The Matica srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Матица српска, Matica srpska, la, Matrix Serbica, grc, Μάτιτσα Σρπσκα) is the oldest Serbian language independent, non-profit, non-governmental and cultural-scientific Serbian national institution. It was founded on June 1, 1826 in

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

(today a part of Budapest) by the

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

legislator Jovan Hadžić and other prominent members of the Serbian Revolution and

National Revival National revival or national awakening is a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation but that can take place at a time when independence is politically unrealistic. In the history of Eur ...

. The Matica was moved to Novi Sad in 1864. It is the oldest matica in the world. The main goals are to restore and promote Serbian national and cultural identity in the fields of art, science, spiritual creativity, economy and public life as well as to care for social development of Serbia. The literary and cultural society played a huge role in the flourishing of science and culture of the Serbs of Vojvodina, Serbia. The need for national homogenization, enlightenment, as well as the publication of Serbian books, were the main reasons for the formation of such a Society. The immediate reason for founding Matica Srpska was the need to take over the Serbian Chronicle (later the Chronicle of Matica Srpska), the oldest Serbian literary magazine and then the only Serbian newspaper, which was threatened with extinction. The Matica Srpska Publishing Center has regular publishing activities, including several projects of national importance, such as ''Ten Centuries of Serbian Literature'' (''Десет векова српске књижевности''). Today, in the Palace of Matica srpska in Novi sad more than hundred book presentations, scientific symposia, round table discussions, professional and scientific lectures and concerts of classical music are being organized annually. Matica Srpska is also one of the largest and most important book and magazine publishers in Serbia. Matica Srpska operates on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Republika Srpska) as Association of Members of Matica Srpska in Republika Srpska, as well in Montenegro as Association of members of Matica Srpska in Montenegro. In addition, Matica Srpska operates in Vienna.

Etymology

The name Matica is best translated as "The Centre", although the term ''matica'' in this context translates as " queen bee" or "parent body", and the adjective ''srpska'' refers to Serbia and/or Serbs. According to this, the name of Matica srpska can be literally translated into English as "Parent body of the Serbs".

History

Of all the Slavic maticas, ''Matica Srpska'' was the first to be established in the Habsburg Empire at the time of a Serb national and cultural awakening. Matica Srpska Charter

During the national awakening from the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the Serbs of the Serbian Vojvodina played a significant role as, though "by force of historical circumstance, they formed at this period the core of Serb intellectual life". One of the most important tasks facing the Serbs, in advancing cultural-national rebirth, was the solution of the literary language problem, and, as a result of the first fifty years of the 19th century, saw the Vojvodina Serbs engaged in an intense debate about the kind of literary language that their newly revitalized, emerging nation should adopt. For the Slavic people, as well as the non-Slavs, under the Habsburg Empire, the ''Matica'' foundation fomented the development of national cultures. Indeed, the oldest is Matica srpska founded in 1826 in Pest by Jovan Hadžić and his business backers,

Josif Milovuk Josif Milovuk ( Trpinja, 10 April 1787 – Pest, 23 August 1850) was a successful Serbian merchant, book publisher, lithographer, author and one of the founders of Matica srpska. Biography He was born in the village Trpinja in Srem, to fath ...

(1793–1850),

Jovan Demetrović Jovan may refer to: *Jovan (given name), a list of people with this given name *Jovan, Mawal, a village on the western coastal region of Maharashtra, India * Jōvan Musk, a cologne *Deli Jovan, a mountain in eastern Serbia *Róbert Jován (born 196 ...

(1778–1830),

Gavrilo Bozitovac Gavrilo ( sr-cyr, Гаврило) is a predominantly Serbian male given name, also found scarcely in other Slavic languages, being a variant of the biblical name ''Gabriel''. *Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo I, Serbian Patriarch (1648-1655) * Serbian Pa ...

(1789–1856),

Andrej Rozmirović Andrey, Andrej or Andrei (in Cyrillic script: Андрей, Андреј or Андрэй) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk ( – 1399), Lithuanian nobleman *An ...

