On Sunday, July 10, 2022 Singelos Nektarije (Tesanovic) a parish priest of St. George Church in Lorain, OH participated in the blessing of a new bust in the Serbian section of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. The secretary of the Circle of the Serbian Sisters of our church, Kelli D’Agnese, also took a part in this cultural event.

The Serbian section of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens blossoms under decades of dedicated leadership of Alex Macheskee, the retired Publisher, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Plain Dealer. Over the years 11 busts of the prominent Serbian scientist, artist and poets were put to witness great cultural heritage of Serbian people. A new bust in honor of the famous Serbian poet from Trebinje, Jovan Ducic was erected, and blessed today.

About Jovan Ducic:

Jovan Ducic published his first book of poetry in Mostar in 1901 and his second in Belgrade, 1908. He wrote prose as well: several essays and studies about writers, Blago cara Radovana (Tsar Radovan’s treasure) and poetry letters from Switzerland, Greece, Spain and other countries.

Ducic died on 7 April 1943. His funeral took place at the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Gary, Indiana and he was buried in the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery cemetery in Libertyville, Illinois. He expressed a wish in his will to be buried in his home town of Trebinje, a goal which was finally realized when he was reburied there on 22 October 2000 in the newly built Hercegovačka Gračanica monastery.

Jovan Ducic is the greatest Serbian lyric poet of the first half of the twentieth century. He appeared at a crucial point in the history of Serbian literature, the turn of the century, when the era of Romantic and Realist poetry was coming to a close and another, Modernism, was just beginning.

This new bust in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens witnesses the greatness of this poet and creative genius of the Serbian people.

Video:

Photo gallery:

Listen to one of the Ducic’s songs recited in English:

Amidst the boughs, the stars burn peacefully aloft,

While, in the calm, the sea with spacious music calls

Around us everywhere; these voices travel, soft

As dew that through the veil of silvery darkness falls.

Jovan Ducic, The Stars