 PEOPLE & CULTURE |
| 1) POPULATION |
In most areas of Serbia 85% of the population is Serb and the rest is composed of 37 other nationalities. The population of the Republic is highly varied. Today, all citizens have equal rights and responsibilities and enjoy full national equality. The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the rights of the minorities, in accordance with the highest international standards.
The last census taken in 1991 before the war put the Serbian population at 9.977.900.
Age structure:
0-14 years: 19.8% (male 1,095,905; female 1,024,123)
15-64 years: 65.3% (male 3,415,728; female 3,553,343)
65 years and over: 14.9% (male 681,559; female 906,632) (2001 est.)
The population density runs to 111 inhabitants per square km. Serbs make up 66 per cent of the population, Albanians 17 per cent, Hungarians 3.5 per cent, followed by Romanians, Romanies, Slovaks, Croats, Bulgarians, Turks, and others.
note: all data dealing with population is subject to considerable error because of the displacements of civilians caused by military action and ethnic cleansing (July 2001 est.)
| 2) TRADITIONS |
 A - Music & Dance |
Serbian folk music is played mainly on the accordion. The violin and the tamboura, an instrument resembling to a lute, are also used to accompany folk dances in certain parts of Serbia. The best-known traditional dance among the Serbs is the kolo, which is performed in a circle.
| B - Literature |
Six periods, from Medieval to post-modern times
This exhibit is a celebration of Serbian authors. It summarizes six periods from medieval to post-modern, i.e 1940. During these times, writers defined and shaped thoughts, mentality habits, customs, humor or tragedy. Some of them spoke about the love of God, villages and rural people, while others about cities and the middle class. Some of the authors were more educated and some less, but most were teachers. A few authors went further and became diplomats such as Jovan Ducic and Branislav Nusic. In a broader sense, Dositej Obradovic and Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic represented a class of Serbian people abroad whose dedication to their country was known in the academic and research world. They associated with individuals and distinctive literary societies.
The beginning of Serbian literature starts early. During the formation of the first Serbian state Gligorije the Djak completed between 1185-92 the medieval Raska, or illuminated manuscript known as "Miroslav's Gospel" which came to be a unique gospel book.. He scribed and illuminated it with the originality of a poet making it a beautiful piece of art and a document of literature, as they were known in medieval Europe. Followed by his contemporaries, also original writers, Raska Nemanjic, known as St. Sava, or the monks, Princess Milica, nun Jefimija, Prince Stefan Lazarevic, and other known and unknown writers, the medieval art of illumination and scribing as well as poetry writing went on even through the period of Turkish occupation. Stefan Lazarevic, also known for establishing a "Resava school". The Resava monastery became a cultural centre aiming to produce books in an accurate Serbian language and to expand cultural interest.
After these two Medieval periods Rationalism took place in the late 17th and early 18th century (1783-1811). This movement was under the influence of Russian literature as well as Austrian, then known as Josephinism. Orfelin, Dositej Obradovic are the best representatives along with whom a playwrighter Jovan Sterija Popovic became popular with his talent for comedy. As in the earlier period, a woman poetess appeared on the Serbian scene Milica Stojadinovic-Srpkinja, who was known by dealing with the subject of dreams.
A transition between old and new periods marks Petar Petrovic Njegos, a bishop and a ruler of Montenegro. His most outstanding philosophical and epic novel is the "Mountain Wreath", an epopee of the struggle for survival through the wild intrusion on Serbian existence. His wisdom is deeply embedded into the Montenegrin, i.e., or Serbian patriotic attitude.
Romanticism (1848-1870) starts with the work of Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic. A patient collector of folk poetry, stories and popular Serbian words, he introduced this genuine source to the Serbian authors. The writers started to build their ideas and themes upon those sources. The best known representatives for such an approach to literature were: Branko Radicevic, Jovan Jovanovic-Zmaj, Djura Jaksic also a known painter and Bohemian; then, Laza Kostic, Kosta Trifkovic and others.
