1389 graffiti
I may have misremembered, but I was sure I’d seen this in Italy. It was certainly scrawled on walls in Bar and in numerous places en route to, then again in Belgrade. For some reason – probably for no more than this looked like a date and we were in territories where dates probably meant something - these scrawlings looked political.
I may have misremembered, but I was sure I’d seen this in Italy. It was certainly scrawled on walls in Bar and in numerous places en route to, then again in Belgrade. For some reason – probably for no more than this looked like a date and we were in territories where dates probably meant something - these scrawlings looked political.
Subsequent research indicates that 1389 was the date of the Battle of Kosovo, in which the Ottomans and Serbians annihilated the other. The Ottomans ‘won’, but the cost was higher than they’d wanted to pay. And ever since, the battle has become synonymous with Serbian nationalism, and was invoked by Milosevic in the Kosovo War six hundred years after it was fought.
Belgrade Fortress - right, well I went on Monday when the museums (certainly the Military and Natural History) were closed. Grounds and gardens were deserted apart from a few dog walkers and troubled clerks, two souvenir barrows gainfully keeping the elements at bay and a few strutting Hooded Crows. The drizzle alone made this not the best time to visit, though it meant I had the run of the place. All the same, not seeing such a wonderful venue swarming with ogling humanity felt wrong; people should surely be enjoying this spectacle and the history within it.
At the end of my visit, I bought a coffee in a café which, in some hard to pin down way, seemed especially set up for mainly absent Americans. I asked for an Americano but was given a filthy high-strength espresso. I said ‘thank you’ in Serbian, which seemed to work ok.
No comments:
Post a Comment