Petar Rajić Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter. Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra ...

and Djordje Stanković (1782–1853) at the same time as the

Hungarian Academy The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

was being built. Jovan Hadžić prepared its by-laws, secured its charter, and also served as its first president while Josif Milovuk served as its first secretary. In addition to books, it published the journal ''Serbski letopis'', founded two years earlier by

Georgije Magarašević Georgije Magarašević (Adaševci, 10 September 1793 – Novi Sad, 6 January 1830), was a Serbian writer, historian, bibliographer, editor and publisher, dramatist, translator and collector of folk proverbs. He belongs to the same generation of ...

, Pavel Jozef Šafárik, and Lukijan Mušicki in Novi Sad, where Magarašević was professor and Šafárik the director of Novi Sad's Serbian Gymnasium. The story of the ''Matica Srpska'' actually began in 1824, when the Austrian authorities permitted writer

, a professor at a gymnasium in the town of Novi Sad, to publish a literary and scholarly journal entitled ''"Serbski letopis"'' (''"Serbian Annals"''). Magarašević had little financial backing but soon found benefactors who supported his efforts. In time, the writers and editors of the publication developed into a learned society, successfully overcoming pressures applied by mistrustful Austrian officials as well as later financial difficulties. With varying degrees of success but with great perseverance, it has continued to support and guide Serb intellectual endeavor, first, as a part of the Habsburg Empire and much later as part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In 1838, a wealthy Serb landowner, Sava Tekelija, left the ''Matica'' a legacy to support Serbian students at the University of Pest and a college named after him, Tekelijanum (''Tokolyanum'' in Hungarian). The Hungarian authorities were suspicious of the ''Matica'' and even suspended its activities in 1835–1836 for alleged pan-Slavism, but they resisted Serb efforts to move the institution to Novi Sad. In 1863 the move was nevertheless accomplished, and the ''Matica'', as well as the journal ''Letopis'', is flourishing there today. The ''Matica Srpska'' Society was one of the initiators of the Novi Sad agreement on the Serbo-Croatian language (1954), and it led the action for making the unique orthography of the language (1960). They compiled ''The Vocabulary of Serbian Standard Literary Language'' in six volumes (1967–76). In Yugoslavia, ''Matica Srpska'' was one half of a joint project (with

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyri ...

) to develop a common Serbo-Croatian dictionary. Mid-way through the project (1967), Matica hrvatska, by the declaration of principles about the Croatian language, withdrew, and Matica srpska was left to finish the dictionary on her own. ''Matica Srpska'' has been an example to many Slavic nations. Based on this model the following institutions were established: Czech Matica in 1831, Illyrian Matica in 1842 (in 1874 renamed to Matica hrvatska); Matica Lužičkosrpska in 1847, Halych-Russian Matica in Lviv in 1848; Moravian Matica in 1849; Matica Dalmatinska in Zadar in 1861;

Slovak Matica Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

in 1863;

Slovenian Matica The Slovene Society ( sl, Slovenska matica,The name Matica can be literally translated into English as the "Queen Bee," which is a metaphor meaning "the parent body of the Slovenes." also ) is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, found ...

in 1864; Matica Opava in 1877; Matica in the Teschen Princedom in 1898. (from which Silesian Matica came to be in 1968); Polish Matica in Lviv (1882); Educational Matica in the Teschen Princedom in 1885; Educational Matica in Warsaw in 1905; Bulgarian Matica in Constantinople in 1909 and the new Bulgarian Matica in 1989.

Activities and library

Matica Srpska publishes the ''Letopis Matice srpske'' magazine, which is one of the oldest in the world, being continuously published since 1824. The institution has already published numerous books by authors such as Jovan Sterija Popović since its inception.Publication of 1828
on the Website of the Library, retrieved on 2017-10-28. The Law of the ''Matica Srpska Society'' (1986) regulates matters of endowment and legacy, given by the national benefactors, and how money is spent for various cultural and educational purposes. The ''Matica Srpska'' has a library with over 3,500,000 books and other documents.

