Download PDF | Jelena Erdeljan - Chosen Places_ Constructing New Jerusalems in Slavia Orthodoxa-Brill (2017).
276 Pages
Preface
This book has been long in the making—far longer than in the writing. In fact, it was there long before it was actually written. It was conceived at certain entirely private and yet (by no means accidentally) entirely public (New) Jerusalems. In Belgrade, in Šajkaška and Ljube Stojanovića streets in the neighbourhood of Profesorska kolonija, in Gavrila Principa street in Savamala, at Kosančićev venac and Varoš kapija, in Čika Ljubina and Kapetan Mišina streets of Dorćol. In Makedonska street. In Detelinara. In Podaca and Lunjevica. In Maadi and on Zamalek. In Rehavia.
In Olitsika street of Ilisia and Štrosmajerova street of Petrovaradin. As the third generation of a family that has lived in and written about Jerusalem, is attached to the city and its idea, in both past and present, I experienced the writing of this book as a predetermined task, natural and expected, as much as it was demanding. To a lesser extent this book is the result of collecting and systematically presenting its facts and particular phenomena. To a far greater extent it is a measure of an immeasurable indebtedness to Miloš and Borivoj who laid its foundations with their knowledge, dedication and love.
Over the years they were not the only ones. As I present this book to the public my gratitude goes to all who set Jerusalem as my beacon, cultivated and stirred, incited and encouraged me, always seeing further ahead than I could. I am deeply indebted to professor Marica Šuput and academician Elka Bakalova for their selfless and long-time professional support; and to colleagues; and, above all, to true friends from the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Belgrade), Saša Brajović, Ivan Stevović, Tanja Malevanov and Gordana Veljanović. To my esteemed and dear colleagues, academician Elka Bakalova, professor Barbara Baert and professor Vlada Stanković, I extend true gratitude for all their suggestions, which helped bring this text closer to its audience.
I owe sincere and deep gratitude to the Institute for Theological Research of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade, which published the original text in Serbian and worked with dedication to prepare it for print. I was thus granted the honour and opportunity to attempt a small offering to the house where I, literally, took my first steps. The publication of this book in English is a privilege for which I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the publisher. In particular, to professor Florin Curta, editor of the East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages series, for recognizing the intrinsic significance of presenting to Brill’s worldwide audience one possible way to explore the fundamental JudeoChristian idea of Jerusalem as the cornerstone of the identities of polities in the Eastern Orthodox world and, more specifically, in Slavia Orthodoxa in the later Middle Ages and early modern period, in its various interpretations, implementations, historical contextualizations and modes of visualization. To the anonymous reader of this text I am grateful for the suggestions which brought this study and the matter presented therein closer to the Englishspeaking reader.
I am thankful for the dedicated efforts of Jakov Djordjević— doctoral candidate and research assistant at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and a promising and talented young scholar—for his assistance in bringing the system of bibliographical references and citations in line with the propositions of the publisher. Transliteration of non-Latin, Slavic names and titles, is in line with the propositions of the publisher’s General Guide for Manuscript Preparation. All translations into English of Slavic, mainly Serbian, sources and of excerpts from cited texts of bibliographical entries are my own.
As I present the book to the public I keep in my mind and my heart the dear friends of my family, Dr. Francis Amir Ofner and Henry Kamm, my dear čika Franja and uncle Henry, who are embedded in its creation, and who rejoice in its (final) materialization as much as they joyfully recognized and encouraged its creation before the writing even began. This is a book about, and from, the past. Like every story of the past it is, in effect, also a story of foundations—one possible way to grasp the fundamental ideas that underlie the world of medieval man. However, as we know all too well, the ultimate measure of all things lies with those who claim the future. In my case, the future, and my hope that the light of Jerusalem shall persist in generations to come, lies with the two most important readers of this book, my daughters, Milica and Katarina. J. E.
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