Literary soirée devoted to academician Matija Beckovic took place at the Embassy of Serbia in Bern, being part of a campaign "Let's nurture Serbian language". He was joined by Aleksandra Ninkovic Tasic, author of the book "Zvezdobrojci", and by Aleksandar Gajsek, a journalist. Their coming to Switzerland was made possible thanks to the bookstore STANI from Baden, which marked the 20th anniversary of its existence.

In her opening speech, Ambassador Snezana Jankovic noted that the Serbian Embassy in Bern, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Media, launched the campaign "Let's nurture Serbian language" last June by hosting Ljubivoje Rsumovic. She announced that several events were planned within the campaign in Switzerland aimed at fostering our literary language and culture of speech, taking into account a large Serbian diaspora in that country. She expressed particular pleasure that the Embassy could host Matija Beckovic within the campaign and hear his messages on the importance of language for the preservation of culture and identity of the Serbian people abroad.



Matija Beckovic spoke of the richness and beauty of Serbian language, emphasizing the need to preserve and foster mother language, especially among Serbian children born and raised abroad. He then read excerpts from his book "To the dust of father of poetry" devoted to Petar Petrovic Njegos.

Aleksandra Ninkovic Tasic and Alesandar Gajsek spoke about the life and works of famous Serbs such as Mihajlo Pupin, Nikola Tesla and Milutin Milankovic.


The event was attended by many members of diaspora and the Serbian Complementary School for the expatriate community as chief beneficiaries of the campaign, since the Serbian School in Switzerland is attended by 1,500 students, the largest number in entire diaspora.



A day earlier, on 2 March, another event was organized with the support of the Embassy of Serbia and the Consulate General in Zurich. Association "Prosvjeta", Association of Serbs and the Alliance of Folklore Associations organized screening of a documentary "Kosovo – a moment in civilization", directed by Boris Malagurski.



Ambassador Snezana Jankovic addressed the public and emphasized how important it was that this documentary be seen beyond Serbia in order to present the beauty of Serbian cultural and spiritual heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, which has been endangered despite the fact that it has been inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List.

"It is our duty to make sure that the truth about Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija reaches as many people as possible and that the international community is made aware how endangered it is, by offering facts. As long as we fight for our people in Kosovo and for our shrines and monuments, we shall remain in Kosovo", the Ambassador said.



"Kosovo – a moment in civilization", a story of journalist Stefan Popovic, depicting his childhood spent in Kosovo and Metohija and the importance that the monasteries in the province have for him, presenting their beauty and history recalling that since 1990 until today, more than 150 Serbian churches and monasteries have been destroyed. The screening was attended by a large number of Swiss, diplomatic corps and representatives of diaspora.



Director Boris Malagurski thanked the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that helped make this film.