A mythical story about the enslavement of the most famous Spanish writer Miguel De Cervantes within the Old Town ramparts in Ulcinj at the end of the 16th century, it was resurrected again in a very interesting novel by a Serbian writer, poet and aphorist Slavomir Vasić "Cervantes, the most famous slave from Ulcinj".
After the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which he lost his left arm, Cervantes was, according to unconfirmed sources, captured and kidnapped. He was in captivity until 1580, when, thanks to the mediation of religious leaders, he was released after paying a ransom.
There is no written evidence that he was imprisoned in the Ulcinj fortress, but the people of Ulcinj, who were then considered one of the most powerful pirates in the Mediterranean, believe that their ancestors brought Cervantes to the famous Slave Square.
Vasić's book confirms in a particularly inspiring way that the story of Cervantes is not of a local, but universal character and that the mythical framework of the writer's stay in an ancient fortress, deep within a mystical aura that on the one hand has a subtle touch with the reality of that time.
"Somewhere between refined and crude, this mythical novel-fiction was created: as a tribute to terrible pirates and their slaves", wrote Vasić in the preface to "The Author's Word".
During a guest appearance on TV Belle Amie's "Sedmi dan" show, the author said that the title of the novel alone points to the local character of the reading, which is in fact international. He also told how he came up with the idea of dealing with a very demanding topic, because Cervantes is a world-famous personality whose image and work are studied by numerous historians.
"I was walking through the Old Town in Ulcinj and came across a monument to Cervantes. I thought it was a coincidence that the monument was right there, but then I started doing a little research. That's how I found out it was Gani Resulbegović, the owner of the hotel complex where the monument is located, built the sculpture. I also found out why and that's how the idea started. How did Cervantes find himself in Ulcinj? There is a mythical-historical story without many facts. However, there are also some details that indicate that Cervantes was actually in Ulcinj for a while. First of all, Ulcinj was then called Dulcinjo, and the main heroine of Cervantes's "Don Quixote" is called Dulcinea. This is what takes us from myth to reality. And secondly, very little is known about the life of Cervantes after the battle of Lepanto in 1571. That period is a hole in the writer's life, a total mystery," said Vasić.
In the museum complex in the Old Town in Ulcinj, there is a small square surrounded by casemates, i.e. vaults, located directly across from the church-mosque and the tower. The name of the square is Pazari i gjytetin or Slave Square.
This is where the story begins about how Cervantes, in his monumental work, sang of the beauty of Dulcinea, apparently the Ulcinj beauty from the Old Town, whom he fell in love with while he was a slave within the walls for years. The romance of a tall, one-armed Spaniard and a beautiful Old Town woman, one tradition says, overcame all the prejudices of the time and found its place as an immeasurable love in Cervantes' Don Quixote, after the Bible, the most translated book on the planet, which he wrote after slavery.
But the local authorities did almost nothing to resurrect the Spaniard in the Old Town - the Resulbegović family from Ulcinj took care of that, and within their hotel complex, in May 2018, erected a memorial sculpture with a bronze bust of the most famous Spanish writer.
The 3,6-meter-high sculpture was commissioned by the "Real Estate" company that manages the "Venice" Palace in the Old Town, and was made by a well-known Albanian sculptor. Generous Vani from Tirana. She also interested the Serbian writer.
Resulbegović then said that it was the city's obligation towards Cervantes.
"Cervantes is part of our history. His relationship with Dulcinea, to whom he gave the female lead in 'Don Quixote', is something that binds us. He always had a place here," he said then.
The myth of the famous writer's stay in Ulcinj continuously intrigues numerous historians and writers, and especially how it is that a Square in an Old Town in a country on the coast of a sea bears the name of a famous Spanish writer, far from his homeland. And that he is much more talked about and known there than in his native Alacala de Henares near Madrid.
Although Cervantes himself never said during his life that he was in Ulcinj and although there is no clear evidence of this, numerous chroniclers agree that there are realistic assumptions that place the writer's enslavement in the Old Town in a realistic historical context.
A few years ago, a well-known journalist from Spain wrote a book about it Angela Rodicio, entitled “El amor perdido de Cervantes” (The Lost Love of Cervantes).
Vasić wrote in the preface that Ulcinj always needed adventurers.
"And where there are adventurers, there are also hidden heroes who ask no thanks. Isn't Miguel de Cervantes an explicit example of that," Vasić wrote.
He announced that the promotion of the book "Cervantes, the most famous slave from Ulcinj" will be held in the Old Town after the season.
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