The succeeding movement was Realism (1870-1900). A needed shift from describing the world of feelings to facts of reality, resulted in a birth of a new literal form - a short story. Writers as Milovan Glisic, Laza Lazarevic, Jakov Ignjatovic, Janko Veselinovic, Simo Matavulj, Stevan Sremac, Radoje Domanovic, Svetozar Corovic, Branislav Nusic, Svetozar Markovic or poets like Vojislav Ilic, Aleksa Santic dominated that era.
The Post Modern period (1900-1940) begins during the formation of the democratic modern new state, a Kingdom of Serbia and after WWI, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A burst of talented poets Jovan Ducic, Milan Rakic, Veljko Petrovic, Danica Markovic, Sima Pandurovic as well as novelists Borislav Stankovic, Petar Kocic or Isidora Sekulic contributed to the recognition of quality writing in Serbian literature. Also, objective criticism as the new development in literature appeared with Bogdan Popovic and particularly with Jovan Skerlic who as critics seriously worked on determining the boundaries of merits in writing.
Famous Serbian Authors
Sava Nemanjic (1175-1235) was the first Serb Archbishop and writer. As a young hesychast in Mt. Athos in 1199, he wrote the renowned Chilandar Typicon modeled on similar spiritual rules of Greek monasteries.
The systematic recording of Serbian folk literature began towards the beginning of the 19th century by Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1787-1864), the new Serbian literature founder and author of the Serbian literature language. Vuk Karadzic gave a lasting and invaluable contribution to Serbian culture and literature. Vuk brought back the Serbian language to its vernacular origins, introduced phonetic transcription and established the key principle: "write as you speak and read as it is written". With Vuk, the second spiritual renewal of Serbian literature was launched. It began with the poems of Branko Radicevic in 1847 and Njegos's "Mountain wreath" (1847).
Petar II Petrovic Njegos wrote the "Mountain wreath" and "The light of the Microcosm". These were an expression of the tragic awareness about hard luck and the historical curse of the Serbian people in the Balkans
Laza Kostic (1841-1910) - Great Serbian poet of Serbian romanticism. His poem "Santa Maria della Salute" rests on the point dividing two great époques of Serbian poetry.
The most important Serbian writers of the 19th and 20th century were Ivo Andric, Milos Crnjanski, Jovan Ducic, Branislav Nusic and Desanka Maksimovic.
Ivo Andric (1892-1975) expressed better than any other Serbian writer the civilization clash in the soul of the Balkan man - the "Homo Balcanicus". Writer of Serbian novels and short stories, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.
Milos Crnjanski (1893-1977) - His best-known novel, "The migrations" is an expression of the typical Balkan nostalgia. Both writers express the tragic philosophy of sacrifice
The most significant writers of the last period were Dusan Kovacevic, Slobodan Selenic, Milorad Pavic and Matija Beckovic.
| C - Food and Drinks |
Come to Serbia and celebrate Epiphany, Christmas Eve, Christmas and Easter in our, Orthodox manner. Do a great honor to a Serb host and celebrate slava, the day of the saint protector of his household. The moment you enter his home, he will offer you wheatcake.
For starters, you will have cheese, kaymak, corn bread, smoked ham, meat mold, cheese or green vegetable pies. Before starting, as an appetizer, you can have one of the rakijas (brandy): made of plumb, apricot, pear, vine, herbal, the rare mulberry brandy, prepecenica (twice branded brandy), or the "tea of Sumadija", (boiled brandy...). The Serbian menu offers baked beans and bean stew, sarma, stewed sourkraut, cabbage with mutton. The gourmets, will have Karadjordje steak and hayduk grill. Grill specials, like a train, thunder through your plate: kabobs, grilled meat patty, mixed meat, meat balls, lamb, pig, veal roasts... To match up your meal have a bottle of wine from the cellars of Sremski Karlovci, or Vrsac, Zupa, Smederevo, the Timok region, but also from Kosovo.
| 3) LANGUAGES |
| A - Roots - Serbian and the Slavic languages |
The South Slavic languages-Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, and Macedonian--descend from Slavic dialects that were brought to the sub-Alpine and Balkan regions of southwestern Europe ca. 500 C.E. by waves of westward migration along and across the Danube, Drava, and Sava River systems. In their new territory, the South Slavs encountered and undoubtedly mixed with Latin-speaking peoples, probably descendants of older Indo-European-speaking peoples, such as Illyrian and Thracian.
