PRODUCTION OF A COMMON CULTURAL HERITAGE: KULA NEBOJŠA. BELGRADE - NEW SYMBOLS IN THE MEDIEVAL TOWER

Abstract

In this paper I wanted to record some started and unfinished processes, actors, perspectives and problems that I encountered in the work on the project “Conservation, Restoration and Revitalization of the Nebojsa Tower in the Old City of Belgrade”. As the project was realized in the area of the Belgrade fortress, which has the status of a protected cultural property of great importance for the Republic of Serbia, all the actions have been carried out deliberately, in a series of steps, in cooperation with numerous institutions and individuals from different professions, with due regard to the recommendations of the Venice Commission. As a basis for reflection on the topic “Production of a Common Cultural Heritage: Nebojsa Tower. Belgrade – New Symbols in the Medieval Tower “, was a presentation that I held at a gathering in Athens in November 2012, on which I presenting the project to the Greek professional public, then the personal memory and the social and political context in which the project was being implemented. The work is a reflection of self-reflection and a lived experience and „hindsight” the circumstances and power relations of social actors, an ethnologist – researchers. The paper discusses the conditions and effects of the work on the monumental heritage, changing functions and symbols of cultural property Nebojsa Tower and production process of new symbols and meanings that the tower became a stage and inspiration.