From PRAGUE, CAPITAL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: A Surrealist History by Derek Sayer

Author(s): Derek Sayer / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Walter Benjamin’s essay “Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century” exists in two versions, the first written in May 1935, the second in March 1939. Neither text was published until long after his death—at his own hand, by a morphine overdose, in the little Catalan border town of Port Bou on the night of 25 September 1940. The German-Jewish critic had fled France, where he had been living as a refugee since Adolf Hitlers rise to power in 1933, only to be informed on his arrival in Spain that he would be returned the next day to almost certain deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Both versions of the expose (as Benjamin called it) were written to solicit support from American sources—the German emigres who had reestablished the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research at Columbia University in 1934, and the New York banker Frank Altschul—for the monumental project upon which he had been engaged since 1917.

Surrealist Prague (this little mother has claws)

Author(s): Derek Sayer / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Together with his second wife Jacqueline Lamba (who inspired Mad Love, one of Breton’s greatest prose works, written between 1934 and 1936) and his fellow-poet Paul Éluard, the founder of surrealism had just returned from two weeks in the Bohemian capital in March-April 1935. The surrealists stayed at the art nouveau Hotel Paris (Hotel Paříž), just behind the Municipal House in the Old Town. On 27 March Breton lectured on “The Surrealist Situation of the Object” to over 700 people at the new Mánes Artists’ Society galleries, where the Czechoslovak Surrealist Group’s first exhibition had ended just two weeks earlier.

Ocolul domnesc al Bacăului (sec. XV-XVIII)

Author(s): Gheorghe Burlacu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: XIII/1981

Articolul prezintă date referitoare la ocolul domnesc al Bacăului (sec. XV-XVIII).

Ocolul domnesc al Bacăului (sec. XV-XVIII) (II)

Author(s): Gheorghe Burlacu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: XIV/1982

Articolul prezintă date referitoare la ocolul domnesc al Bacăului (sec. XV-XVIII) (partea a doua)

Kult Libera u antičkoj Seniji

Author(s): Miroslav Glavičić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2002

The worshipping of Liber, roman God known as a protector of wine and winery, in full equalized with a Greek Dionysus (Bacchus), was spread over the whole ancient world. The author describes and analyses material traces of the cult of worshipping Liber at Senia. So, from the inscription, which in the memory of his mother Gavia Maxima was carved by her son Lucius Gavins Optatus, we discover about the arrangement of the Liber's sanctuary (Fig. 1), while the fragment of the dedicatory inscription is a proof of its enlarging (Fig. 2). The existence of the temple means the existence of a group of worshippers. The author further makes conclusion that, in view of the meaning of God's name (liber means to be free), his worshipping at Senia might have been still more popular among the liberated persons and their descendants, meaning by the social group which in that mercantile and seaport town was quite numerous and which actively participated in all the segments of the public life. Among the monuments, which might be somehow linked to the worshipping of Liber, the author included also finds of marble composition where in the central place was a young man with an armful of various fruits (Fig. 3). The temple of Liber was located on the north-east outskirts of the ancient town, on the place of today's Čopić's settlement. In 1997 its walls were discovered quite accidentally. The temple, in which Liber's believers performed their mystic rites, was renovated in the 2nd c. Based on the archaeological finds and, in the context of the development of socio-historical events at Senia, the author is of the opinion that the function of the temple ceased by the end of the 4th c. or in the course of the 5th c, when the burials of the late ancient Senian inhabitants took place just in it. In that moment tradition of that cult place disappeared and the logic assumption is that the temple was violently destroyed in fights between the Christians and pagan religion believers. During the urbanization of the ancient Senia, on the north-east outskirts of the town were formed properties and terraces with good conditions for the cultivation of vineyards. In the 14th c. greater number of documents proved the existence of vineyards on the outskirts of the town, which belonged to the Senian citizens, as well as the production of Senian wine, whose sale was regulated by the Senian statute which gave it preference over the imported one. Against the opinion of the author, the wine-growing and wine-selling of the Middle Ages citizens of Senj, lay on the traditions developed in the ancient times. In that context, very interesting is the renaissance illustration of the small Dionysus on the stone relief, framed by an abounding vine, which used to be a trade-mark of single wine-growers or some association, producer or wine-dealer of the Middle Ages Senia (Fig. 4).

