On 21 – 22 February, 2019, the head of the Association „Holy Places of Undivided Christianity”, Miguel Palacio, visited Belgrade as part of the Russian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Yarilova and participated in the opening events of the Days of Spiritual Culture of Russia in Serbia.

 On 21 February, 2019, Miguel Palacio and Olga Yarilova gave an interview in the live program «Good morning» on the Serbian TV channel «RTS», during which Miguel Palacio spoke about the concept of the route «Holy Places of Undivided Christianity» and the prospects of Serbia’s participation in this project.

In the afternoon of the same day the Russian stand was opened at the international tourist exhibition «Sájam Turizma», while the Forum for the Development of Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism featured relevant tourist routes in the regions of Russia. On the sidelines of the Forum Miguel Palacio held talks with the representatives of a number of Russian regions about their participation in the development of an international route to visit holy places related to common Christian sites.

In the evening of 21 February the Russian Centre for Science and Culture (Russian House) in Belgrade held an official opening ceremony for the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture, which was attended by Patriarch of Serbia Iriney, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Yarilova, Minister of Culture and Information of Serbia Vladan Vukosavlević, Ambassador of Russia to Serbia Alexander Chepurin, Deputy of the Russian State Duma Alexander Sholokhov and Director of the Russian House in Belgrade Nadezhda Kushenkova. The meeting ended with a gala concert of classical music performed by the best music school pupils of Russia, winners of All-Russian and international contests.

On 22 February at the plenary session of the conference „Russia – Serbia: Cultural and Spiritual Unity of the Slavic Nations” moderated by Olga Yarilova, Miguel Palacio presented a project „Holy Places of Undivided Christianity” and a preliminary itinerary for the route which leads through the key holy places of Serbia related to common Christian sites.

After the meeting, the head of the Association signed memoranda on cooperation with the Director of the pilgrimage agency of the Serbian Orthodox Church «Dobrochinstvo», Dragan Vukić, and the Director of the international organization «Forum of Slavic Cultures», Andrea Richter. The parties agreed to cooperate in the development of the Slavic part of the route «Holy Places of Undivided Christianity».

As a follow-up to the event, a discussion forum «Topical Issues of the Development of Cultural and Spiritual Dialogue between Russia and Serbia» was hosted by Miguel Palacio and Yulia Sozina, Head of the Centre of Slavic Cultures at the Library for Foreign Literature and Russian coordinator of the cultural route «Slavic Women–Writers of the XX century». Among the participants were representatives of the administration of Saint Petersburg, the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia, the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, the Trinity–Sergius Lavra and others. The abbot of the monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church in honor of the Holy Trinity in the Serbian Republic, Hegumen Georgy (Stanković), made a proposal for the inclusion of several especially venerated holy places of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the route «Holy Places of Undivided Christianity».

 

27 February 2019