he held until 2003. At Matica srpska he was in charge of the Department of Art History. He edited the ''Fine Arts Digest of Matica srpska'' journal (). His research interests included a wide scope of topics in art history and art criticism, from Serbian
medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, with over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional ar ...
to modern painting, but his main fields of expertise were Serbian
Baroque painting
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival,
Medaković was also a writer and a poet. He published many studies, essays, monographs, reviews and articles on various topics ranging from new developments in arts to current social and political issues. His studies have been collected and published in several books: ''Serbian Painters of the 18th Century'' (1968), ''The Paths of Serbian Baroque'', ''Testimonials'' (1984), ''Explorers of Serbian Antiquity'' (1985) and ''Baroque and Serbs'' (1988). He was also a major contributor to the six-volume ''History of the Serb People'' (1981–1993) and other important publications such as ''Serbian Art of the 18th Century'' (1980) and ''Serbian Art of the 19th Century'' (1981).
In addition, he authored several important art monographs and studies dealing with cultural heritage of the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
, writing about the monasteries of
Hilandar
The Hilandar Monastery (, , , ) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian Orthodox monastery there.
It was founded in 1198 by two Serbs from the Grand Principality of Serbia, Stefan Neman ...
and Savina. Other important works by Medaković include ''The Chronicles of Serbs in Trieste'' (1987), ''Serbs in Vienna'', ''Serbs in Zagreb'', ''Images of Belgrade in Old Etchings'', ''Selected Serbian themes'' and ''Letters''. Medaković also penned five books of poetry and an autobiographical prose cycle titled ''Ephemeris''.
Medaković was the recipient of many distinguished awards and honours: the
Herder Prize
The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
; the Anton Gindely Prize; the City of Belgrade October Award; the Prosveta Annual Award; the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...
(''Bundesverdienstkreuz''); the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Arts; the Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, the Medal of Vuk Karadžić of the First Order and many others.
He died from cancer on 1 July 2008, at the Oncological Institute of Belgrade Hospital.
Honors and awards
* Prosveta Reward for literature, philosophy and history
* 7 July Reward of Serbia
* 1990 –
Herder Prize
The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
, Republic of Austria
* Gindeli Rewards, Republic of Austria
* The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Arts
* October Reward of Belgrade
* Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
* Order of bischop of Zagreb Ist degree, Republic of Croatia
* Special Vuk's Rewards
* Annual Reward of Prosveta
* Order of Saint Sava, I degree
* Great Cross for Services to the Federal Republic of Germany
* Medal of Vuk Karadžić, I degree
* Crown of Despot
Stefan Lazarević
Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall (), was a Serbian ruler as prince (1389–1402) and Despot (court title), despot (1402–1427). He was also a diplomat, legislat ...
* Golden ring of Despot Stefan Lazarević
* Bestseller reward, National library of Serbia