Within the South Slavic branch two sub-groups are distinguished: Western South Slavic (constituted by Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian) and Eastern South Slavic (constituted by Macedonian and Bulgarian). The languages are also divided along cultural and religious lines: Slovenian and Croatian are spoken predominantly by Catholics, while Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian are spoken mostly by Eastern Orthodox Christians.
These divisions have determined the choice of alphabet, Latin being chosen in Catholic areas, and Cyrillic in Eastern Orthodox areas.
As with most Indo-European languages, the South Slavic group is characterized by many grammatical endings, with nouns and verbs changing form depending upon their position in the sentence, or their function as subjects or objects, singulars or plurals. Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian goes with the rest of the Slavic-speaking world in having preserved most of these endings in nouns, but verbs have become somewhat simplified.
Generally speaking, linguists' attention has been drawn to "Serbo-Croatian" especially for its phonological (sound-pattern) features, high degree of dialect variation, and preservation of key archaisms that aid in the reconstruction of Proto-Slavic, the prehistoric language thought to have been spoken by all Slavs before 500 CE. Standard Serbo-croatian, contrast long and short vowels, and, along with stress, have rising and falling tones (similar to Chinese), such as Slovene brá:t(i) 'to read' (long low pitch), brà:t 'to go read' (long high pitch), bràt 'brother' (short high pitch). Other features are of interest, particularly word and sentence structure; for example, Serbo-Croatian has begun to simplify its nouns--as has occurred more radically in Macedonian and Bulgarian--by reducing the number of grammatical endings ("cases"), especially in the plural.
| B - Serbian language: A political matter |
"Serbo-Craotian" language who officially does not exist anymore since the fall of Yugoslavia, is the 44th most spoken language in the world, spoken by 21 million people worldwide: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia. Serbo-Croatian is now known variously as Serbian, Croatian, or Bosnian, depending on the speaker's ethnic or political affiliation. (Source: Ethnologue, 13th Edition, Barbara F. Grimes, Editor. © 1996, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc.)
Serbian is the state language of the Republic of Serbia (where it is called Croatian, srpski jezik), a similar "dialect" is spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where it is called Bosnian, bosanski jezik), and Croatia (where it is called hrvatski jezik,); minority speakers are found also in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia.
The official spoken language in the Republic is Serbian and the official alphabets in use are Cyrillic and Latin. Serbian spoken by Serbs traditionally uses the Cyrillic alphabet, the same system of writing used in Russian. However, many Serbian books were published in Roman alphabet during Josip Broz Tito's rule of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980. Tito's thought was to unify the various nationality groups of Yugoslavia by promoting the use of a single alphabet.
| C - The "Serbo-Croatian" language |
The Serbo-Croatian standard was formed in the 19th century as a compromise among Serbs and Croats, whose major dialect divisions and corresponding divergent literary traditions, particularly in the Croatian case, had fostered disunity. In Serbia, the Štokavian-based standard replaced the artificial Slaveno-Serbian literary language, which was based largely on Old Church Slavic. The compromise, which was engineered by intellectuals around the Croat Ljudevit Gaj and the Serb Vuk Karadžic, was codified in the Literary Agreement of 1850. The standard had two varieties, the Croatian (or Western) written in a modified Latin alphabet, and the Serbian (or Eastern) in a modified Cyrillic. This standard persisted officially as the language of the Croats, Serbs, and (Bosnian and Sandžakian) Muslims, as well as the de facto lingua franca of Yugoslavia, until the disintegration of the state in 1991.
Since then, separate Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian state languages (the latter using the same alphabet as Croatian and having a relatively higher number of Turkish and other Islamic cultural borrowings) have been cultivated, each continuing from its inherited Štokavian-based precursor; all three standard languages remain almost completely mutually intelligible. For this reason "Serbo-Croatian" persists as a linguistically valid term, referring to the speech territory and the common base of the separate language collectively. However, it is no longer considered an acceptable term to most lay speakers or the governments of the successor states.
| 4) RELIGION |
The main religion in Serbia is Christian Orthodox 65%. The Serbian Orthodox Church, which has been autonomous since 1219, has played an important role in the development and the preservation of the Serbian national identity. The Romanian, Bulgarian and the majority of the Romani population are also Christian Orthodox. Beside the Christian Orthodox population, there are also other religious communities in Serbia: Muslim 19%, Roman Catholic 4%, Protestant 1%, other 11%.
