Et in Patria ego: Medieval monuments in travelogues from Serbia from the beginning of the 19th century

Abstract

The paper analyzes writings on medieval monuments in Serbia noted in a number of literary essays written after the Second Serbian uprising. Seeing as in prior historiographical accounts these data on Serbian antiques were mostly viewed from a positivist angle, when it comes to medieval research, or as a written echo of the encompassing national revival in the interpretations of newer artwork, special attention has been paid to specific authors, their intellectual origins and heritage with which they had firstly encountered monuments from the distant past, and to a specific cultural rift caused by the extent of their lack of knowledge on the fatherland of their ancestors. As opposed to texts by, domestic" authors such as Dorde Magarasevic and Joakim Vujic, the travelogue by the Prussian officer Otto Dubislav von Pirch reflects a clear awareness of European spiritual and material values of Serbian medieval history, displayed through the literary manner appropriate at the time.