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The exhibition "French-Serbian Cooperation in the Field Of Archeology" was organised at Belgrade’s French Cultural Centre at the end of March 2008, and introduced the public to findings discovered to date, offering insight into new areas of research and conservation of Caričin Grad, Sirmium and the Department for Preventive Protection "Diana" of the National Museum in Belgrade. The organisers – FCC, the Archeological Institute, the National Museum in Belgrade, and the Sremska Mitrovica and Leskovac Museums – wanted to present the results of a fruitful 35-year cooperation between French and Serbian experts in the field of archeology. A publication with texts by Noël Duval, Vujadin Ivanišević, Miroslav Jeremić, Bernard Bavant, Perica Špehar, Vladan Zdravković, Mile Popović-Živančević, Patrick Blanc, Marie-Laure Courboulčs and Maja Franković bears the same name as the exhibition.
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Because our attention was especially attracted by a three-dimensional presentation of the imagined appearance of Caričin Grad – Iustiniana Prima — the main buildings of this archaeological site from late antiquity are located near Mt. Radan, 28 kilometers from Leskovac — we got in touch with the creator of the 3-D presentation, architect Vladan Zdravković, and asked him to describe for New Review the elements that guided him in his reconstruction (or restitutions as it is referred to at the exhibition) of the palaces built during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527 – 565) 14 centuries ago.
- I would like to point out from the start that my interest in the history of towns, actually the genesis of urban entities, dates back to when I was a student at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, – says Zdravković. |
– Actually, Professor Dimitrije Mladenović, who taught the subject History of Towns, developed this interest in me. For my theme I chose Belgrade, but I had assumed that Belgrade had been well researched and that I would collect enough data to easily create its reconstruction. However, it wasn’t easy at all. I wasn’t aware that we had so little relevant data from the urban history of our capital … After 14 years of creating architectural studies of our medieval towns, both in graphics and multimedia, the basic motif has remained the same – to fill in the empty space in the visual presentation of our history and heritage in a scientifically objective way, to the extent that this is possible, and that is visually and aesthetically acceptable.
- When did you join the research team at Caričin Grad and what is the basis of your three-dimensional "statement" that certain buildings really did look like your reconstruction of them?
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- I have been working with the Franco-Serbian research team on this archeological site since 2003. Already in the first year, I did an architectural study of the Acropolis from the site in 3D multimedia (MM). This work involved collecting and analyzing existing archeological and architectural documentation, as well as gaining insight into the current state of the site and a wide scope of individual studies about each structure. Only after defending my design solution before a mixed scientific team did I begin creating 3D. At the first public display of this material in Belgrade (FCC), the local public received the reconstruction very well, and for experts this approach was a good platform for further discussion.
- Has the foreign public seen these restitutions of yours?
- It actually has. The material from Belgrade was displayed at an exhibition in Vienna in 2004. It was entitled Three Towns, Three Epochs. In addition to Caričin Grad, Belgrade and Petrovaradin were presented in the same way. It was actually an accompanying event within the International Conference on Computerised Applications in Archeology and Architecture. I also held a lecture at the Conference about Caričin Grad.
- How did foreign experts react?
- It was an extraordinary experience and an excellent opportunity to make comparisons. |
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Participants at the Conference were scientific teams and experts of different profiles from about 30 countries, so I had the opportunity to discuss the issue of my presentation of all three towns with colleagues. The Hungarian and Austrian architects were especially interested in my reconstruction of the medieval Petrovaradin Fortress, because they thought that on the basis of the available findings it was impossible to make its reconstruction. I started with Cistercian architecture. Petrovaradin is actually a Cistercian Abbey built by French monks from this order for the Hungarian king, and hence the origin of the name Belafons (Belae fons) – "King Bela’s well". At the Conference, however, the majority of questions related to Caričin Grad. And, what is perhaps most important is that, with so many scholars from the same field present, nobody challenged our results and explanations.
- When you create reconstructions of towns using computer visualisation, do you rely on specific literature to arrive at conclusions through analogy?
- For every construction of a building, I study, or have already studied, buildings of the same style in the Roman world and in the early Middle Ages. I have paid special attention to the process of forming and consecrating towns. I managed to obtain very rare books on the subject that were difficult to find. I think that this multidisciplinary approach has resulted in an absolutely new perception of the architectural-design school in antiquity.
- In these 3D reconstructions you had the help of assistants whose names we can see on the displays of these virtual images of Caričin Grad. Were they in charge of certain segments of these constructions?
- For the Acropolis project I created in 2003, I had the great help of Miloš Urošević for digitalisation and 3D processing of material. In the next project, Architecture of Iustinianica, created for EAR (the European Agency for Reconstruction) in 2006, in addition to Urošević who did 3D architecture, Miljan Novčić was also engaged for 3D sculpture. My part of the work was to create design solutions for the modeled structures.
- Will the public outside our country be able to see the material exhibited in the French Cultural Center?
- Of course, only a part is being exhibited here and many more exhibits will be presented at the world exhibition about Byzantium, due to be held in 2009, in Bonn. It is certainly impressive that Caričin grad was included among the 10 most outstanding Byzantine urban wholes to be presented there. After Bonn the exhibition will be staged in Berlin, London and Vienna, but I hope that the Belgrade public will also be able to see it.
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