Description
One of the oldest cultural institutions of the Serbian people that still exists today, the Serbian Reading Room “Laza Kostić” in Sombor, was founded on March 24, 1845. At the beginning, it had 72 founding members, and its first president was the Sombor parish priest Avram Maksimović. In the first decades of its existence, the Serbian Reading Room did not have its own building, but with the participation of the members of the Reading Room, voluntary contributions from Sombor Serbs and the help of the Orthodox Church Municipality in Sombor, a specific-purpose building was erected in 1882, today a building of exceptional cultural and historical significance for the city of Sombor and the Serbian people in general. In the period from 1901 to 1910, the president of the Serbian Reading Room was Laza Kostić, and after his death this institution bore his name. In 1908, the Constitution of the Sombor Serbian Reading Room was printed.
The premises of the Serbian Reading Room are adorned with 21 portraits of famous figures who, in different eras, contributed in various ways to the cultural, educational and spiritual development of the Serbian people. All of the portraits on display were painted and donated to the Reading Room by the painter Sava Stojkov, its honorary president.
After World War II, the Reading Room was stripped of the first part of its name in the new socialist state, so instead of the Serbian Reading Room, as it had been called for 112 years, it started to be called the “Laza Kostić” Reading Room as of 1957.
Today, the Reading Room in Sombor is once again called the Serbian Reading Room “Laza Kostić”, and its programmes, both 180 years ago and now, are closely connected to preserving the educational, cultural and spiritual identity of the Serbian people, nurturing traditions, customs, and the Serbian language and Cyrillic script.
Professional cooperation: Serbian Reading Room “Laza Kostić”, Sombor
Artistic realization of the issue: MA Anamari Banjac, academic painter
