PROSVJETA - CENTER FOR PRESERVATION OF SERBIAN CULTURE AND IDENTITY

BIJELJINA, JULY 13 /SRNA/ - The Serbian Educational and Cultural Society Prosvjeta was founded on July 14, 1902, in Sarajevo with the aim of preserving Serbian culture and identity in the territory of BiH.

This society emerged as a grassroots, classic democratic association of well-intentioned citizens, devotees of their national culture and education.

In terms of its importance, Prosvjeta was for a long time second only to the Serbian Orthodox Church, and in some activities, it even took the lead, responding to the specific needs of Serbian culture in the 20th century.

While teachers and merchants played the main role in the creation of the first societies in the field of culture, the founding of Prosvjeta was primarily credited to academically educated Serbian youth, who returned to the country after their studies and immediately became involved in public life.

This first organization of the Serbian intelligentsia undertook the creation of a new type of association in the realm of cultural and educational life, based on broader concepts and aligned with the actual needs of the people.

At that time, the most pressing need was to provide financial assistance for the schooling of pupils and students, as the domestic intelligentsia was developing very slowly.

From the very founding of Prosvjeta until it was banned by the communist authorities in 1949, the greatest intellectuals of the time gathered around the Society, including Petar Kočić, Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić, Pero Slijepčević, Grigorije Petrov, and Jovan Cvijić.

The Serbian Educational and Cultural Society was also banned twice during both World Wars, only to be renewed again in 1990 on Vidovdan, in the hall of the National and University Library within the Sarajevo City Hall.