VIENNA/SUBOTICA – Europa Nostra, the leading European organisation involved in cultural and other heritage and the Institute of the European Investment Bank published at the annual congress of European heritage held in Vienna a list of the seven most threatened monuments of European cultural heritage, which includes the sinagogue in Subotica.

The monumenrs selected are seriosuly threatened; some because of a lack of expertise or negligence and inappropriate upkeep and mantenance, and all demand urgent action. Europa Nostra will stage its rescue missions during and following the summer, and action plans for all the monuments will be completed by the end of the year.

Smile at Subotica

The sinagogue in Subotica, northern Serbia, was nominated for the program by Europa Nostra Serbia, a citizens’ association which is the national branch of Europa Nostra, in co-operation with architect Viktorija Aladžić, an expert in the city’s Art Nouveau architecture and leading activist for the preservation of the sinagogueand the entire historical centre of Subotica within an informal group calling itself Smile at Subotica.

The sinagogue was designed by the Hungarian architects Deszoe Jakab and Marcell Komor in 1902. It is one of the most beautiful examples of ecclasiastical Art Nouveau architecture in central Europe. It was once the spiritual home of a large Jewish community in Subotica, but has since the Second World War been neglected and begun to deteriorate.

In spite of restoration work done over the past decades, the building continues to be in poor condition and not fit for use. It is for this reason that international expertise and solidarity will contribute to the preservation of this architectural and cultural jewel of Serbia.

Source: House of Good News

BELGRADE – Miloš Stanković, Serbia’s successful young scientist and inventor, won several prizes at the international Euro-Eco-2014 conference (The Environmant, Engineering – Economic and Legal Aspects of Sustainable Living), held on November 27 and 28 in Hannover, Germany.

BELGRADE – The fourth consecutive Young Balkan Designers competition has been organised in 2014 by the cultural organisation Mikser from Serbia in co-operation with the Croatian Designers Society and the Macedonian cultural organisation Public Room.

NOVI SAD – About 620,000 festival fans and some 200 music experts and journalists have declared Serbia’s EXIT festival as Europe’s best major festival. The victory is all the more important as the Novi Sad festival was running in competition with a total of 360 European festivals. 

EXIT won first place in the category of major European festivals at a ceremony of Europe’s big festivals at a European Festival Awards ceremony for 2013 held on 14 January at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands.

EXIT won the award ahead of some of Europe’s biggest festivals such as Belgium’s Tomorrowland and the Sziget Festival in Hungary. Festival audiences from all of Europe together with the EFA jury, made up of prominent individuals from the festival industry, voted together to declare Serbia’s EXIT as Europe’s best festival.

The award was accepted in Groningen by the strategic director of the festival, Dušan Kovačević, who thanked the festival audiences and the jury members who had voted for ЕXIT.

“Some of you already know that ЕXIТ is a unique festival because it came about as a student movement for peace and liberty in Serbia and the Balkans. We believe that the social responsibility of the EXIT festival continues to be an important reason for our existence,” Kovačević said on the occasion. 

This is the first time ЕXIТ has won first place in competition with major European festivals since the European Festival Awards were established in 2010, although it was shortlisted every year so far.

A list of the award-winners is available on the official website of the European Festival Awards on http://eu.festivalawards.com/

In 2007, ЕXIT was declared the Best European Festival by another authority in the world of festivals, the UK Festival Awards. 

Source: House of Good News/ЕXIT