The life-work of the Serbian Monarchs of the Nemanjić dynasty, who
aimed at the inclusion of Serbia within the zone of the then-civilized
nations of Europe, failed of its fulfilment, owing to the fall of the
Serbian Empire before the Turks. The Serbo-Byzantine architecture
of the convents and churches which abound in Macedonia and Serbia,
affords admirable proof of the results of this work, the most important
examples being Studenitza (1198), Dečani (1331), and Gračanica (1341).
A few years later culture made great strides in Dalmatia, but it
was not a spontaneous, national growth, but rather the offspring
of Slavicized Latin culture, and savoured more of Venice and the
Renaissance than of Dalmatia and the Southern Slavs. Furthermore, the
artists, scientists, philosophers and writers of Dalmatia went to Italy
and were lost to their nation. The poor, down-trodden, uncivilized
Southern Slav countries could not provide their artists with a
livelihood. The celebrated mathematician, philosopher and astronomer,
Roger Bošković, went to Rome, Paris, and London; Nikolo Tomasso, a
Serbian from Sevenico, founded the Italian literary language. Julije
Lovranić (Laurana), an eminent architect of his time, was a Serbian
from Dalmatia, and at one time the teacher of Bramante; and Franjo
Laurana, of Palermo, a kinsman of Julije, earned a high place in the
history of art through his sculpture; he was especially celebrated for
his beautiful female portrait busts. In like manner many Serbians found
their way to other countries. For instance, Peter Križanić, a Croatian,
was the first Pan-Slavist; he was exiled to Siberia for his schemes of
reform and European propaganda in Russia. To this day the Dalmatian
ships’ captains are not the only representatives of that country all
the world over, but great scientists and inventors like Pupin and
Nikola Tesla.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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