The traditional religion is Serbian Orthodoxy. However some Serbs are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Hungarians and Slovaks belong to such ethnic churches as the Hungarian Evangelical Lutheran Church or the Slovak Evangelical Christian Church. Most Albanians in Kosovo are Muslims.
| | A - The Serbian Orthodox community |
The Serbian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, member of the Orthodox communion, located primarily in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Since many Serbs have migrated to foreign countries, now there are now many Serbian Orthodox communities on all continents. Soon after their arrival to the Balkans the Serbian tribes were successively baptised by Christian missionaries and became Orthodox Christians.
The consecration of St. Sava as autocephalous Archbishop of Serbia in 1219, even more strengthened various Serbian principalities in their ecclesiastical allegiance to Constantinople and Christian East. Later, as the medieval kingdom of Serbia grew in size and prestige and Stefan Dusan, king of Serbia from 1331, assumed the imperial title of tsar in 1346 to 1355, the Archbishopric of Pec was correspondingly raised to the rank of Patriarchate. The period before the arrival of the Turks was the time of the greatest flourishing of the Serbian Church. After the final Turkish conquest of the most influential Serbian principality in 1459, the greater portion of Serbian lands became a Turkish pasalik (province). After the death of Patriarch Arsenios II in 1463 a successor was not elected. The Patriarchate was thus de facto abolished, and the Serbian Church passed under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Serbian Patriarchate was restored in 1557 by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Macarios, brother of the famous Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic was elected Patriarch in Pec.
The restoration of the Patriarchate was of great importance for the Serbs because it helped the spiritual unification of all Serbs in the Turkish Empire. After consequent Serbian uprisings against the Turkish occupiers in which the Church had a leading role, the Turks abolished the Patriarchate once again in 1766. The Church remained once more under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This period of so called "Phanariots" was a period of great spiritual decline because the Greek bishops had very little understanding for their Serbian flock. This was also the period when great number of Christians converted to Islam to avoid severe taxes imposed by the Turks in retaliation for uprisings and continued resistance. Many Serbs with their hierarchs migrated to Southern Hungary where they had been granted the Church autonomy. The seat of the archbishops was moved from Pec to Karlovci.
The Serbian Orthodox Church finally regained its independence and became autocephalous in 1879, the year after the recognition by the Great Powers of Serbia as an independent state. After World War I all the Serbs were united under one ecclesiastical authority, and the Patriarchate was reestablished in 1920 with election of Patriarch Dimitry, the Patriarch's full title being "Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Patriarch of the Serbs."
During the Second World War the Serbian Orthodox Church passed through severe trials in which many bishops, priests and about 700.000 lay Orthodox Christians were killed by Croatian and Moslem fascists. Hundreds of churches were completely destroyed or desecrated. After the Second World War the Church experienced new trials under the communists who prohibited teaching of religion in schools, confiscated the property of the Church and using various overt and covert means of persecution in order to diminish the influence the Church had among the people. It was only after 1989 that the position of the Church has become tolerable, although the Church estates have not yet been returned to their lawful owners.
The supreme authority of the Serbian Church, the Holy Synod, is composed of all its bishops, who meet once a year in May. There is also a standing Synod of four members who administer the day-to-day affairs of the church, which is estimated to number some nine million faithful.
| B - Patriarch Pavle Stojcevic |
Patriarch Pavle Stojcevic (from 1990, Paul Stoychevich) was first of all instrumental in solving the problem of the American schism and then he formed some new dioceses: Diocese of Britain and Scandinavia, Diocese of Central Europe, Diocese of Mileseva, and Diocese of Budim. The break-up of Jugoslavija as well as wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other western Serbian regions brought lots of evil, misery and hardship on the Serbian population and its Church as a whole. Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Jugoslavija. Most of the dioceses of the western Serbian regions became deserted during the war, their Serb population being forced to flee into emigration. Many churches and monasteries were destroyed.
