FROM THE SERBIAN LEARNED SOCIETY AND ROYAL ACADEMY TO SANU

BIJELJINA, OCTOBER 31 /SRNA/ - The Royal Serbian Academy was founded on November 1, 1886, and was renamed the Serbian Royal Academy a year later, becoming the predecessor of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts /SANU/.

It was established on the traditions of the Society of Serbian Letters and the Serbian Learned Society.

The founding law stipulated that the Academy should "pursue and advance science, publish and initiate scientific research, and support the development of the arts."

The National Library and the Museum of the Serbian Lands were placed under the Academy’s supervision, and it had departments for the natural, philosophical, and social sciences, as well as the arts.

Its first president was Josif Pančić.

Sixty years later, on June 30, 1947, a law changed the name of the Serbian Royal Academy to the Serbian Academy of Sciences, reflecting the change in the country's political system, as the monarchy had been abolished.

Since its founding, the members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts /SANU/ have included the most distinguished figures from all fields of science and art in Serbia and among the Serbs, as well as many prominent figures from around the world.