Ever since its first written mentioning on May 7th 1391, Subotica has been developing from a settlement, into a small town and then into a city area. Still, at first sight, the impression is not that of a progress longer than six-century. At the same time, the city is experienced as a human settlement rich in landmarks of the long duration over the times but poor in monuments about its own past. We can see a town that is scattered in space, with houses along many roads arriving to and ramifying from here ever since ancient times; the urban structure has, obviously, been forming from the middle of the last century and is still developing today. Buildings from the turn of the centuries identifiably dominate the city.
Yet, if we scratch the surface, we may find layers of living long back in history, which is evidenced by a number of archaeological sites. The decreasing number of farmsteads (called "salas" by the locals), one-street villages and houses alert us to the inexorable loss in the precious treasury of folk art and in the spirit of multi-national structure. Architectural heritage bears no signs from the earlier ages; still the buildings in the core of the city are well-known for their monumental attributes.
However, in 1948, requested by "higher authorities" (proof may be found in the City Archives), the local head of the education and culture department, in agreement with the Museum management (then still under establishment), signed a report elaborating that in this city there were not buildings, monuments, graves etc., which should be protected by the law.
It was just half a century ago!
Some time later, the committee of the Province Monument Protection Department made its first register of monuments. The graveyard from the Copper Age had been entered in their register in the summer of 1950, it was followed by the iconostas of the Aleksandrovo Orthodox Church, the collection of books of dr Joca Milekić; the Franciscan Monastery built on the foundations of a once Subotica tower was entered in the Cultural Heritage Register on March 31st 1951.
Later, care about cultural heritage was taken by the City Museum, the Province Institute for Monument Protection, and in 1960 the Subotica Region People's Committee appointed committee members to deal with heritage protection matters. Slowly, the Subotica department for protection started to "break in", but it was all too incidental. The Chapel of St. Rókus, built in 1738 was entered in the Register late 1960, the Town Hall on March 14th 1967, the Raichle Manson in 1973 and the Synagogue in 1975. Some paintings, valuable books and others were also entered in the Register. Parallel to these events, monument building intensified and a number of memorials and monuments were erected as signs of remembrance to the recent past. The initiators of monument building, the investors in new buildings, and many others more and more frequently targeted towards the historical core of the city, proposed the demolition of many buildings in the name of modern engineering, and the "right of contemporary builders to mark the built heritage by their signs and so to enter history" was more and more aggressively emphasized. Luckily, the local Town Planning Institute included in the planning a custos from the City Museum, drew the attention to the issue of monument protection thus the idea about the necessity of having the city's own institute for cultural heritage protection slowly matured. Finally, a unit was established on April 1st 1975 within the framework of the Cultural Centre after long years of fruitful cooperation with the Province Institute in Novi Sad. From then till today more than two decades passed, and a team was formed that has made, and is making a lot. Writing a "report" similar to the one signed on February 28th 1948 can hardly be imagined today.
Bela Duranci
The Establishment of the Institute for Monument Protection
- A Subotica Unit for Cultural Heritage Protection was established with the Cultural Centre on April 1st 1975 with the art historian, Bela Duranci.
- The Department for Cultural Heritage Protection was established on April 10th 1978 in the framework of the Cultural Centre:
Bela Duranci, art historian
Endre Levai, architect
Radojka Tonković, architectural technician,
Vera Gabrić Počuča, sculptor, October 5th 1978
Augustin Juriga, photographer, March 24th 1979 - The establishment of the Intermunicipal Institute for Monument Protection (covering the municipalities of Subotica, Senta and Sombor).
An agreement on the establishment of a joint institute for monument protection for the municipalities of Senta, Sombor and Subotica was signed by the presidents of the respective municipalities and the representatives of the Cultural Society Assemblies of Senta, Sombor and Subotica. The agreement was published in the Subotica Municipality Official Journal no. 19/80.
- On July 11th 1980 the interim acting director (Antal Biacsi, journalist) was appointed.
The constitution of the operation unit started.
- On October 1st the Cultural Heritage Protection Department within the Cultural Centre was taken over.
- October 27th 1980: The Election and Appointing Committee of the founder, i.e. the Subotica Municipal Assembly, adopted a decision on the number and composition of the Council, as a managing body of the North Backa Inter-municipal Institute for Monument Protection, at that time under establishment.
- December 12th 1980: A Province Secretariat for Education, Science and Culture Committee visited the Inter-municipal Institute in order to determine the conditions stipulated by the law in relation to cultural heritage protection activities, and established that the Institute had provided the whole set of equipment as required under Article 4 of the Regulations on the Experts, Premises and Equipment for Operation in Cultural Heritage Protection.
- June 2nd 1981: Sonja Međanski was appointed as an acting director.
- June 19th 1981: The North Backa Inter-municipal Institute for Monument Protection was founded. (Entered in the Court Register under no. 568/81)
Employed with the Institute since its foundation:
Managers:
- Antal Biacsi, journalist, interim acting director, July 11th 1980 until June 16th 1981.
- Sonja Međanski, expert for political sciences, manager, June 16th 1981 until October 31st 1990.
- mr Antun Rudinski, architect. acting director, April 23rd 1992 until 1993.
- Ivan Tikvicki, lawyer, acting director, 1993 until December 1st 1993.
- Aleksandar Petrov, architect, manager, December 1st 1993 until November 29th 2001.
- Jagoda Alavantić, architect, manager, May 29th 2001 until march 1st 2004.
- Géza Vas, historian, acting director, March 10th 2004 - .
Art Historians:
- Bela Duranci, April 1st 1975 until August 21st 1984.
- Branislava Šadi, January 16th 1981until March 25th 1992.
