Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the Nis City Council Member for Culture Jelena Mitrovska welcomed the delegations from Vienna and Turkish Izmit at the reception held at Nis City Hall on the occasion of opening the Exhibition entitled Great Places of World History. Prof. Piero Bordin, the founder and the director of the Festival and Symposium Art Carnuntum, initiated 10 years ago a unique series of international events “The Emperors of Carnuntum – They Changed the World”. This project was also one of the reasons of the European Commission for awarding Carnuntum with the European heritage label.  Great Places Of World History Exhibition is also the part of this project and Nis/Naissus – birthplace of Constantine the Great –has been the partner in the since the beginning. This year is the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Also this year is the 70^th anniversary of the Declaration of the Human Rights by the United Nations in Paris on December 10^th, 1948. Both events have a connection to the Exhibition Great Places of World History. The Mayor stressed that he expected that co-operation between the partners in the project would continue with new activities related to marking the 70^th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Professor Piero Bordin emphasized that he expected all cities which have benn involved in the project so far to work together on the project continuation .He pointed out that the Edict of Milan published in 313 could be considered thew origin of the Article No 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The guests of the City of Nis on the occasion of celebrating city festivities – the Day of

the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena were the representatives of the the twin city city of Kursk from Russia, Mr. Maslov Yevgeny, a councilor of the Kursk Assembly and a member of the Construction Committee and Mr. Yevdokimov Dmitry, also a councilor in the Kursk city council and the chairman of the Committee for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises and the innovation policy of the Kursk regional assembly. The guests thanked for the hospitality and expressed their hope that the cooperation between two cities would intensify in the future.

In June this year Nis will host the biggest children’s music competition “Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe”. High school students and primary school students, who represented Turkey last year, won this competition. So this year the competitors from 22 towns of Serbia who will sing in the languages ​​of 22 European countries will compete for this year’s award. In order to promote the competition and the Nis as its host the representatives of more than 20 embassies in Serbia, as well as representatives of municipalities and cities came to Nis. Welcoming the guest Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that this children’s festival was a good opportunity for children to get acquainted with different cultures, but also the languages ​​of participating countries. In addition, the festival is an occasion for children to get ot know each other and to learn about European values.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic met today with the Ambassador of Sweden Mr. Jan Lundin on the occasion of his visit to Nis. The direct reason for the visit of the Swedish ambassador is the preparation of the big music festival for children Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe that would be held in Nis in June. This music festival is jointly assisted by the embassies of European countries in Serbia, since each of the city participants represented a country from Europe by singing in the language of those countries. Serbia and Sweden have excellent diplomatic relations. There are a lot of Serbs living in Sweden. As a developed but primarily responsible country, Sweden is helping Serbia in its efforts to integrate into the European Union, and many projects of importance for infrastructure modernization are supported by Sweden. Two officials discussed the cooperation between two countries and especially the projects implemented in Nis and assisted by Sweden.

National Library Stevan Sremac in Nis celebrated 139 years of existence and work. At the ceremonial academy held in the library premises the audience was greeted by Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovski on the behalf of the City of Nis. She pointed out the special mission that the library had in building the system of values ​​for younger generations and congratulated the jubilee to all employees in this institution. The special guest of the National Library Stevan Sremac was Matija Beckovic and in the honor of the anniversary, the exhibition of photographs and records from the life of this great Serbian writer was also organized.