Livonia and depiction of Russians at imperial diets before the Livonian War

Author(s): M. Maasing,Madis Maasing / Language(s): English Issue: 1(29)/2021

The paper analyzes depictions of the Russians and the Grand Duchy of Moscow at the Imperial Diets from the beginning of the 15th century to the 1550s. Russians could be presented as schismatics or even infidels threatening (Western) Christendom, just like Ottoman Turks; or as fellow Christians with whom church union or at least a political alliance might be possible. Russian-related topics were usually presented by central branch of the Teutonic Order, the King of Poland or Livonian territories, who used negative depiction as a rhetorical tool to achieve certain political goals. Both the Order and Poland used the Russians in Teutonic-Polish conflict over Prussia, in which case they were described and compared with non-Christian enemies: the Tatars and the Turks. Additionally, the Order often claimed that in order to help Livonia, it should be exempted from taxes, or that possessions and lands should be reinstated to it. The Livonians used Russian threat rhetoric also to get exempted of some Imperial obligations, especially taxes, and with a clear success. Sometimes, the Livonians asked direct help against Moscow, but without success even during the war times. Partially, it might be connected with the competing narrative: since the 1490s, Moscow was then and again proposed as possible ally against Turks. Then, interest towards Moscow also rose in the Empire due to contacts between King Maximilian I with Ivan III and Vasiliy III. In the end, neither of these two narratives became dominant at the Imperial Diets before the Livonian War, and even during the war, when Anti-Russian propaganda was intensified, the positive narrative persisted; perhaps because it already had quite long roots.

Реконструкция Старого замка в Гродно

Author(s): Mikola Aljaksandravich Volkau / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1(29)/2021

The Old Castle in Hrodna is the most important architectural monument for Belarus in terms of its historical value, since it is the only architectural object in the country where state institutions have functioned for more than seven centuries. Active reconstruction of the castle, which began in 2016, showed that the «revival» of this building is supported by a significant part of the Belarusian society and elites, also due to the fact that castles are perceived as important symbols in the Belarusian national narrative. At the same time, such heritage objects are quite convenient in terms of interpretation and, depending on the situation and needs, can be used as symbols of different ideas and concepts. The reconstruction of the Old Castle is the quintessence of the «romantic» approach to the restoration of architectural monuments, when the basis of the concept is the desire to restore the object for a certain narrow period «in all its greatness». The project for the reconstruction of this castle is characterized by the desire to increase the architectural volumes in height in order to create a more expressive image. At the same time, the works performed in 2017–2020 showed that a significant part of architects, officials and the Belarusian society are not embarrassed by the striking difference between the proposed image and how the castle looked according to historical sources. However, the implementation of this approach threatens the Old Castle with a loss of authenticity, which is the greatest value of this monument in the long term.

The Vestal Virgins’ Socio-political Role and the Narrative of Roma Aeterna

Author(s): Karolina Wyrwińska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Roman women – priestesses, patrician women, mysterious guardians of the sacred flame of goddess Vesta, admired and respected, sometimes blamed for misfortune of the Eternal City. Vestals identified with the eternity of Rome, the priestesses having a specific, unavailable to other women power. That power gained at the moment of a ritual capture (captio) and responsibilities and privileges resulted from it are the subject matter of this paper. The special attention is paid to the importance of Vestals for Rome and Romans in various historic moments, and to the purifying rituals performed by Vestals on behalf of the Roman state’s fortune. The study presents probable dating and possible causes of the end of the College of the Vestals in Rome.

Żołnierz wojsk polskich i naukowiec – Stanisław Ossowski

Author(s): Krystyna Skurjat / Language(s): Polish Issue: 39/2021

The article reminds Stanisław Ossowski, an outstanding sociologist and political scientist, a representative of the Lviv-Warsaw school, and a brave soldier. The author focuses her attention on two problems selected from his work: on man as an ethical subject and on opportunities and threats in shaping individual and collective social personalities. Stanisław Ossowski regarded disobedience in thinking, faithfulness to the truth, and intellectual honesty as the professional duty of a scientist, especially a humanist, who studies ideas and value systems. He justified the theory of mutual conditioning of the social structure-personality. He studied the impact of decisions of senior government officials on the dynamics of human behaviour and the development of human polymorphism.

