Exhibition Journey. Josif Pancic opens in Belgrade

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac opened at the Natural History Museum Gallery in Belgrade on Saturday an exhibition dedicated to one of Serbia's greatest scientists, botanist Josif Pancic.

The exhibition, entitled Journey. Josif Pancic (1814-1888) does not merely point out that the Serbian culture and science have long been a part of the European cultural heritage, but also inspires to accept ones own responsibility for the future of Serbian science and culture, Tasovac pointed out.

Head of the Natural History Museum Slavko Spasic said next year marked the 120th anniversary of the museum, which had been established precisely by Pancic, who had also created its first collections.

April 2014 marked the 200th anniversary of Pancic's birth, and the exhibition represents a tribute to the life and work of that doctor, botanist and first president of the Serbian Royal Academy.

The exhibition, created by Olga Vasic and Marjan Niketic, includes original herbal specimens, among which are some of the 102 plants Pancic discovered, like Servivum laucanthum Pancc. and Iris serbica Pancc.

There are also the herbal specimens of Pancic's plants from Serbia and the Balkans kept at the Belgrade Natural History Museum's and Botanical Garden's General Herbarium of the Balkans, books on Serbian flora, including Pancic's main work Flora Knezevine Srbije and personal items used in his research.

Pancic described and classified 2,500 species during his research in the field.

The exhibition will be open until April 2015 and it will include video projections of over 200 photographs of the plants Pancic described, taken in their natural habitat.

Screenshot Tanjug...