Certinje Seminary was re-established in 1992.
Serbian Orthodox Church of today has: 32 dioceses, 3578 parishes, 204 monasteries, 1900 parish priests, some 230 monks and 1000 nuns, five Seminaries (in Beograd, Sremski Karlovci, Prizren, Srbinje [Serbinye] and Cetinje), two Theological Faculties (in Beograd and Libertyville, USA), and the Theological Institute in Beograd.
| C- Pec and Decani Monasteries - Kosovo & Metohiha, Decani and Pec, Yugoslavia 1200 to 1850 (World Monument Funds - Listed in 2002 ) |
Seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church during the Middle Ages, the Pec Monastery comprises four churches built from the early-thirteenth through the mid-fourteenth century, the largest being that of Holy Apostles. The monastery's well-preserved frescoes are among the finest of the Medieval period. Seismic activity and rainwater runoff from the hills above the Pec Monastery have severely weakened the complex's walls and living quarters, while heavy traffic from an adjacent commercial thoroughfare also threatens the medieval buildings.
Commissioned by the Serbian king Stefan Decanski, the Decani Monastery possesses the richest collection of Orthodox imperial art from the late-Middle Ages and harbors the largest Serbian church of the medieval period. Dedicated to Christ Pantrocrator, it was built by the king as his mausoleum. Although the exterior is Romanesque in form, within its interior is an impressive collection of Byzantine frescoes. Rising damp has affected the 3,000 square meters of frescoes at Decani, while microbial and chemical decomposition have affected its marble surfaces and statuary. Intermittent conservation efforts at the Pec and Decani began after World War II, continuing until 1998. However, both of these sites suffered as a result of NATO bombing during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo. Yugoslavia's continued economic and political crisis now poses the greatest threats to the sites. While a general restoration plan has been developed for Pec, which houses an active convent, Decani Monastery has remained inaccessible to Serbian authorities, and the extent of war damage has yet to be determined.
| 5) EDUCATION |
Children in Serbia must complete at least 8 years of elementary school. However, most children attend school for 12 years. Serbian universities are located in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Pristina.
Belgrade's, university center, is composed of 2 state universities; private institutions for higher education are being established as well. There are 277 elementary and secondary schools in Belgrade, 166 regular, 10 special, 15 art schools and 5 schools for elementary education of adults. There are also 81 secondary schools - 50 vocational, 19 gymnasia, 8 art schools, and 4 special secondary schools. The educational system covers 230,000 pupils, and 22,000 employees in over 500 school buildings, covering about 1,100,000 sqm.
Belgrade is the seat of the highest scientific and research institutions in all fields.
The educational system is under the competence of the Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Education and Sport, while a minor part of activities is within the competence of the Secretariat for Education.
| 6) SPORTS |
| A - A sport country |
Serbia is a sport country, the host of many world, European and Balkan championships in many sports, the city of the World Investment News Ltdrs, but the city that salutes the losers as well. This first basketball match in Belgrade was played in 1923. A largest number of basketball champions, but also volleyball champions (the gold medal in the Olympic Games of 2000), water-polo champions (European champions in 2001) and handball champions are walking in the streets of Belgrade nowadays.
The citizens of Belgrade will tell you, jokingly, that every city block has a sports hall or at least a stadium seating all the citizens of the block. The largest stadium in Belgrade seats 60.000. The Pioneer sports hall, the venue of many a fantastic and dramatic finals, offers 7000 seats.
Belgrade is the host of many sports festivals: every year there is the traditional Belgrade marathon; and the children's marathon. Belgrade is included in the world's challenge day drive.
Belgrade was an official candidate for the 1992 Olympic Games. At that time, many sports facilities for football, basketball, volleyball and handball, but also for water-polo, tennis and gymnastic, were either reconstructed or built from scratch. Not to forget table-tennis, shooting, athletics and martial arts facilities.
At the same time, the city has gone " down to the river" by the construction of a number of extended bicycle tracks and by a "tidying over" of Ada Ciganlija, a large river island that has been connected with the mainland. Ada has been specially prepared: basketball courts, football and hand ball fields, beach ball courts, rowing, bicycle tracks, free climbing, roller coaster, bungee jump. They have even a couple of rugby teams! With the winning of the Olympic medals the sports activities in Belgrade increased: in all parts of Belgrade you will find (at least) an Olympic size swimming pool , indoor or outdoor tennis court, miniature football fields basketball court or a modern gym.
| B - Famous sportmen in Serbia |
The most famous Serbian sportsman is basketball player Vlade Divac. After he made a brilliant career at home, Divac became NBA player. He played in several US basketball teams starting from Lakers and Hornets, and he is currently playing in Sacramento Kings. He was ranked 12th in the NBA in field-goal percentage in 1999-2000.
Another young Serbian basketball player is Predrag Stojakovic who is at present also a member of Sacramento Kings. Even though he is very young, Stojakovic(25) already played in All-Star team, this year. He had his best season in 2000-2001, starting 75 games and averaging 20.4 points.
The Yugoslav basketball team won the European Championship in Turkey in 2001. At the beginning of the same year, Yugoslav water polo team won a golden medal on the European Championship in Hungary.
In the last couple of years, the most successful Yugoslav sportsmen are volleyball players. They are actual Olympic game World Investment News Ltdrs, since they won a golden medal on Olympic games in Atlanta, US, in 2000. Jelena Dokic young tennis player is another Yugoslav sport star. Born in Belgrade on the 12th April 1983, Jelena Dokic is already a tennis phenomenon. Even before she had reached the age of eighteen Jelena had beaten some of the biggest names in the game including Anna Kournikova, Martina Hingis and Venus Williams.
At the age of eleven, Jelena's family moved from Belgrade to Fairfield in Australia and as a result, she now holds dual Australian and Yugoslavian nationality.
Jelena was an outstanding junior player, winning many tournaments including the 1998 US Open. Since graduating onto the senior tour, she has continued to perform well and climb the world rankings. She is among the fist ten female tennis players at the ATP list.
| C - Eighty six medals of Yugoslav Sport Federation (Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro) |
In all five games with a ball, which are justifiably considered the most popular sports in the world, Yugoslavia has a lot to be proud of. Teams in football, basketball, volleyball, water polo and handball have won a total of 86 medals at the greatest international competitions.
Football players were the first to sign in the honor list. At the 1948 Olympic Games they were second, and repeated that in 1952 and 1956. In 1960 they at last got to the gold and since then they just one more time got to the top three - they were third in 1984. At the European championships Yugoslavia has on two occasions been second - in 1960 and 1968. At the world championships the "blue" players were best ranked in 1930 and 1962, when they reached the semi-finals (the first time there was no game for the third place and the second they were fourth).
Yugoslav basketball team - European champions of 1995.
Basketball players have collected the most medals. They were Olympic champions in 1980, second in 1968, 1976, 1988 and 1996, and third in 1984. They won the world championships in 1970, 1978, 1990 and 1998, they were second in 1963, 1967 and 1974, and they won the bronze in 1982 and 1986. Yugoslavia was the champion of the old continent in 1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2001, second in 1961, 1965, 1969, 1971 and 1981, and third in 1963, 1979, 1987 and 1999.
Yugoslavia was three times first in water polo at the Olympic Games - 1968, 1984 and 1988, and has won silver medals in 1952, 1956, 1964 and 1980. Yugoslavia was third at the Olympics 2000. At the world championships our teams won in 1986 and 1991, it was second in 2001, and it was third in 1973, 1978 and 1998. Our water polo players were European champions twice - in 1991 and 2001, they were seven times second in Europe - in 1954, 1962, 1077, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1997, and five time times third - 1950, 1958, 1966, 1970 and 1974.
Handball players were twice the Olympic champions - in 1972 and 1984 and once third - 1988 (they do have a silver medal). At the world championships they were the first in 1986, second in 1982 and third in 1970, 1974, 1999 and 2001. They have one medal from the European championships - the bronze one, which they won in 1996.
Volleyball players have a total of nine medals. One is from the world championship - silver 1998, two from the Olympic Games - bronze in 1996 and gold in 2000, and six from European championships - one Gold in 2001, one silver in 1997 and four bronzes - in 1975, 1979, 19
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