THE EXHIBITION "ANDRIĆ AND VIŠEGRAD: FROM THE FIRST STEPS TO UNFORGETFULNESS" IS NOW OPEN

VIŠEGRAD, MARCH 13 /SRNA/ - The director of the Andrić Institute, Emir Kusturica, today opened the exhibition "Andrić i Višegrad: od prvih koraka do nezaborava"/Andrić and Višegrad: from the first steps to unforgetfulness/ in Andrićgrad, marking half a century since the death of the Serbian Nobel laureate.

Kusturica stated that the exhibition is the first action held with his blessing and initiated directly from the circles that will inherit the Andrić Institute.

"This is about Ivo Andrić and his life, probably reflecting on how a ten-year-old boy looked through that window and marveled at that bridge. He probably had no idea that one day he would return here," Kusturica emphasized.

He highlighted that Andrić stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest world writers and that the greatest works of Serbian literature were created during World War II.

"Towards the end of the war in 1945, he wrote the greatest works that remain as our legitimacy because we have no other legitimization," Kusturica added.

According to him, the idea of Ivo Andrić remains alive thanks, among other things, to this institute.

"I am happy because there is a new generation that will continue the work and improve everything we have done in the last 11 years, which arose precisely from the need to ensure that Ivo Andrić is not forgotten," Kusturica conveyed.

The authors of the exhibition are Gordana Stančić, Slavko Garića, Gorica Ćećez, and Željka Ostojić.

Stančić stated that the idea for the exhibition originated a few years ago, and various archival sources and museum collections were used in organizing the exhibition.

"We found inspiration for the exhibition in the work of our Nobel laureate Andrić. The exhibition deals with Andrić's life in Višegrad and his connections to this municipality," added Stančić.

According to her, the process of selecting materials was detailed and comprehensive in order to provide the audience with as complete a picture as possible of the connection between Andrić and Višegrad.

She emphasized that the exhibition consists of several sections.

"The first is dedicated to his childhood and education, then the period of his later creativity, and a special part of the exhibition relates to Andrić's reflections on Višegrad and the bridge on the Drina," explained Stančić.

One of the key collaborators in the realization of the exhibition is Divna Vasić, a retired professor of Serbian literature and a long-time researcher of Andrić's character and work, who stated that the documentary material, which is part of the exhibition, chronologically follows the strong, deep, and lasting connections between Andrić and Višegrad.

"Višegrad is Andrić's first city. Not only the city of his childhood and early youth but the city he considered his home and homeland. If it weren't for Višegrad, there would be no novel "Na Drini ćuprija"/The Bridge on the Drina/, nor numerous stories with Višegrad themes," said Vasić.

She noted that the connections between Andrić and Višegrad were never severed, adding that this writer repaid Višegrad with an immortal literary work and inscribed it in golden letters on the map of world literature.

The Serbian Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić passed away on March 13, 1975, in Belgrade.