Ostatci naših pretkršćanskih vjerovanja u okolici Ljubuškog u Hercegovini

Author(s): Ante Milošević / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 48/2019

In the last few decades, various branches of science, especially philology with the analysis of ancient ritual texts, toponomastic research and comparative studies of oral tales in the folklore tradition of different populations, have significantly contributed to the new knowledge of ancient beliefs and gods worshiped throughout Europe, in the period before Christianity was completely established. I have discussed these issues on several occasions, by classifying such remains in Croatia, in the new finds or the monuments that were previously known, but were interpreted differently - both chronologically and iconographically. I relied on several interesting artefacts from Dalmatia: the bronze gilded cross-shaped shackles from the early medieval cemetery in Nin, the four-headed idol from Vaćan and the equestrian relief from Žrnovnica, and, for this occasion, an old find from the area of Ljubuški, now kept in the Museum of Humac. Namely, there is a rustic and almost schematically carved head on the fragment of one pillar, which can be said to be part of the idol of a Slavic deity, with great likelihood, given several artistic analogies. The text also draws attention to the iconographic features of the face, such as the prominent mustache and triangular beard, which have some other characterizations that can be assumed to represent precisely the pre-Christian deities - in our case Perun.

Lecția de patriotism a profesorului Dumitru Grosu. Recenzie la monografia „Satul Șuri: file de istorie” (Chișinău: F.E.-P. „Tipografia Centrală”, 2020. 432 p.)

Author(s): Natalia Grădinaru / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2020

ZA KRAKOWSKĄ BRAMĘ RZADKO SIĘ CZŁOWIEK WYPUSZCZAŁ… WYOBRAŻONE GRANICE NIEISTNIEJĄCEJ DZIELNICY ŻYDOWSKIEJ WE WSPOMNIENIACH MIESZKAŃCÓW PRZEDWOJENNEGO LUBLINA

Author(s): Marta Kubiszyn / Language(s): Polish Issue: 58/2019

Up until the World War II, Jews played an important role in the history of Lublin. At least since the 16th century, Jews had lived in the segregated district of Podzamcze, called the “Jewish Town”. Although they started to inhabit the Old Town in 1862 and eventually lived in all parts of Lublin by the interwar period, the former boundaries between the “Jewish” and “Christian” parts of the city remained strongly imprinted in social memory, affecting everyday existence. This article analyses the imaginary boundaries that delineated the “Jewish” district of Lublin in the pre‑World War II period. Drawing on oral testimonies of Christian residents of the city recorded in years 1998‑2005 and archival materials such as articles from local papers, documents of communal institutions, and photos from the 1920s and 1930s, the opposing categories of “ours” and “theirs” have been used to describe social relations in urban space. The author of the article argues that the persistence of segregation in shared memory is expressed not only in visual forms, but it also has sound, smell and taste dimensions.

NEAMUL ROMÂNESC ÎN BASARABIA de NICOLAE IORGA

Author(s): Radu Moţoc / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1-2/2020

The book was published in 1905 at Bucharest,Socecu Publishing House andis illustrated beautifully with images from Wolkenberg's postcards from Chisinau. It is afacsimile reproduction made by Publishing House ,,Semne” of the original work. But thefirst image shows a reproduction after a lithograph from 1837, executed by Raffet, titledBessarabian Mail Cart.

SCURT ISTORIC AL REVISTEI BISERICA BASARABEANĂ

Author(s): Vasile Secrieru / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1-2/2020

In the article is presented Bessarabian Church magazine, published in 1942 inBalti, Moldova. The content of the magazine is about vary authors, the interesting titlesof their articles, but also information about Marshal Ion Antonescu's visit to Bessarabia,especially the one from Balti, on April 11-12, 1942.

