His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander II attended tonight the opening of the exhibition “Njegos Chapel in Lovcen and the architect Nikola Krasnov” at the Ethnographic Museum. The exhibition is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bishop Petar II Petrovic Njegos. The authors of the exhibition are Dragomir Acovic, chairman of the Crown Council, Gordana Gordic, Viktorija Kamilic and Biljana Crvenkovic.
As part of the exhibition opening ceremony, beside HRH Crown Prince Alexander, visitors were addressed by His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral, academician Vlado Strugar and Mr Matija Beckovic, academician and a member of the Crown Council, who officially opened the exhibition.
In his speech, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander emphasized: “Njegos does not need interpreters. He knew everything, and he said everything. It is us who need the interpreters, to understand how we happened to, all over again and to our own detriment, learn what he had clearly said to us so many years ago. This exhibition allows us to remember how much we owe Njegos, and reminds us how much both we and Njegos legacy owe to him and the other creator, architect Nikola Krasnov, who was commissioned by my grandfather King Alexander I to restore the burial Chapel and eternal abode of Bishop Rade”.
The exhibition follows the construction and the fate of the first Chapel, for which the foundation stone was laid by Njegos himself, its demolition, then the other Chapel, which is the work of the famous Russian architect Nikolai Krasnov, and its demolition and the construction of the mausoleum, designed by the Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic.
The programme, which will consist of speeches and lectures about Njegos’ personality and work, as well as works of art inspired by the spirit of one of the greatest rulers, poets and philosophers of the Serbian people, will be organized at the Ethnographic Museum, during the thirteen days of the exhibition, in the evening, from 26 November to 9 December.
The accompanying programme of the exhibition opening included His Grace Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje and Niksic, the authors of the exhibition Gordana Gordic and Dragomir Acovic , academician Miro Vuksanovic, Dimitrije Golemovic, Aleksandra Vranes, Milo Lompar, Nikola Kusovac, Predrag Dragovic, Dragan Lakicevic, Rajko Petrov Nogo, Nikola Sindik, Vico Dardic, Ana Milovanovic and others. The opening ceremony was enhanced by the Artistic Ensemble “King Peter the First” performance.