Presidents

Editors of ''Letopis Matice srpske''

(1824–1830) * Jovan Hadžić (1830–1831), * Pavle Stamatović (1831–1832), *

Teodor Pavlović Teodor Pavlović (24 February 1804 in Dragutinovo, now Novo Miloševo – 12 August 1854, in Sremski Karlovci) was a Serbian writer, publicist, translator and founder of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, and the editor of the oldest literary month ...

(1832–1841), * Jovan Subotić (1841–1848), *

Sima Filipović Sima or SIMA may refer to: People * Sima (Chinese surname) * Sima (given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey * Sima (surname) Places * Sima, Comoros, on the island of Anjouan, near Madagascar * Sima de los Huesos, a caver ...

(1848), * Jovan Subotić (1850–1853), * Jakov Ignjatović (1854–1856), *

Jovan Mladenović-Subota Jovan may refer to: *Jovan (given name), a list of people with this given name *Jovan, Mawal, a village on the western coastal region of Maharashtra, India *Jōvan Musk, a cologne *Deli Jovan, a mountain in eastern Serbia *Róbert Jován (born 1967 ...

(1856–1857), * Jovan Đorđević (1857–1859), *

Antonije Hadžić Antonije Tona Hadžić (Serbian Cyrillic: Антоније Хаџић; Subotica, 20 November 1831 - Novi Sad, 17 January 1916) was the secretary and president of the Matica Srpska, playwright, and director of the Serbian National Theater and editor- ...

(1859–1871), *

Jovan Bošković Jovan Bošković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Бошковић, Novi Sad, 19 February 1834 - Belgrade, 7 January 1893) was a Serbian professor, philologist, librarian, and politician. Biography His father was Stevan Bošković, a bootmaker, orig ...

(1871–1875), * Antonije Hadžić (1876–1895), * Milan Savić (1896–1911), *

Tihomir Ostojić Tihomir (Bulgarian, Macedonian and sr, Тихомир) is a South Slavic male given name which means "quiet" and "peace" (South Slavic: ''Tiho'' = quiet, ''mir'' = peace). In Russian however the word “mir” мир also means world. So in Russ ...

(1912–1914), *

Vasa Stajić Vasa Stajić (10 February 1878 — 10 February 1947) was a Serbian writer and philosopher. He was born in Mokrin in 1878, and died in Novi Sad in 1947 where he spent most of his life. He was secretary of the Serbian Cultural Society from 1920-1922 ...

(1921), * Kamenko Subotić (1922–1923), * Marko Maletin (1923–1929), * Stevan Ćirić (1929), * Svetislav Banica (1929), * Radivoje Vrhovac (1930), * Todor Manojlović (1931), * Žarko Vasiljević (1932), * Nikola Milutinović (1933–1935), *

(1936), pedagogue * Nikola Milutinović (1936–1941), * Živan Milisavac (1946–1957), * Mladen Leskovac (1958–1964), * Boško Petrović (1964–1969), *

Aleksandar Tišma Aleksandar Tišma ( sr-cyr, Александар Тишма; 16 January 1924 – 15 February 2003) was a Serbian novelist. Biography Tišma was born in Horgoš, Kanjiža on the present-day border of Serbia and Hungary, to a Serbian father and a ...

(1969–1973), novelist * Dimitrije Vučenov (1974–1979), * Momčilo Milankov (1979), * Boško Ivkov (1980–1991), * Slavko Gordić (1992–2008), * Ivan Negrišorac (2008–present) is the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of poet Dragan Stanić

References

External links

Matica srpska official website
* http://www.bms.ns.ac.rs/bmseng101a.htm {{Authority control Srpska, Matica Serbs of Vojvodina Habsburg Serbs Language regulators Culture of Vojvodina Serbian culture Culture in Novi Sad History of Budapest Organizations established in 1826 Libraries in Serbia Serbian cultural organizations Serb organizations 1826 establishments in the Austrian Empire Research in Serbia