The delegations from 16 countries of Southeast Europe are staying in Nis attending the meeting of the International Council of the Folklore Festivals and Folklore Art. The delegates were welcomed at the reception at Nis City Hall by Nis City Council Member Jelena Mitrovska who wished them a successful work and pleasant stay in our city. On this occasion Ms. Mitrovska pointed out that she was very happy that such a gathering, which was being organized for the first time in Serbia, was happening in Nis, and that this was an opportunity to get to know all our guests and to present to them our culture and history. The meeting in Nis was organized by the National Section of CIOFF Serbia in cooperation with the Student Cultural Center Nis, and on that occasion, on Saturday, a large concert of six folklore ensembles of Serbia would be organized at Nis National Theater. More than 50 delegates from Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Cypriot Cyprus and Serbia gathered in Nis to discuss the folklore festivals organized by this organization throughout Europe. At the same time, they would learn more about Serbian tradition, thereby increasing the visibility of our cultural heritage. This meeting would also contribute to the International Folklore Festival that would be held in Nis in the second half of July, as our city, as a host, would have the opportunity to show all its cultural and tourist capacities.

The 15^th anniversary of the French Institute in Nis was celebrated. The French Institute is part of the 130 French institutes in the world. In Serbia, the French institute is located in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. The mission of the French Institute is to reinforce the French language in Serbia in education (schools, trainings, universities), to enable students to go and study in France: give them an opportunity for mobility in Europe, to encourage society debates, to provide a resource center, to stand as a cultural actor in Serbia, to advise Serbia in its integration process in the European Union and institutional cooperation.  At the ceremony on this worthy anniversary the audience was addressed by H.E. the Ambassador of France to Serbia, Frederik Mondoloni, and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic. Since its establishment on April 16^th, 2003, the French Cultural Center – now the French Institute in Serbia is more than ever present in the field of culture, science and university cooperation. As the part of the celebration the exhibition of paintings Aleksandra Miric was organized.

The city forum was held on the subject of Serbian-French relations and a long-standing friendship between two nations on the occasion of the 15^th anniversary of the French Institute in Nis. At the Forum H.E. French Ambassador to Serbia Frederik Mondoloni, Dr Aleksandra Mirić, an artist from Nis, and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic spoke about Serbian-French relations. Ambassador Mondoloni thanked evryone for the brilliant reception in Nis and expressed his satisfaction with the fact that France was very much represented in Nis.
The Mayor talked about the current relations with the City of Arles with a special emphasis on friendship and the exchange of experiences. Ms. Aleksandra Miric, who completed her PhD studies from architecture and archeology, spoke about her experience of studying in France.

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and his associates met today with His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of France to Serbia Mr. Frederik Mondolini, who visited Nis on the occasion of celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the French Institute in Nis. The Mayor and Ambassador discussed the cooperation and long-standing friendship between France and Serbia, as well as the importance of the existence of the French Institute, which has been successfully working in Nis for 15 years. The Ambassador thanked the Mayor for the wholehearted support that the City of Nis has been providing to the institute, which is important for the spread of French culture and bringing together two nations. The two officials also discussed the projects that Nis have been implementing with the City of Arl  in the area of valorization of cultural and historical heritage, but also about the projects that would be carried out in connection with archaeological excavations inside Nis Fortress. In this way, the conditions will be created for the cultural treasures of Nis to facilitate city development presenting our culture and history.

The literary – memorial exhibition rooms dedicated to Stevan Sremac and Branko Miljkovic were ceremoniously opened in Nis. The memorial rooms were opened by Republic of Serbia Minsiter of Culture Mr. Vladan Vukosavljevic and Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic. Having set up those two memorial exhibition rooms Nis has paid its tribute to the giants of the written word – Stevan Sremac and Branko Miljkovic, whose work is the cultural heritage of Nis and Serbia. Their legacy was declared a cultural asset of great importance in 2014. This project is dedicated to the giants of the written words that are related in different ways to our city and have incorporated Nis in literary history. About 200 original exhibits are presented within the permanent exhibition setting, and many are for the first time exclusively presented to the public. The literary memorial exhibition consists of two rooms and a front part which will be used for the organization of different cultural event. According to the director of the Nis National Museum Mr. Nenad Spasic the importance of these memorial rooms is great since they will enrich the tourist offer of Nis. The memorial room of Stevan Sremac will also have an ethnic character which will include items from that period.The author of the permanent exhibition Jovan Mladenovic.