- mr Kata Martinović Cvijin, November 19th 1984 until November 30th 1987.
- Sava Ljubičić, April 3rd 1995.
Lawyers:
- Júlia Pacal, October 16th 1980 until December 5th 1981
- Neven Vukašinović, May 4th 1982 until January 9th 1983
- Ivan Tikvicki, February 18th 1985 until 1994
- Ljubomir Popović, April 25th 1994
Archeologists:
- Dragan Radojević, January 17th 1981until April 4th 1995
- Zvonimir Nedeljković, May 4th 1995
Architects:
- Endre Levai, April 10th 1978 until June 12th 1990
- Ivan Poljaković, January 16th 1981 to December 15th 1982
- Antun Rudinski M.A, June 16th 1983 to May 31st 1994
- Gordana Vujnović Prčić M.A. May 6th 1985.
- Viktorija Vujković Lamić, September 10th 1985 to November 9th 1985
- Gabor Demeter, November 11th 1987 to June 31st 1991 and from January 14th 2002
- Jagoda Alavantić, September 10th 1991 to August 31st 2005
- Jovan Mickoski, February 5th 1990 to December 31st 1991.
- Živka Radulović Ražnatović, December 12th 1992 to April 30th 1999
- Luka Aćimović, July 15th 1993.
- Aleksandar Marković, civil engineer, December 1st 2005
Fixed term employees:
- Gabor Demeter, August 1st 1985 to November 11th 1987
- Senka Rajić, April 21st 1992 to November 2nd 1992
- Zoltan Tot, February 1st 1995 to March 15th 1996
- Dragica Arnautović, February 3rd 1995 to March 20th 1996
- Mario Denegri, September 12th 1995 to October 12th 1995
- Sanja Gološin, February 16th 1998 to October 8th 1998
- Boris Šormaz, July 24th 2001to October 29th 2001
- Aleksandar Marković,civil engineer, September 26th 2005 to December 1st 2005
Historians:
- Tibor Gyermán, September 1st 1980 to September 5th 1983
- Robert Damjanović Čović, January 6th 1986 to June 11th 1986
- Géza Vas, September 1st 1987
Ethnologists:
- Valéria Dévavári Beszédes, February 1st 1981
- Nataša Nikolić, February 1st 1995 to July 1st 1998
- Nada Jelić, December 31st 1998 to December 31st 1999
Sculptor-conservationists:
- Vera Gabrić Počuča, sculptor, October 5th 1978
- Daniela Mamužić, June 6th 2000 to June 6th 2001
Painter- conservationists:
Goran Bolić, conservationist, November 1st 1999
Aleksandra Jeftić, conservationist, February 19th 2001.
Photographers:
- Augustin Juriga, March 24th 1979 to August 5th 1996
- Željko Vukelić, November 6th 1996
Architectural and construction technicians:
- Radojka Tonković, April 10th, 1978 (technician for documentation)
- Jelisaveta Rudić Vranić, May 10th 1982 to March 8th 1993 and April 15th 1994 (since October 1st 1995 head of the Accounting Department)
- Karolina Tirjung (Cvetković), April 15th 1985 to December 17th 1986
- Radoslav Nemedi, May 1st 1986 to March 31st 1989
- József Ceszko, February 5th 1990 to May 16th 1995
- Ljiljana Zeljković, June 24th 1992 to April 11th 1994
- Lena Đuranović Sabo, October 21st 1994
- Svetlana Vukčević, October 21st 1994 to April 21st 1995.
- Mónika Horvát, March 9th 1995
- Timea Nagy, May 9th 1995
- Violeta Matešić, August 5th 1996
- Ervin Kothenc, May 15th 1997 to December 1st 1997 and from May 5th 1998 to March 22nd 1999
- Daniel Drčić, June 1st 199 to December 1st 1997
- Nenad Mihajlović, January 8th 1998
- Marjan Stipić, February 1st 1999 to April 30th 1999
- Višnja,Višković, June 24th 1999 to October 25th 2001
Associates:
- Jasna,Jaramazović, arch. technician, from June 10th 2002 to December 31st 2002
- Tijana Cvetković, arch. technician, Since June 2002 to
- Nebojša Čamprag, arch. technician, December 22nd 2003 to February 1st 2004
- Milica Nedeljković, art historian, February 9th 2004 to October 28th 2004
- Ivona Kiš, arch. technician, March 22nd 2004
- Aleksandar Marković, civil engineer, September 26th 2005
Accountancy:
- Jelisaveta Vitez, November 25th 1981 to October 5th 1995
- Jelisaveta Rudić Vranić, October 1st 1995
Administrators:
- Matilda Balažic Šrodt, October 21st 1981to January 15th 1989
- Dragica Futo, December 17th 1984 to February 28th 1986
- Gyöngyi Vituska, June 1st 1989 to October 15th 1991
- Anđelija Kujundžić, October 5th 1993 to August 31st 1994
- Nada Jegić Peić, January 23rd 1992
Officer for Emergencies:
- János Mészáros, August 15th 1989 to October 1st 1996
Driver:
- Slobodan Zlojić, November 7th 1997
Cleaning and delivery:
- Margita Lukić, June 1st 1982 to June 4th 1983
- Zlatica Smiljić, July 29th 1983 to July 8th 1985 and October 10th 1995 to July 25th 1997
- Ana Stojko, September 20th 1985 to April 23rd 1998
- Marija Torma, November 3rd 1997 to June 12th 1998
- Erzsebet Makai, June 19th 1998 to July 3rd 1998
- Marika Šindrić, July 16th 1998 to January 28th 1999
- Jelena Milanković, February 4th 1999 to February 2nd 2001
- Eva Brušček, February 19th 2001