By paying tribute and laying flowers on the grave of Aleksa Šantić at the Orthodox cemetery in Bjelušine, the Serbian Educational and Cultural Society (SPKD) “Prosvjeta” Mostar City Committee and the Serbian Singing and Cultural and Artistic Society (SPKUD) “Gusle” marked the 102nd anniversary of the death of this great Mostar poet.
Aleksa Šantić passed away on February 2, 1924, and the elder of the Mostar Cathedral Church, Duško Kojić, emphasized that it is important to continue to remember him every day, both in this city and around the world, because he was a man who, Kojić emphasized, knew that a city is not made of buildings and streets, but of people.
“Šantić tried to reach every heart with his poetry and make every heart warm, and gave us the best example of how one can love one’s own with all one’s heart, and not hate what is alien and different. Today we remember that and try to convey his message,” said Kojić.
President of the SPKD “Prosvjeta” City Committee of Mostar Sanja Bjelica Šagovnović emphasized that by preserving Šantić, we preserve the memory of an entire era and great people and generations who were the bearers of cultural and national thought in Mostar.
“Šantić was not only a great poet, he was the bearer of cultural and national thought, the bearer of tolerance and a unifier, a man loved by the entire city. He died 102 years ago, and his funeral is still being recounted today because there were more people at that funeral than Mostar had at that time, and that just shows how much Šantić was loved,” said Bjelica Šagovnović.
President of the SPKUD “Gusle” Radislav Tubić said that by remembering the great poet, he is trying to bring Mostar and all of Herzegovina to a time that was safe and of good quality, and emphasized that we should look out for each other.
The commemoration of the anniversary of Aleksa Šantić’s death continues tomorrow at the Museum of the Cathedral Church (Vladičanski dvor), with the screening of the documentary film “The century passes, and you are gone”, directed by Dragan Milić and Dragan Veličković. The program starts at 19:00.
