A mural painted for a Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro risks inciting religious hatred, local Islamic leaders have warned.
The brightly coloured artwork which spreads across the interior walls of the church in Rožaj, a majority Muslim town, includes a scene in which two men wearing fez and wielding knives stand over a baby in a cradle. In another section men in World War II Yugoslav Partisan uniform are shown burning the church, while two men in Ottoman Turkish clothing with swords prepare to attack the building.
The priest in charge said the work was not intended to offend, and the mural merely presents the history of the seventeenth century church, which was destroyed twice, first during the Ottoman rule of northern Montenegro and then by the Yugoslav Communist authorities in 1948. He added that during World War II war crimes were committed against the Serb population.
Slobodan Radojevic told Vijesti, ‘With this display, we did not want to condemn individuals or any people, but we want to condemn the sin that someone committed. On the other side of the wall, to the right of the entrance, we showed the donors to this church, including Bosniaks who participated in the restoration of this church.’
‘On one side we have those who demolished and killed and on the other side, those who built and prayed for peace. One scene is inseparable from the other and they should only be seen as a whole.’
The dominance of the Serbian Orthodox Church remains a deeply contentious issue since Montenegro split from its larger neighbour in 2006. In 2021 the Church actively promoted demonstrations that toppled the pro-Western government that had been in power since the referendum, with the more pro-Serb and pro-Russian candidacy of Milo Đukanović winning subsequent elections.