The Kapy Castle from Uroi. Historical and Geographical Survey

Author(s): Ionuţ-Cosmin Codrea / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2020

The current study presents one of most unknown monuments in Hunedoara County. As this is only the incipient stage of the research, the approach covered both historical and geographical aspects. The area in which the fortification was constructed has a rich history. In this regard, Măgura Uroiului hill played a defining role, being used as an observation point or a rock quarry. The ruins of a fortified residence are located at the foot of this volcanic neck, where the Strei River flows into the Mureș River and close to the place where the latter was crossed since the ancient times (on a bridge during the Roman Age and with the help of a ferry port in the Middle Ages).„The Uroi fortress”, as it is known in the historiography, was built at the beginning of the seventeenth century by András Kapy, a person close to Prince Gábor Bethlen. Unfortunately, the existence of the nobiliary court for almost a century did not benefit of documentary sources. According to his will, drafted in 1634, Kapy constructed here a residence worthy of any nobleman. Inherited by his son, György, the castle is mentioned in some narrative sources from the second half of the seventeenth century, such as the journal of Ambrus Keczer from Lipova or the memoirs of count Miklós Bethlen. As a result of field research, but also of aerial photography and of the digital elevation model, it can be concluded that the residence constructed by András Kapy had a square plan, similar to the ones from Lăzarea, Racoșul de Jos, Albești or Miercurea Ciuc. The south-eastern corner, which creates the impression of a pentagon, seems to be composed by separate and previous structures. The circumstances in which the castle was destroyed are unknown. The historical sources point to the fact that this process was gradual, probably the effect of its abandonment by the descendants of Kapy family.

Museum of History and Archaeology Society of Hunedoara County: A Brief Review

Author(s): Cristina Bodó / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2020

In 1880 was founded the History and Archaeology Society of Hunedoara County which the main objective was to investigate the relics of the past. One of the main goals of this endeavour was the establishment of a museum, in order to gather the different categories of artefacts which spoke of the past of Hunedoara’s lands. The members of the Society wished that those items would be scientifically valorised through presentations and articles, but, at the same time, that they would be exhibited towards the public. Throughout its existence, the Society’s Museum had three directors, active members of the Society with a remarkable scientific activity: Téglás Gábor (1880-1903), Mailand Oszkár (1903-1913) and Mallász József (1913-1920, 1920-1933).After the Great War, the herytage of Society passed to the newly founded county museum.

Societatea „Uzina Electrică” din Petroşani (1906-1948)

Author(s): Mircea Baron / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 11/2020

The Petroşani „Uzina Electrică” Company was a private enterprise created in the beginning of the XXth century, with the aim of leasing the distribution of electric power produced by the Lonea State Mines’ Power Plant, situated in the north of the Petroşani commune. The electric power bought by the Petroşani „Uzina Electrică” Company from the Power Plant would be used between 1906-1944 for public lighting, but also for electrifying private and public institutions, various enterprises, stores and workshops, and also a steadily-rising number of homes from the Petroşani, Livezeni, Iscroni and Vulcan communes.

Rina Kralj-Brassard, Dubrovačko nahodište i njegovi štićenici (1818–1908)

Author(s): Amer Maslo / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 49/2020

The review of: Rina Kralj-Brassard, Dubrovačko nahodište i njegovi štićenici (1818–1908). Zagreb – Dubrovnik: Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti – Zavod za povijesne znanosti u Dubrovniku, 2020, 616.

Nikica Barić, Split 1980-ih. Društveni sukobi u sutonu samoupravnog socijalizma

Author(s): Mirza Džananović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 49/2020

The review of: Nikica Barić, Split 1980-ih. Društveni sukobi u sutonu samoupravnog socijalizma. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2019, 863.

PLEMIĆKA PORODICA HRELJANOVIĆA

Author(s): Vera Humski / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/1999

The Hreljanović's are an old noble family from Senj, descending from Uskoks. The aristocratic charter and the royal grant of coat of arms were given to them by the king Ferdinand I in 1558 and confirmed with a new charter by the Archduke Ferdinand in 1611. In 1874 August Senoa wrote a poem about the well known Uskok, duke Vicko (Vinko), who lived in the 17th c. In the 19th c, from the marriage of Vuk (1815-1877), a lieutenant colonel, and Ivana born Poulet (1828-1919), Guido (1861-1935), manager in the Croatian theatre in Zagreb, then Ivo (1864-1908), opera singer and theatre manager in Zagreb and Vuk (1859-1944), librettist and composer, were some of their well-known descendants.