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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Cultural heritage as foundation of preserving national identity

Belgrade/Barcelona, 1 October 2025

Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković stated today in Barcelona, where he is participating in the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025, that cultural heritage is the foundation of preserving the identity of a people and a vital resource for resilience in the future.

Selaković, speaking at the thematic panels “Culture, heritage and crisis” and “Culture and climate action”, pointed out the challenges that Serbia faces in this regard.

He recalled that since 1999 in Kosovo and Metohija, more than 10,000 icons and liturgical items, as well as 150 churches and monasteries, many dating from the late 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, have been stolen, completely destroyed or desecrated.

He explained that culturicide takes place in three stages, the first being the destruction of culture, with physical destruction, prohibitions and similar actions serving merely as a prelude to genocide and ethnic cleansing.

According to him, the second stage is falsification of history and erasure of culture, the result of which is cultural cleansing, while the third stage is the theft of the victim’s culture, which constitutes historical cleansing.

The Minister emphasised that in Serbia’s case, all three stages occurred twice in the 20th century – first during the Second World War by the Nazi regimes, and the second time during the breakup of Yugoslavia – and that, unfortunately, the same is happening today in Kosovo and Metohija.