As part of the "Days of Budva Artists" event, on Budva's Velika pjaceta (Poet's Square), a reprint edition of the story book "Iz stara Budva" by Nikola Vučković was presented.
Dr. Ivana Mance, art historian, literary and art critic from Zagreb, granddaughter of the late Nikola Vučković, spoke about this precious short story collection, and the moderator of the evening was Nina Smailagić, professor of literature.
Nikola Vučković was born in Budva (1901), finished elementary school in his hometown, attended high school in Dubrovnik and Zadar, matriculated (1921) in Kotor, and graduated (1925) from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.
During his decades of service, he worked in numerous positions, as a judge in Belgrade, then a legal officer and prosecutor in Zagreb, and in the Croatian ministries until his retirement (1966), and he died and was buried in Budva (1981). He was a passionate lover of the Montenegrin coast, his beloved Budva and the Bay of Kotorska throughout his extremely meaningful life. Permanently attached to the spoken and written word, Vučković collected ancient tales and archaic stories from his native region for a long time. In order to escape from oblivion and preserve these story-telling gems, Vučković collected them into a manuscript whole.
The first edition of that extremely valuable and interesting collection of stories from Budva's ancient past was published (1966) by the Tourist Association of Budva. As an exceptional lawyer, an excellent connoisseur of Latin and Italian, Nikola Vučković translated the medieval Statute of Budva and the Records of the famous Budva resident Don Krsto Ivanović.
A collection of extraordinary life stories, illuminates the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, those ancient times when the first tourists, mostly Czechs, began to come to Budva, when the ramparts were illuminated by only two lanterns, and the city gates were guarded by Austrian guards.
When public entertainment took place in skits, hypnosis and spiritualism, when the first football match was played on the Budva field, when laundresses quarreled on Velja voda, when bathing suits resembled military armor, and girls were not seen in clothes and faculets. to the face and hand. What makes these stories alive is the spirit of life, which is dominated by humor with small pranks and jokes.
Bonus video:
