Promotion of the book "Servantes, the most famous Ulcinj slave", whose author is a Serbian writer, poet and aphorist Slavomir Vasić, will be held today on Cervantes Square in the "Palat Venecija" hotel in the Old Town of Ulcinj, at 17 p.m.
Vasić in his work, the 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, subtly intertwined with the reality of that time, strikingly gives it a universal character.
"Somewhere between refined and cruel, this mythical novel-fiction was created: as a tribute to terrible pirates and their slaves", Vasić wrote in the preface to "Author's Word"...
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.
In the museum complex in the Old Town of 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 Dulsineja, supposedly an 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 one-armed tall Spaniard and a beautiful woman from Old Town, according to one legend, overcame all the prejudices of the time and as an immeasurable love found its place in Cervantes's Don Quixote, after the Bible, the most translated book on the planet, which he wrote after slavery.
The Resulbegović family from Ulcinj ensured that the Spaniard would be resurrected in the Old Town, and within their hotel complex, in May 2018, they 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.
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). And a professor at the University of Pristina, Dr. from Ulcinj Rush to Ushaku for decades he researched the life of Cervantes in an attempt to find a real connection between the writer and Ulcinj. About this, he published the book "Servantesi në Ulqin" - mes gëdëdhënave dhe særemiti - Fakte dhe pësiatje" ("Servantes in Ulcinj - between tradition and reality - Facts and thoughts").
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.
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 in which 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' "Don Quixote" is called Dulsineja. 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.
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